Cairo which means "The Vanquisher" or "The Triumphant", is the capital city of Egypt.
While Al-Qahirah is the official name of the city, in Egyptian Arabic it commonly shares the
dialect's name for the country, transliteration: Masr. It has a metropolitan area population
of about 17.285 million people. Cairo is the sixteenth most populous metropolitan area in
the world. It is also the most populous metropolitan area in Africa.
The city was founded in AD 969 as the royal enclosure for the Fatimid caliphs, while the
actual economic and administrative capital was in nearby Fustat. After Fustat was
destroyed in 1168/1169 to prevent its capture by the Crusaders, the administrative capital
of Egypt moved to Cairo, where it has remained ever since.
Al-Fustat , was founded in ACE 751 near other Egyptian cities and villages, including the old Egyptian capital Memphis, Heliopolis, Giza and the Byzantine fortress of Babylon- in-Egypt. Fustat was itself a new city built as a military garrison for Arab troops and was the closest central location to Arabia that was accessible to the Nile. Fustat became a regional center of Islam during the Umayyad period and was where the Umayyad ruler, Marwan II, made his last stand against the Abbasids. Later, during the Fatimid era, Al- Qahira (Cairo) was officially founded in ACE 969 as an imperial capital just to the north of Fustat. Over the centuries, Cairo grew to absorb other local cities such as Fustat, but the year 969 is considered the "founding year" of the modern city.
During the city's history various dynasties would add suburbs to the city and construct
important structures that became known throughout the Islamic world, including the Al-
Azhar mosque. Conquered by Saladin and ruled by Ayyubids starting in 1171, Cairo
remained an important center of the Muslim world. In 1250, the slave soldiers or Mamluks
seized Egypt and ruled from their capital at Cairo until 1517, when they were defeated by
the Ottomans. Napoleon's French army briefly occupied Egypt from 1798 to 1801, after
which an Ottoman officer named Muhammad Ali made Cairo the capital of an
independent empire that lasted from 1805 to 1882. The city then came under British
control until Egypt attained independence in 1922.
Today, Greater Cairo encompasses various historic towns and modern districts into one
of the most populous cities in the world. A journey through Cairo is a virtual time travel:
from the Pyramids, Saladin's Citadel, the Virgin Mary's Tree, the Sphinx, and ancient
Heliopolis, to Al-Azhar, the Mosque of Amr ibn al-A'as, Saqqara, the Hanging Church, and
the Cairo Tower. It is the Capital of Egypt, and indeed its history is intertwined with that of
the country. Today, Cairo's official name is Al-Qahira (Cairo), although the name informally
used by most Egyptians is "Masr" (Egyptian Arabic name for Egypt), from the original
name of Egypt's first Arab capital Fustat, Misr al-Fustat, "City of the Tents."
PLACE TO VISIT
Pyramids of Giza - The only remaining monuments of the Seven Wonders of the
Ancient World, it is the country's most famous tourist attraction.
The Egyptian Museum - Main entrance of the Egyptian MuseumThe Museum of
Egyptian Antiquities, known commonly as the Egyptian Museum, is home to the most
extensive collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities in the world. It has 136,000 items on
display, with many more hundreds of thousands in its basement storerooms.
Khan El-Khalili - Khan el-Khalili is for many the most entertaining part of Cairo. It is
an ancient shopping area, nothing less, but some of the shops have also their own little
factories or workshops. The suq (which is the Arabic name for bazaar, or market) dates
back to 1382, when Emir Djaharks el-Khalili built a big caravanserai (or khan) right here. A
caravanserai was a sort of hotel for traders, and usually the focal point for economic
activity for any surrounding area. This caravanserai is still there, you just ask for the
narrow street of Sikka Khan el-Khalili and Badestan.
Old Cairo - The part of Cairo that contains Coptic Cairo and Fostat, which contains the
Coptic Museum, Babylon Fortress ,Hanging Church , the Greek Church of St. George,
many other Coptic churches, a Jewish Synogogue and Amr ibn al-'As Mosque.
Cairo Tower - The Cairo Tower is free-standing concrete TV tower in Cairo. It stands
in the Zamalek district on Gezira Island in the River Nile, in the city centre. At 187 metres, it
is 43 metres higher than the Great Pyramid of Giza, which stands some 15 km to the
southwest.
Citadel - A grand castle built by Salah Al-Din. Also parts of the water pipes (Majra Al-
Oyouon) are still there, these pipes used to carry the water from the Nile River to the
citadel.
HOW TO REACH
By plane - Cairo International Airport (IATA: CAI), , is well served by Egyptair, the
national carrier, and others such as British Airways, Air France, [KLM], Singapore Airlines
and Lufthansa. Egypt Air now lands and departs from the domestic terminal, even for
international flights.
Getting to downtown Cairo can be a pain. £E 40 is a good price by taxi, although it can be
quite difficult to negotiate this price if you are not an Arabic speaker. Refuse to pay the "ticket" (airport parking fee) for the driver. For the adventurous, catch a public bus to
Maidan Tahrir or Maidan Ramses. Walk 5 minutes out of the terminal to the big
undercover bus station, and ask a local, but don't catch the notorious green buses. Rides
are just under £E 2. It takes around 1 - 1.5 hours to reach downtown.
By train - Cairo's main railway station - Ramses Station (Mahattat Ramses) - is
located on Midan Ramses. Trains run to Cairo from most other regions and cities within
Egypt.
Alexandria are served by a large number of departures through the day. Among the best
trains are the Espani which has a morning service from Cairo at 9am. The Espani and
Turbobin are the best services, driving non-stop to Alexandria and taking 2 hours and 40
min. The next best service is al-fransawi, which stops at the major Delta cities on the
road. Buy tickets one day in advance to be
By car - For those unfamiliar with Cairo traffic, one shouldn't expect to drive. The traffic
is, at the least, overwhelming for the common traveler. Road signs, lanes, right-of-ways,
etc. are not adhered to. The driving has a consistency, but not in any official way. Parking
houses or official parking spots are rare, but many places people work to look after
parked cars. A small tip is expected for this service.
Getting in and out of Cairo, the roads to and from Fayoum and the destert cities in the
south-west and Alexandria, Delta and Marsa Matrouh in the north-west are through the
Giza and pyramids area, the road to Beni Suueif and Upper Egypt (Aswan, Luxor) is in the
south, after Maadi and Helwan. North from Heliopolis are the road to the canal cities (Port
Said, Ismailiyya, Suez) and Sinai. Ein al-Sukhn and Hurghada is best reached by the
tolled road after New Cairo City.
By bus - Buses arrive to Cairo from virtually all over the country. The two main
destinations are Midan Ramsis and Turgoman, but vechiles also sometimes stop at
other destinations, notably abbasiya. From Midan Ramses and Turgoman it's a quick 5
EP taxi cab ride to downtown, 7-10 EP to Zamalek.
The Turgoman has, from 2007, been renovated into a new, modern indoor station, close
to the older one
From Turgoman, hourly services run to the canal cities (2 hrs) and Sharm al-Sheikh. To
Sharm, the East Delta is taking approximately 8 hrs. The Superjet is faster, driving non-
stop without a break in approximately 6 hrs. Three of the East Delta services continue to
Dahab. Fares for the East Delta is approximately 80 EP for foreigners.
