Two Weeks in Egypt - October 2012Views of Cairo from the window of the busIt is difficult to see the sights of Cairo without spending a considerable time crawling along the major roads that cross Cairo. These might be called motorways or "freeways" in other countries - free-for-all would be a better description. The major arterial roads are nominally 3 or 4 lanes but the clever Egyptian driver can fit 5 or 6 lines of traffic onto this, together with a few broken down trucks, buses stopping at random and horse and carts along the way. With a remarkably serious tone our tour guide assured us that the only people who are brave enough to hire a car AND drive it in Cairo are the Italians - and I can believe him after being on the roads in that country...... The photos below are of vehicles, people and a wide range of goods being transported. There are buildings in a range of states of build, use and decay. And a few of the Nile as it passes through Cairo. In short, images of chaos - but that is an outsiders view. It is probably remarkably close to the views that my father and his mates saw of Cairo when they inhabited Maadi Camp in 1942-43. Today I think even some of the locals would like to see some order brought to this part of the world. Traffic and goods being cartedAll the roads were thick with vehicles. Many were carrying food from the outlying regions - cows, chickens, cabbages, tomatoes and millions of eggs.
Last updated: 02/07/2017 |
