As Egyptians party the night away in Tahir Square the noise is almost enough to wake the pharaohs resting next door, says Methil Renuka.
Standing on the windswept 20th-floor balcony of my hotel, my face to the Nile and my nightgown billowing about me, for a fleeting moment I felt like Kate Winslet’s Rose DeWitt in Titanic standing on the precipitous bows of the great ship. The sleepless city below and the sluggish dinner boats on the river had blurred out of focus. It was just me, the Nile – a giant ribbon through the city – and the wispy air of a midsummer night in Cairo.
Somewhere nearby, almost on the Nile banks, at the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square, the fabled pharoahs of Egypt rested, amid a jumble of 5,000-year-old relics and dusty sarcophagi. Ancient Egypt was asleep, but not modern Cairo.
Earlier that evening, as my canary-yellow cab sped through the clogged roads from the airport, Ahmed, my erudite driver, had said: “It’s safe to walk in Cairo. You will never find a deserted street. The city works 24/7 and comes alive after dusk.”
Nowhere is this more true than in Tahrir Square, the centre of life in the Egyptian capital. People – men, women, children – sit around eating, chatting and arguing, like vigilant sentinels of Egypt’s treasures. That’s what strikes you about Cairo. The friendly locals regale themselves far into the night (a characteristic of people who live in the great valleys of the world) and are in no mindless hurry to get anywhere.
As the street lights fell on the fading elegance of the Art-Deco buildings, with lilting loud music renting the air, the city looked more Parisian than Arabian. The air was redolent with a delicious feast of smells – inviting aromas of shawarma, sharkesaya and mezzeh from kerbside cafés, the whiff of strong Arabian coffee and the sweet scent of smoke from a hundred shisha pipes.
The bustling 600-year-old Khan el-Khalili market, a virtual Aladdin’s cave with a bewildering maze of alleys, is a discovery of more smells and sights: hawkers and street vendors will try anything – even propose marriage – to make you buy their wares, from papyrus paintings and pocket-size pyramids to fridge magnets, Oriental rugs, Nefertiti busts, canopic jars and funeral masks.
Seeing so many reproductions of the treasures of ancient Egypt whets the appetite for a glimpse of the real thing. Fortunately, the Egyptian Museum at Tahrir, the biggest repository of the country’s artefacts, boasts more than 120,000 priceless exhibits – which warrants a three-storey basement to house the whole collection.
And Egypt is not archaeologically exhausted yet – which explains why the country is now building some 13 new museums. The Tahrir museum is home to Tutankhamun, Egypt’s 14th-century BC boy king, who relentlessly draws wide-eyed visitors into a world of magic and mystery. The only royal tomb to be found intact in Egypt’s history, King Tut’s resting place was discovered by Howard Carter in 1922 in the Valley of the Kings. Tut’s 110kg solid gold sarcophagus, 2,099 relics and funerary treasures, meant to accompany him into the afterlife, will dazzle even eyes accustomed to modern bling.
Intrepid explorer and Egyptologist Zahi Hawass, known for his American-style hat and his dynamic Indiana Jones approach to unearthing the past, has featured in numerous National Geographic documentaries and is perhaps Egypt’s most photographed face – after the Sphinx. A couple of years ago, Hawass led a team of scientists to uncover the mystery surrounding King Tut’s death, finally concluded as death caused by a fatal fall. It was a triumphant moment when Egypt’s biggest mystery met the nation’s greatest mystery man.
As I flew out of Egypt after my trip, I recalled a friend’s prophecy – that visitors to King Tut’s tomb are known to momentarily experience a similar tomb-like situation. I never believed him, not until I came back home to my building in the dead of night and the elevator stopped midway for 20 minutes as I desperately jammed buttons and called for help. As my heart pounded in my airless coffin, I knew that the curse of Tutankhamun had struck again…
FACT FILE
The Egyptian Museum was established by the Egyptian government in 1835. The present museum was built in 1900 in the neoclassical style by French architect Marcel Dourgnon. It would take several months to view all the exhibits in the collection. Open daily 0900 to 1845. Entrance is 20LE (US$3.60), additional charge of 40LE (US$7.18) for the Mummies Room. tel 202 579 6974, www.egyptianmuseum.gov.eg
