The chauffeur of the limousine sent by my host for this trip, Four Seasons Hotels, announced that we were crossing the Tahrir Square, jolting me off my much-needed powernap. The urban public space had become synonymous with Arab Spring across the globe after a facebook event turned into 18 days of continuous and unprecedented demonstrations that eventually ended the then-President Hosni Mubarak’s autocratic regime in 2011. Social media was flooded with images of the revolution, in fact, it was a revolution that was live-tweeted. Yet, strangely enough, while thinking of Egypt, all that comes to mind are pyramids jutting out from a sprawling desert.
As the car kept moving, from the window I discerned Belle Epoque and Art Deco buildings, many of which house embassies I am told by my chauffer (whose name I couldn’t catch and wasn’t sure if it would be rude to ask a second time). The name of this area is Garden City and it is one of the poshest and safest neighbourhoods of Cairo, he added. Although its streets are dimly lit, it had distinct European vibe. A while later, I spotted a few silhouettes of swanky skyscrapers giving the skyline the vibe of a modern city like Dubai, albeit less flashy. Soon, the car rolled into the entrance of the Four Seasons Hotel Cairo at Nile Plaza, my abode for the next three days.
As I entered the 30-story plush building, everything oozed luxury and every member of the staff exuded warmth. It was love at first sight.
Upon entering my sprawling room at the 11th floor, I found an elaborate welcome table which includes, apart from a warm handwritten welcome note signed by Yves Giacometti, the hotel's Regional Vice President and General Manager, a customised hand-painted papyrus—the ancient ancestor of modern paper—with my name in hieroglyphics! It felt absurd to be holding something invented by the ancient Egyptians in 3000 BC.
Upon opening the curtain of the balcony overlooking the Nile Corniche, I was greeted by stunning view of the Nile hemmed with neon-lit silhouettes of sleek skyscrapers. Never in my wildest dreams had I ever imagined myself standing in front of this historic river—the same river on which Cleopatra and Julius Caesar took a luxurious cruise to celebrate their success at the pivotal ‘Battle of the Nile,’ flanked by 400 ships, the same river where baby Moses was floating on in a basket before being found by the Pharaoh’s daughter, and the river that had given birth to one of the most culturally rich, historically powerful and advanced ancient civilisations. Five thousand years on, it still not only flows the same but remains the pulsating heart of this land. Staring at the ancient river, aptly considered a symbol of rebirth and renewal, I realised that past is never past in Egypt—it is a land where the past is inextricably interwoven into the present. And it is just my first night in Egypt. But I was still not prepared for the Nolanesque time travel that awaited me.
Merging Timelines
Next morning, after devouring a scrumptious Egyptian breakfast at Zitouni, one of the hotel’s eight restaurants, while watching feluccas glide on the Nile, we head towards one of the main attractions of Egypt—the pyramids of Giza, the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and the only one that is still standing tall.
As macabre as it is, with the Egyptian government renting out the ancient necropolis for high-profile events (like Dior’s Fall 2023 runway show and Indian billionaire Ankur Jain’s $3 million wedding, to name a few) it is today also one of the world's hottest venues for shows, weddings, concerts, and youtube productions.
Leaving the hotel as we headed deeper into the city, it increasingly started to feel as if our car had suddenly turned into a time machine with the old buildings, with influences from Roman, Arab, Mamluk, Fatimid, Ayyubid, and Ottoman times appearing on the window along with modern buildings, reflecting the city’s fabled past. It became clear why it is called the city of a thousand minarets. Home to both Christian and Islamic historical sites, the sky was stabbed with Coptic crosses and crescent moons of churches and mosques. This Cairo will reveal itself further on the second day of my trip as I sample the old parts of the city.
Suddenly, it caught my attention that swishing past our Maybach were ’70s sedan models, cars that have been off the streets in India for decades now. Apart from a large number Fiats and Polonez (which I am told are called ‘Bolognese’ by the locals), I discerned a few Soviet-era Ladas and Cold War-era Romanian Dacias, and even a charming classic green Chevrolet Impala! “We Egyptians consider cars as heirlooms; they are passed down through generations!” laughed our driver.
The Crown Jewel: The Pyramids Of Giza
But from the ’70s I was swiftly transported straight to 2500 BC. My guide, Ibrahim Hamza, an Egyptologist, had begun to give a lowdown on the Giza pyramid complex. He explained that apart from the centrepiece consisting of the three pyramids—that of Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure—the premises has boat pits, a mortuary temple, causeway, temple, ruins of smaller tombs of family members of the pharaohs, and ofc ourse the Great Sphinx– the colossal limestone monolith guarding the pyramids of Giza. “All these were built by the Fourth Dynasty (2613–2494 BC), a period known as the Age of the Pyramids,” he added.
I remembered poring over the pages of my school history textbook and getting amused by ancient Egypt’s obsession with death and afterlife. They not only believed in afterlife, but were also convinced that the dead would need their bodies and all material possessions in that afterlife. Hence, the culture of elaborate mortuary rituals and the practice of mummification (although since the process of mummification was super expensive, only a few could afford it). The pharaohs were believed to be installed by the gods as middlemen and after death they were supposed to become god. Pyramids were built as ‘resurrection machines’ where their mummified bodies would be kept along with their riches and belongings—stuff they might need in their afterlife—and offerings.
While in my mind I had reached the times of the Pharaohs, our car was yet to catch up. Cairo and Giza are separate cities located on the west bank of the Nile River (Giza falls under the greater Cairo metropolitan area). But it is difficult to demarcate the exact point where the modern city gives way to the ancient necropolis. The present slowly drags the end of its long trail from under the past and the modern gives way to the ancient.
As we enter the premises the astonishing ingenuity and engineering skills of the ancient Egyptians stumped me. The first structure we headed to for was the pyramid of Khufu or Cheops (built in 2,560 BCE) first. Known as the The Great Pyramid, at 481 feet, it is not only the largest Egyptian pyramid, but humans could not construct anything taller in 3,800 years, until 1314 when the Old St Paul’s Cathedral (489 feet) came up in London. But it is not until you stand next to it, that you truly realise how gargantuan the structure is.
As I stare at it in awe, I pinch myself. I would be soon stepping into this ancient structure. Who would have thought that life would offer me this opportunity!
Apart from giving an elaborate history of the pyramid and explaining how 8000 tons of massive stone blocks were brought from quarries at Aswan, some 800km away, on boats through a now-extinct branch of Nile, and how ramps were used to move the mammoth block to higher levels during construction, Mr Hamza mentions that the four side of Khufu’s pyramid is almost perfectly aligned along the four cardinal points. “There is a magnetic field inside the pyramid that make food last longer and if razors or scissors are kept inside, they become sharper. You can feel it once you are inside. It has a calming effect and is the perfect spot for meditation,” he claimed. Although at that time I had dismissed it as another local lore of the ‘magical property’ known as the ‘pyramid power’, later on further reading, I found out that according to a paper published in the Journal of Applied Physics Khufu’s pyramid can concentrate electromagnetic energy both in its internal chambers and the area located under its base.
Enter The Void
Although Mr Hamza had tried his best to dissuade me from entering the Great Pyramid which is open to public, cautioning me of the suffocating and crowded passageways and mentioning that the King’s Chamber is empty as all treasures including his mummy were never found, I decided to give it a go. How could I let go of such an historic experience! Armed with the ticket (entering Khufu’s pyramid requires special ticket) and my asthma pump I became part of the long serpentine queue.
When I finally stepped into the biggish hole serving as the entrance (the actual main entrance is sealed by huge chevron blocks.), it let me to the dimly-lit, narrow ‘Robbers' Tunnel’, dug by the Abbasid Caliph al-Ma'mun's men in the 9th century. It was hot and crammed with incoming and outgoing crowds. As we keep walking, after about 50 metres, we come to a stone staircase and it ushered our slow-moving queue into an ascending slope. It was getting increasingly clear that Mr Hamza was not exaggerating one bit when he cautioned me about this experience not being for the faint-hearted. Here you are required to hunch down and walk, carefully positioning your feet on the slats of the wooden ramp—it is much more difficult than it seems, especially since the entire stretch gives you absolutely zero option to stand up to straighten your back or catch some air or drink some water or use your asthma pump. The difficulty level is further heightened by the two-way traffic which ensured you can’t cross the section at one go, but will have to stop multiple times, to let people pass. In front of me was a well-built tall blond guy who had almost folded himself in half and yet had his backpack scratching the roof; his broad shoulders were getting stuck between the ever-narrowing walls of the passage while folding his body almost in half—the very sight made all my joint scream in pain.
With people walking so close to one another with the walls and roofs closing in—the sweat and body heat, coupled with the obstruction of your view, created a perfect setting for claustrophobia to kick in. And if that gets triggered in even one person inside this congested passageway, a stampede is inevitable. But thankfully before this thought could trigger my anxiety, the passageway ended, and I finally got to stand up. I moved out from the queue and found myself a corner to catch a breath. The good thing about having asthma is that you are almost always prepared for such ‘breath-taking’ ‘weak-in-the-knee’ experiences. I brought out my water bottle and my asthma pump and settled down on the cold ancient floor. Maybe it was the ‘pyramid power’, maybe it was the electromagnetic energy, or maybe it was just my old trusted Asthalin, soon I found myself all set for the next leg.
Now, I was inside the Grand Gallery—the awe-inspiring 50 meters long and almost three storey high corridor is indeed an architectural triumph. The steep wooden ramp, that feels like the path to heaven, leads to the King’s Chamber. After another arduous ascent, I found myself confronted with another passageway, and this time, the height requires you to either crawl or move in a squat position. By the time I finally entered the haloed space, I was dripping with sweat. The vault itself felt like a sauna although I spotted an old rickety pedestal fan at one corner, probably installed by the kind authorities to ensure that the tourists are ‘comfortable’. Keeping the vintage fan company was the enormous red granite sarcophagus that once held the king’s mummy. There was absolutely nothing else inside the rectangular room, even the smooth granite walls are bare—there was not a scratch of hieroglyphics. Nonetheless, reaching the King’s Chamber was a surreal experience. It is like entering a time capsule. This was the same chamber where, as per lores, Napoleon Bonaparte entered alone on one hot August night in 1799—a year after defeating the Mumluks in The Battle of the Pyramid (apocryphal portrayal of which, including a scene of Joaquin Phoenix shooting off the nose of the Great Sphinx, can be seen in Ridley Scott's 2023 film, Napoleon)—and came out a ‘changed man’. When I come out, treading the same suffocating path, only more crowded, and finally face the sun, I found myself a changed woman as well—one who had lost almost 5 kgs of body weight through sweat.
Sunset On The Nile
The evening was reserved for a relaxing sunset on the Nile. Gliding on a white felucca (traditional wooden open-decked sailboat that dates back to the Pharaonic era) through the ancient Nile, blushing under a pink evening sky, flanked by the city’s modern landmarks, including embassy buildings and sky piercing high-end luxury hotels, was another surreal experience, courtesy the Four Seasons. As I watched the world go by in languid pace, my mind travelled back in time to circa 41 BC when the Ptolemaic Queen and the last Pharaoh of Egypt, known for using seduction as a political weapon, sailed up this same Nile on a lavish golden barge to meet the most powerful Roman general following Caesar's assassination, and one of the triumvirs ruling Rome. “The barge she sat in, like a burnish'd throne, Burned on the water…” I could almost see the scene from Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra unfold in front of me. It is a historic moment (although according to Plutarch, it was River Cydnus and not the Nile, but I am Team Shakespeare) that would lead a torrid love affair between the two and eventually cause their tragic downfall. Sailing on the Nile with the mellow sun weaving a multi-hued magic, indeed serves the perfect backdrop for a grand romance.
A Day, Four Seasons, And A Journey Of 4,500 Years
And all that was just the first day of my 3-day Cairo trip. Although it is often claimed that Cairo is a difficult city for tourists to traverse (and there are more than enough videos of travel bloggers getting heckled by locals on social media that support this claim), thanks to the Four Season’s hospitality, their meticulously-planned itineraries, their knowledgeable local guides, and the chauffeur-driven limousines, I didn’t feel a slightest bump along the way. For me, it was pure bliss sampling the stunning ruins of a 4,500-year-old civilisation while enjoying the smorgasbord of modern luxuries curated by the Four Seasons Hotel Cairo at Nile Plaza.
Beyond the Pyramids: Must-visit places in Cairo
The Grand Egyptian Museum: Situated near the iconic Pyramids of Giza is the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM). Envisioned to reclaim the narrative of Egypt’s ancient civilization, shifting from Western interpretations to an authentically Egyptian voice, it is sprawled over 500,000 square metres (twice the size of the Louvre) and is the largest and most comprehensive archaeological museum in the world dedicated to a single civilisation. The state-of-the-art facility holds over 100,000 pharaonic artefacts from the predynastic period to the Greco-Roman era, which spans from around 3100 BCE to 400 CE, with the crown jewel being the complete treasures from the tomb of King Tutankhamun (about 5,300 items). There is also a comprehensive library and research centre which adds in making the GEM a global hub for Egyptology. Although scheduled to open on July 3, 2025, it opened 12 of its galleries (arranged by time period and each divided into three themes—Society, Kingship and Beliefs) to the tourists in October, 2024.
Timings: While the GEM complex opens at 8.30 am and shuts at 6 pm, the galleries are open between 9 am and 5 pm.
Saint Virgin Mary's Coptic Orthodox Church
Known as the Hanging Church as it is built over the ruins of the southern gate of the Babylon Fortress—built by the Romans in 300 AD, it was later named by Nebuchadnezzar II after his hometown, Babylon. The nave of the church is suspended over a passageway of the fort. This makes it look as if the church is hanging mid-air. The remains of the fort can be still seen from the church.
Al Rifa’i Mosque
Situated in the heart of Islamic Cairo, near the Citadel of Saladin, is a comparatively new addition to the cityscape. Built in 1912, its architecture reflects influences of Ottoman, Mamluk, and Gothic revival styles.
Khan el-Khalili
Located in the in the heart of Islamic Cairo, the Khan el-Khalili is an iconic open-air market establishment in 1382 by Emir Djaharks el-Khalili, a powerful Mamluk ruler as a caravanserai (place for travelling merchants to rest and trade their goods). Today, it is not only one of the largest and busiest largest souks in all of the Middle East selling silver jewellery, vibrant textiles, traditional Egyptian souvenirs, and hand-blown glassware, but its narrow streets are lined with historic buildings adorned with ornate wooden facades accentuated with intricate mashrabiya windows, and ornate facades, also provide a glimpse into a bygone era.
