On the town

After a bit of a late start, we went on our first solo excursion yesterday evening. Leaving the flat after dark seemed a bit unwise at first, but it turned out that since Cairenes are late night people--even more so than New Yorkers--this was the perfect time to be out.

We got some small change at the grocery store, and then wandered around until we found our way to the Metro stop down the road. The streets were full of traffic, automotive and pedestrian, and the station was just as busy. After having three people jump ahead of us while standing at the ticket window, we bought our tickets. The subway was packed, like New York rush hour.

We got off at the Nasser stop, climbed the stairs and entered shopping madness. Clothing stores lined the streets, sidewalk hawkers stood on the curb with their ridiculous trinkets and fakes (we saw one guy selling sleeping masks - taken from Egypt Air!), and the mass of humanity reminded me of Times Square. We pushed and maneuvered our way down the street. Our heading was Midan Orabi, a traffic circle nexus with a lot of restaurants that sounded like a good place to eat.

We had a bit of trouble finding it, but our meandering gave us a nice glimpse of Cairene culture. During a call to prayer, a group of a couple dozen men stood in rows, the one in front chanting prayers. We must have passed 10-15 cafes with men smoking sheeshas (hookahs); it's something of a national obsession. Many outside restaurants were packed with people eating kushari (a popular fast food of macaroni and lentils) and drinking banana juice.

Finally we found a takeout restaurant mentioned in our guidebook. We strode up to the cashier's window and made him understand that we wanted ta'amiyya (falafel), one of the specialties of Akher Sa'a. It was LE1.50 for two pitas--about 30 cents--and quite good. Still a bit hungry we walked down the road to a kushari place, and split a small one. We sat on the end of a planter in the center of Midan Orabi and watched the people around us as we ate.

Not bad for a first outing.