Hail to the Hive!
After a long days traveling and a sleepless night I got out of bed in Cairo and started to get to grips with organising our next days. A few coffees with breakfast and a bit of online shenanigans and a supply shopping later I found my energy levels bottoming out. I needed a coffee to fuel me through. Looking around for a suitable spot I spied ‘Mango Cafe’ and thought that’ll do nicely.
I grabbed a chair but turned it around to face the street for a bit of real world live entertainment. Ordered a black coffee and settled in to watch the world go by.
The coffee arrived very quickly and was just what the doctor ordered ( well maybe not the doctor but me anyways) hot, black and delicious. I realised almost immediately that I wasn’t going to get away with a quiet coffee just with my thoughts as very quickly people around me were asking me questions, introducing themselves and very obviously trying to make pitches for guides, camel trips, shops etc etc. ahhhh welcome to Egypt.
It wasn’t aggressive though or unfriendly in any way, in fact just the opposite, but it was relentless in a gentle friendly and very Egyptian way. Ah well so much for a quiet coffee.
It was quite entertaining as I watched the street activity, occasionally snapping some shots of the everyday hustle and bustle, while simultaneously fending off friendly offers of going to someone’s papyrus shop or going on a camel adventure. I mean I only wanted a bloody coffee.
The streets here in Giza are alive with people, tourists, buses, camels and horses with carts. It’s a great feast for the curious eye as you sip on your coffee.
Now I really needed a second cup and had to weigh up in my head if I could cope with the incessant attempts at general coercion for another 30 minutes or so and decided I could as it was a laugh really as I definitely wasn’t buying into their patter. So a second cup was ordered and I settled in for round two.
To be honest it was worth it just for the street views and people watching. If you are a people watcher like me then it’s a great spot and slowly as I settled into my second coffee they all started to realise I was a lost cause and I got to relax a little more and take more photos of the passing street vibes.
And then all caffeined up and re energised I took the short walk back to the hotel. It’s a weird view of dirty streets with an ancient Pyramid backdrop. Weird but cool.
It’s certainly not something you see everyday. Well unless you live in Giza in which case it is……
