The capital of Egypt, Cairo, meaning “The Victorious” in Arabic, has stood on the banks of the Nile for more than 1,000 years. Located in the northeast of the country, Cairo is the gateway to the Nile delta where the lower Nile separates into the Rosetta and Damietta branches.
The city is a fantastic blend of ancient and new, East and West. At the southwestern edge of the metropolis, near Memphis, you find the Pyramids of Giza and in the northeast, the site of Heliopolis where Plato once studied is marked by an obelisk. Overlooking the Nile are now modern landmarks of Western-style high-rise hotels and residential buildings. Between these extremes are other architectural monuments, dating from Roman, Arab, and Ottoman times. Cairo also have a large functioning bazaar and a vast, semi-walled medieval city with more than 400 registered historic monuments – including mosques, mausoleums, and massive stone gates – dating to 130AD.
Cairo has long been a cultural capital of the Middle East, and its heritage is represented in the collections of the city’s many museums. One example is the impressive and popular Egyptian Museum located on Tahrir Square, with its vast collection of pharaonic treasures such as the colossal statue of Amenhotep III and his wife Tiy in the atrium.
It’s said that Cairo has only two seasons: approximately eight months of summer and four months of winter. June, July, and August are the hottest months – the average daily maximum temperature is then 35 °C, and the average daily low is 21 °C. During the winter months the strong sun makes for warm, dry days, but nights are cool and humid, often freshened by breezes from the Nile. The average daily maximum temperature in January and February is 19 °C, and the average daily minimum is 8.5 °C.
Time zone: UTC +2
Currency: Egyptian pound
Language: Arabic