Email From Cairo
Maria Golia is a long-time resident of Egypt and the author of Cairo: City of Sand, a non-fiction work about the city. Ahead of her second book, Photography and Egypt, Golia explains why Cairo isn’t quite as ancient as we think WHEN SOMEONE SAYS ‘Cairo’ you immediately think ‘ancient’. Over 14 centuries, Egypt’s capital has [...]
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Maria Golia is a long-time resident of Egypt and the author of Cairo: City of Sand, a non-fiction work about the city. Ahead of her second book, Photography and Egypt, Golia explains why Cairo isn’t quite as ancient as we think |
WHEN SOMEONE SAYS ‘Cairo’ you immediately think ‘ancient’. Over 14 centuries, Egypt’s capital has had plenty of wear and tear – but, in some ways, it has never been so new. Over the past two decades, I’ve watched massive quarters rise defiantly from the desert, seen the population double to around 16 million, and experienced the vitality of a city whose inhabitants are largely in their teens and 20s.
In the 1980s, owning a telephone was a luxury, especially on those days when it actually worked. Today, with mobile phones and free nationwide dial-up internet access, Egyptians of all backgrounds communicate non-stop. Cairo has its own mini- Silicon Valley, the ‘Smart Village’ where the futuristic-looking headquarters of global IT giants dot manicured lawns.
alt="Sprung from the desert: Cairo’s Al-Azhar Park">
It’s hard for me to grasp, while sipping a Turkish coffee in City Stars, one of Cairo’s gigantic, surreal shopping malls (think Thebes reinvented Las Vegas-style), that 20 years ago if I wanted Swiss cheese I had to buy it on the black market. A single forlorn Wimpy once served burgers to a few nostalgic expats, but now dozens of fast food franchises have call-centre response teams taking orders round the clock.
Hollywood films rarely made it to Cairo back then; I fought for a ticket to see Raiders of the Lost Ark, and recall the riotous laughter of the audience when Cairo appeared onscreen, portrayed as a pleasantly whitewashed hamlet. But today Cairo’s cineplexes throng with people taking in Hollywood
blockbusters, and Egypt’s homegrown films’ production values and social commentary levels have grown more sharp and sophisticated. New cultural venues, like Al-Sakia [1, 26th of July Street, Zamalek, + (202) 2736 8881;
www.culturewheel.com], Makan [1 Saad Zaghloul Street, El Dawaween, +(202) 2792 0878;
www.egyptmusic.org] and the Townhouse Gallery [Hussein El Me’mar Pasha Street, Downtown, +(202) 2576 8086; www.thetownhousegallery.com], cater to audiences who appreciate traditional music and storytelling and stand-up comedy, experimental theatre, contemporary art and
photography.
alt="the city’s waterfront">
Still, the more things change, the more they stay the same. What are malls but an update on medieval covered souks like Cairo’s Khan al-Khalili? And what are fast food joints, if not another version of the curbside food stalls and itinerant vendors for which Cairo has long been known? The city’s metamorphosis is awesome and poignant to behold, as desertdwelling urbanites share limited amounts of land and water but surprising supplies of humour and forbearance.
For a relaxing break and an airy overview visit the Al-Azhar Park (entrance on Salah al-Salem Street,
www.alazharpark.com), located on an elevation in the heart of the medieval quarter. Enjoy a meal in its splendid neo-Islamic palace restaurant, surrounded by stirring panoramic views of 1,400 years of human history, proof of Cairo’s staying power.
Maria Golia’s Cairo: City of Sand (£24.95, Reaktion Books) is out now
