Final day in Cairo

After wrapping up my final day in Cairo with a visit to my favorite part of the city, I made spent my last evening at one of my favorite parts of Egyptian culture: the ahwa (cafe). I went to a few ahwas in the Downtown area and ordered my favorite drinks - ahwa mazboot (Turkish coffee with sugar) and sahlab. The latter is my favorite drink that Egypt has to offer. It is a warm dessert drink consisting of nuts, bananas, milk, sugar, and some sort of seeds. Both beverages originated in Turkey but have made their way into Egyptian culture as coffeehouse staples.

An ahwa by Midan Falaki, Downtown.


I stayed out late at the ahwa and then returned to my apartment to pack up all my belongings. By 5am I was ready to leave, and said goodbye to my apartment.

Around my neighborhood of al-Mesaha, in Doqqi.





From my street and apartment - Amer Street in Doqqi.







I hauled all my stuff and conveniently hailed a cab at the end of my street. I figured my last encounter in Cairo would not be without some unique surprise, and I was correct. My taxi driver had some very severe attention-deficit and twitching issues. Literally every few seconds he would flip on the lights, change the radio, open or close the windows, change lanes, and move about the cab as if he had bugs all over him. Meanwhile, we travelled at high speed down the 6th October Bridge, because 5am on the day of prayer is one of the few times you won't encounter traffic in Cairo.

My flight to London was at 8:30am. Everything went smoothly at the airport, and by the end of the day I touched down in Boston and was on my way home.