In this oft-forgotten city of entrenched customs and history, I saw so much potential and missed opportunities in the way the streets and store fronts were maintained. The buildings were beat-up, drab, squalid altogether, some almost to the point of disrepair.
But as I really took the time to walk and observe, I noticed from one Roundabout to another that the buildings resembled European masterpieces. There was so much character, brimming with culture -- ready to be explored and forever defined.
Man running next to the Parliament Building
Cairo was built in the 19th century and modeled as a European City, once referred to as the "Paris along the Nile." Truly the city is beautiful and the River Nile is majestic and magical.
There are many priceless relics, but today they are drab, desolate, a sooty brown, darkened from the pollution that fills every molecule of breathable air competing against the relentless stream of CO2 sputtering from every exhaust pipe, every dripping air conditioner that glamours every window ledge all around this forsaken city.
See Note below.
Around town, I saw massive amounts of ramshackle homes that were falling apart by the hinges, ready to collapse around the people who lived in these crumbling tenements their entire life. What else do you expect from a city that let the population get out of hand and provided virtually no control and monitoring. Meanwhile people kept on building and breaking zoning laws. The government was sadly asleep.
