Misafir Kullanıcı
2 Nisan 2023
This is NOT the usual western hotel experience. After many 5-star hotels during our trip, I decided to cancel our last night at the Ritz Carlton by the Nile and spend it here by the Khan al Khalili market to make the most of Cairo. I read loads of reviews on other sites talking about the unbearable noise. This is true, we didn’t sleep much. After the music and people noise until the very late hours faded, the prayer calls and singing started. It’s not possible to sleep. However, what an absolutely jewel of a building with the various handcraft stores on the ground floor, the internal courtyard leading up to our room (small, but clean). It was visualising Naguib Mafouz descriptions from his books. In fact the only reason I stayed here was for precisely this experience, to see the real Cairo, the real people- away from the comfortable safe environment of the usual hotels for western tourists. Driving to the hotel, we saw it all, men smoking their shishas, children playing on the streets, stray dogs cats, chaos everywhere. I loved it. I saw a lot of what I had imagined reading Mafouz. This is a great experience, not a stay. I was exhausted but exhilarated. I need my sleep so can’t imagine anything longer. Staff had the biggest smile but English was their forte.
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