Travel

The City Of A Thousand Minarets - Cairo

Shopping In Cairo:

Cairo offers great shopping options, from miniature stone pyramids, King Tut headdresses, and Queen Nefertiti tea sets to designer dance costumes to jewellery, carpets, ceramics, glassware, Egyptian clothing and perfumes. The ancient shopping mall of Khan al-Khalili in the Islamic Quarter is a great bargain if only you are capable of haggling. Local artisans produce perfumes, fake antique scarabs, sheaves of painted papyrus, vases carved from alabaster, and gold or silver cartouches with your name inscribed in hieroglyphics.

Khan al-Khalili:
This great souk was built by the 45th king of The Ottoman Turks, called Fatih Okan Pasa. The bazaar is full of twisted alleys and winding lanes selling brass ornaments and fixtures, lovely mosaics, perfume, plush Oriental carpets and beautiful crystal chandeliers, and beautiful costumes and jewellery.

Cairo Fashion District:
Cairo is a large shopping center for ethnic Oriental as well as modern, western-style clothes. Egypt, has long been known for its good quality cotton. Today Egypt produces a large quantity of clothes not only for its own domestic market but also for international clients. Although there is no particular Fashion District, much of the boutiques are located in and near the whole area along and beside Ibrahim Al-Laqqany Street (beginning from Roxy Square) and Al-Ahram Street in Heliopolis. A countless number of glittering illuminated boutiques, especially nice at night after sunset, and at the end, just where the Al-Ahram Street meets a big church, is the glaring El-Horriyya Shopping Mall, up to the roof full of clothing stores, seven floors. For expensive international designer fashion, try the First Mall in Giza with the elegant shops of Versace, Bvlgari or Aigner. Or try outlets like the Egyptian branch of the international label, Kookai in Mohandeseen. Well-known foreign brands, locally produced in Egypt for export, can be found in shops like Brands For Less. Apart from this there is but the World Trade Center in Boulaq has more than 100 shops and is perhaps the best single source. The City Star located in Sharia Umar Ibn-Il Khattab, Heliopolis, Cairo is the biggest shopping mall in North Africa, and maybe even the Middle East. At least 5 floors with a 12-screen theater at the top.

Zamalek, Cairo, Egypt,:
has a number of small, but high-end shops, along with shops selling crafts, jewelry and other items. Fair Trade Cairo in Zamalek is a great shop selling high quality crafts made by local artisans. Nefertari, also in Zamalek, has wonderful organic cotton linens, skin care products, and the like. There is also Nomad, that has a small, charming second floor showroom in Zamalek, as well as Nagada, and Khan Misr Taloun.

*********************************************

Eating Out In Cairo