Explore Cairo and the Pyramids
The districts on the west bank of the Nile are administered by the Giza governorate, which is separate from that of Cairo, though transport and utilities are effectively integrated. If you cross over to the west bank of the Nile from Zamalek, you arrive at Mohandiseen, laid out during the 1960s to house Egypt’s new technocrats. Medinat Mohandiseen (“Engineers’ City”), as the suburb was initially called, responded to an influx of business and media folk during the Sadat era by shortening its name and trying to be more American in style. Its main axis, Arab League Street (Sharia Gameat al-Dowal al-Arabiya) is bisected by palms and shrubbery for its three-kilometre length, and on a clear day (admittedly a rare occurrence in Cairo), you can look down it and see the Giza Pyramids, to which it is aligned.
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Messing about on the Nile
Messing about on the Nile
Boats have been synonymous with misbehaviour in Cairo since they were used in the Middle Ages on the seasonal lakes that filled when the Nile rose. In the mid-twentieth century, the neighbourhood of Aguza, wedged between Mohandiseen and the Nile, was a popular mooring place for houseboats. One of them was occupied during World War II by a famous bellydancer, Hekmet Fathy, who used to entice Allied staff officers aboard to inveigle secrets from them on behalf of the Nazis. Also involved was a young Egyptian officer, Anwar Sadat, who attempted to convey messages to Rommel and was subsequently jailed by the British for treason. Even today, the Aguza and the surrounding area is known for naughtiness: many Gulf Arabs spend the summer here, and “Saudi flats” has become a euphemism for prostitution in this part of town. What the Saudi-linked Salafists now prominent in Egyptian politics, will do about this remains to be seen.
