All that glitters is not necessarily five-star; Cairo has much to offer in the way of low-budget classy accommodation. Colette Kinsella goes in search of hidden treasures in the heart of downtown Albert Einstein once said, "I love to travel, but hate to arrive." I know how he felt. Arriving in a city as vast and diverse as Cairo without a bed for the night can be an overwhelming experience. The choice of accommodation is immense, but also restricted by a number of factors, budget being the first which springs to mind. Cairo offers a huge variety of plush four- and five-star hotels in various parts of the greater metropolitan area, but let's face it, unless one is travelling on Daddy's credit card, and Daddy happens to own an oil refinery in some Texan backwater, chances are that the choice of accommodation will be restricted to hotels on the lower end of the scale, possibly with three stars or less. The quality of service is undoubtedly superior in more upmarket hotels, but when it comes to experiencing a different culture and breathing in the atmosphere of a new town, staying in less-than-glitzy accommodation has many advantages over the room service/ fluffy bathrobe deal on offer in five-star establishments, some of which often offer the visitor a stylised interpretation of the indigenous culture which often borders on kitsch. Expensive hotels can provide unnecessary padding for visitors keen to experience the city up close and personal. Staying in smaller, locally run accommodation can be a less formal, friendly and more authentic experience. Many hotels sporting three stars or less are concentrated in the downtown area of Cairo, which places visitors within walking distance of the most important of Cairo's sights, not to mention within a stone's throw of the Nile, that most fabled of rivers. The area known as "downtown" roughly encompasses the area between Tahrir Square, Ramses Square and Ataba Square. This district was a wasteland until just over around 140 years ago when French- educated Ismail, grandson of Mohamed Ali, came to power as khedive in 1863. He was determined to put a fresh, new face on the capital, and decided to model the area on the Paris of Haussman, constructing broad boulevards and lavish buildings to impress dignitaries staying in town for the Suez Canal inauguration ceremony of 1867. These once-splendid buildings now groan under the weight of thousands of satellite dishes and massive billboards advertising everything from BMWs to beer, and the tremendous amounts of pollution spewed into the air each day from the three million cars which pass through the city have further led to central Cairo's haggard appearance. Its beauty, though faded, still manages to shine through in areas such as Talaat Harb Square and the area around the stock exchange. Half close your eyes and you can imagine how glorious it must have been. THREE-STAR HOTELS, $30-$40 PER NIGHT, DOUBLE ROOM: Most of the budget accommodation is housed on the upper floors of Ismail's stuccoed buildings. Definitely the most attractive of these is the Windsor Hotel on Al-Alfi Street. It was originally built as the baths for the Egyptian royal family, and then served as a British officers' club before being sold to a Swiss hotelier. The entrance is in a side street, and the incessant bustle and chaos of Cairo fades from memory as soon as you enter. The building has rubbed shoulders with the rich and famous: Michael Palin stayed there while filming the documentary Around the World in 80 Days and it also featured in the Indiana Jones blockbuster Raiders of the Lost Ark. A certain old-world charm is still very much in evidence here, from the wood-lined dining room to the antiques and piano in the hallway, and the original manually-operated lift is certainly an eye-catcher. The famous Barrel Bar is still a popular watering hole and an atmospheric place to sip a cool Stella after a hard day on the tourist trail. The rooms are typical of the buildings in this area, high-ceilinged and spacious, and service is extremely warm and friendly. The Grand Hotel and Carlton Hotel are both located on 26 of July Street, one of downtown's main thoroughfares. The former certainly lives up to its name, as the reception area is grandly decked out in copious amounts of marble. The rooms are tastefully decorated and quiet, and the service, while efficient, is somewhat reserved. Its neighbour, the Carlton, is a couple of blocks away, near the Nasser underground station on Ramses Street. The hotel has been in operation since 1935 and much of the décor is original and still in fine condition. One of the main showpieces in the reception area is the original early 20th century telephone switchboard, which is still in use. The entrance, which includes the restaurant and coffee shop, is warm and inviting, and has a fine display of tradition mashrabiya -- wooden lattice work -- furniture, as do most of the rooms. The hotel also has an attractive roof garden, with a great view of the city. These few blocks have a lot to offer: this section of 26 of July Street is close to the old Cinema Metro movie palace, which opened in the 1930s with Gone with the Wind, and is still in operation, and the beautiful old Shaar Hashamaim Synagogue is just a five-minute walk away in Adli Street. But for a taste of real Cairo street life, simply step into the Tawfiqiya market which runs between both hotels. If you are in dire need of hubcaps for the car, a bag of fruit or couple of live pigeons, then this is the place for you. Or just bunk down for half an hour in one of the many pavement coffee shops and watch Cairo life saunter by. TWO-STAR HOTELS, LE55-LE140 PER NIGHT, DOUBLE ROOM: For spectacular views of the Nile which don't cost the earth check out the large Cleopatra Palace Hotel on Bustan Street, just off Tahrir Square. The hotel is just about as central as you can get and practically across the road from the Egyptian Museum. The building is late 1960s construction and retro buffs will positively salivate at the faded 1970s atmosphere which permeates the place. The rooms offer the standard comforts required by travellers nowadays, namely mini-bar, satellite TV and air conditioning. The absolute jewel in the crown of this hostelry has to be the vista from the bar/restaurant on the top floor, which takes in the Nile and sweeps all the way back to the Mohamed Ali Mosque of the Citadel with the Muqattam hills in the background. I would also recommend non-residents to pop in to experience the ballroom-type atmosphere of the top floor, complete with mirrored dance floor and disco ball, and watch the sunset behind the smog on the west bank of the river. The ground floor of the Cleopatra also plays host to a Korean restaurant, the Kowloon, a tasty alternative to the Egyptian fare on offer up top. For further information on the dining experience awaiting you here, check out Al-Ahram Weekly's review of the restaurant on http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/660/li3.htm. And while on the subject of food, the Lotus Hotel on Talaat Harb Street -- also off Tahrir Square -- is located opposite Felfela, one of the best eateries in town offering traditional dishes such as fuul and taamiya (stewed fava beans and felafel ) and koshari (a non-Atkins delight consisting of pasta, rice, vermicelli, lentils and chick peas topped with fried onions, a tangy tomato sauce and copious amounts of chilli/garlic sauce). The Lotus Hotel, one of my personal favourites in this category, was built in the 1950s and contains plenty of quirky furniture from that period. Anybody homesick for the 1960s or 1970s will fall in love with the wild-patterned, charmingly faded wallpaper. The whole place exudes a warm, homely and very friendly atmosphere and the rooms are quiet, clean and well-aired. Rooms are available with/without en suite bathroom/air conditioning, and some of the balconies have spectacular behind-the-scene views of the city, with its carpets of satellite dishes fanning the horizon. And if you tire of the offerings at Felfela across the road, the food served in the hotel restaurant is good, according to the guests I spoke to, and also reasonably priced. Just up the road from the Felfela restaurant is the Tulip Hotel. Positioned slap, bang in the middle of Talaat Harb Square, the window of the restaurant/reception area is also a window into Ismail's Cairo: the buildings have been given a face-lift with a fresh coat of paint and the results are quite amazing, and the former glory of the city manages to shine through in these few square metres of downtown. The hotel itself is functional: the rooms are clean and airy, but the view of the square is definitely the main point in favour of this establishment. There is a bar, but alcohol is not served. Avid readers are surely familiar with the narrow winding streets and crowded covered alleyways of Naguib Mahfouz's Cairo, the area around the Al-Azhar and Al-Hussein mosques of Islamic Cairo. The Al-Hussein Hotel is located in the heart of this area and overlooks one of Cairo's most famous coffee shops, Al-Fishawy, in the Khan Al-Khalili bazaar. While the area itself is lively and exhilarating with a lot to experience -- from the ancient mosques and monuments of the City of the Dead to the artisans workshops, spice markets and tentmakers' alley of the Al-Azhar quarter -- the hotel itself has seen better days. The rooms are high-ceilinged and relatively spacious, but a curious odour tends to hang in the air, and the décor is in a less- than-endearing state of disrepair. For those of you, however, who enjoy a bird's eye-view of the world, the restaurant on the top floor affords a view of a section of Islamic Cairo. Take the opportunity to sip a glass of mint tea while absorbing the sites and sounds of the rooftop world around you -- replete with kite-flying children, forests of laundry, tanning factories, the ubiquitous satellite dishes, enough rubble to build a fly-over to the moon and, of course, pigeon lofts as far as the eye can see (grilled pigeon is a favourite Egyptian dish). Islamic Cairo is within easy reach of downtown, so an overnight stay in the area is not an essential part of the experience. NO STARS, LE45--LE65 PER NIGHT, DOUBLE ROOM: For those on an absolute shoe- string budget, the Ismailia House Hotel on Tahrir Square and Pensione Roma off Mohamed Farid Street are definitely two of the best places to seek a bed for the night. The Ismailia is refreshingly devoid of the large bulky French furniture so often found in Cairene establishments; polished wooden floors are the order of the day and the rooms are bright and uncluttered. There is also a communal kitchen, and single, double and dorm rooms are available. But for the ultimate price-performance ratio, my vote definitely goes to the Pensione Roma. Located on the fourth floor of an old building just off Mohamed Farid Street, this Italian-run pension simply exudes style and taste. Clean and freshly painted, every single corner of the premises is lovingly decorated with an eclectic mix of antique furniture, polished copper plates and white, sweeping drapes. The polished parquet flooring in the rooms sets off the décor perfectly, and this is one of the few places I would ever consider calling a home away from home. Service is low-key and extremely friendly. Whatever your budget, Cairo can certainly accommodate, so forget the swimming pools and room service: Cairo awaits. Additional reporting by Niveen Wahish Listings Three-star hotels: Windsor Hotel: 19 Al-Alfi Street, Downtown. Tel: (+202) 591 5277, e-mail: [email protected] Single: $21-$35 Double: $25-$40 Grand Hotel : 17 26 of July Street, Azbakeya. Tel: (+202) 575 7700, 575 7509, e-mail: [email protected] Single: $26.5-$34 Double: $34-$44 Carlton Hotel: 21 26 of July Street, Azbakeya. Tel: (+202) 575 5323, e-mail: [email protected] Single: $17-$30 Double: $20-$25 Facilities: mini-bar, cable/satellite TV, air conditioning. Prices include breakfast. Many three-star hotels accept only foreign currency, so check in advance at reception. Two-star hotels: Cleopatra Palace Hotel : 1 Bustan Street, Tahrir Square. Tel: (+202) 575 9900, e-mail: [email protected] Single: LE62 Double: LE75 Facilities: Satellite TV, mini-bar, air conditioning, breakfast. Restaurant and bar. Lotus Hotel : 12 Talaat Harb Street. Tel: (+202) 575 0627, e-mail: [email protected] Single: LE91 Double: LE123 Triple: LE162 En-suite bathrooms, balcony, breakfast included. Restaurant and bar. Tulip Hotel : Talaat Harb Square. Tel: (+202) 392 2704. Single: LE40 Double: LE55-60 Air conditioning available at additional charge. Breakfast. Restaurant. Al-Hussein Hotel : Al-Hussein Square, Al-Azhar. Tel: (+202) 591 8664. Single: LE68 Double: LE70 Breakfast included. Other : Pensione Roma : 169 Mohamed Farid Street. Tel: (+202) 391 1088 Single: LE36 Double: LE63 Breakfast included. Ismailia House Hotel : Tahrir Square. Tel: (+202) 356 3122 Single: LE25-35 Double: LE65 Dorms: LE 15 Prices are correct at time of going to press and may be subject to change.
