Seeing Cairo via Minibuses

I think I just found the deal of the century. Sightseeing the city of Cairo via minibus…2 EGP. WOWZERS!

Today was my first attempt of using the public transportation in Cairo and I wish I had done it awhile ago. In the past when I’ve wanted to get from one side of the city to the other, I hailed a taxi and away we went on the 6 of October bridge. 40 EGP later, I’m at my destination and I really haven’t seen anything interesting besides tons of traffic and the way everyone drives but thats another story for another day.

Today Mostafa enticed me by asking if I wanted to go to City Stars in Nasr City and really, what girl can say no to going to the mall? We started out in Zamalek and I assumed we were going to hail a cab but he surprised me by informing we will take a bus. A little anxiety ran through my blood as I’ve seen the buses go by me before filled to the brim with people hanging out windows and doors and I honestly didn’t want any part of that. After some convincing, he showed me the proper place to stand (anywhere is really fine), to avoid the taxi drivers eyes and wait for the green and white buses to come along. I should state that knowing some Arabic is almost essential for finding the right bus.

As the buses approach, a man will lean out the window and holler where the bus was going. Nasr City..perfect. We hopped on and to my surprise, there was lots of open, comfy, clean seats.

I got to see Tahrir, Ramses and Rabaa Squares plus some really amazing architecture. Even though we hit some traffic occasionally, I’ve always enjoyed to see what items people are trying to sell to the waiting motorist; tissues, roses, pretzels and today I saw people selling Mini Mouse balloons.

I would highly recommend going with an Egyptian your first time. Getting on and off the bus can be a little tricky and the way they collect the money is something I can’t even explain. Also, plan on listening to some loud music. They seem to like booming bass. But for 2 pounds, I would do this again and again happily and I’d highly recommend this for people that really want to see downtown Cairo.