When I lived in Fairlie, I appreciated the ability to just jump in my car and head to the hills; or to head anywhere for that matter.

That luxury is a no-go here in a city of 15 million people.

Even though I am living close to a desert corridor which stretches from just outside Maadi to the Gulf of Suez on the East Coast of Egypt, the lure of hiking in the Wadi Degla day after day, lost its sparkle after the third time when I had a free sand face exfoliation, courtesy of the wind and was fishing sand out of my camera for a further two weeks.

Consequently, my exercise now consists of walking to the nearest cafe or bakery! (actually I do indulge in yoga).

To get my nature fix, I usually head out for a weekend away. The cost to travel within Egypt is cheap and there is so much to see.

The Wadi Degla is practically on my doorstep - a 15 minute Uber drive or if I owned a mountain bike (as may expats do here), a short 30 min ride through the back streets of Maadi.

But what do I do when I decide to spend a weekend ‘in’?

It’s been a few weeks since I ventured out of Cairo for a weekend.

I had planned on being in Luxor this weekend, but my up-coming trip to New Zealand is putting me off going too far at the moment, as I deal with last minute things such as housework and end of term school work.

Where has that time gone? One thing for sure - it’s gone, and fast.

There is nothing I enjoy better than sleeping in, in my own bed, starting slow on a Friday morning (the Egyptian weekend is Friday/Saturday); wandering to my favourite cafe for a coffee on what is always inevitably a gloriously sunny morning, and spending time contemplating how I will fill my day while I sip on that rich dark solution of goodness.

As my radius for wanderings increases, so too does my discovery of great cafes tucked away in quiet back streets. Dark Solution in Maadi is one such place. This cafe won Egypts barista of the year - and I can see why. hands down the best coffee I have had yet in Egypt and actually rivals the best of any I have had back home.

Living in an apartment in Cairo means dust is constant, and the task of de-dusting is a pretty big one, involving sweeping and then mopping my tiled floors. This is usually top of my list for the weekend, as the accumulated dust covers everything extremely quickly, coating everything with a fine layer that quickly thickens if not mitigated. I am especially mindful with my camera.

Dust and cameras are not a good mix.

Removing dust from my rapidly increasing pottery collection is an almost daily activity!

On a weekend at home I always usually take an Uber into the city in the morning - about a 20 to 30 minute drive from where I live in Maadi - and take in some of what Cairo has to offer.

I like to leave early enough to avoid people.

Friday mornings are ideal for downtown visits, as it is prayers day and no one seems to surface too early and certainly do not show themselves in vast numbers until after prayers.

Al-Azhar Park offers pleasant surroundings for a sense of ‘getting away from it all’ not far from the city centre.

There are numerous museums here; galleries; the Nile promenade; cafes; the architecture; Islamic area; Coptic Cairo; Old Cairo; the markets; the Mosques; the Citadel; Al-Azhar Park and then there is also just the simple joy of wandering around my own area of Maadi which is a leafy quasi-suburb to the south of Downtown Cairo, on the East Bank of the Nile.

The Egyptian Museum in downtown Cairo houses a massive collection of Mummy and Sarcophagi.

Maadi is a favourite destination among locals, expats and tourists alike. With its quaint cobbled walkable streets, multicultural residents, crammed with classical style architecture,

arts and culture venues and an innovative dining scene, I can see why expats from all over the world chose to live in this area as opposed to the more modern areas of Cairo. (Images above borrowed off the inter-google-web. The big house is actually about 5 mins walk from where I live and has a restaurant on the ground floor).

One of my favourite things to do on a weekend is to head to Khan el-Khalili (especially in this, my first experience of Ramadan when it is quiet) to take photos and browse with less people congestion.

I love wandering through the Khan - I love ‘getting lost’ and seeing where small alleyways take me.

I love my senses being invigorated with wafting smells of spices, the vibrant colours of textiles, the gentle aroma of perfumeries; the sounds of nearby mosques, people bartering, kittens calling and motorbikes bending through the narrow streets.

There is nothing like this place to make you feel truly aware of your surroundings - it is a visual and aromatic feast.

I have learnt to be far more spontaneous since being in Egypt.

Yes I like to plan what I will do in a day, but once somewhere, I am happy to let my feet lead me where they wish to go. I am curious - I always want to know what is just around that corner.

This is the best kind of wandering that leads to truly exploring.

I discovered the stunning book binders shop (Abdel Zaher) this way - but I do not know if I could find it again in a hurry - Khan el-Khalili is a labyrinth of hundreds of small shops and cafes, (set in extremely narrow darkly lit alleys), including a diversity of offerings ranging from small engineering, to silversmithing, leather, textiles, lamps, rugs, clothing, spices, perfumes, books, shoes, sheesha, bread, meat, fruit, veges, and so much more.

Abdelzahar Bookstore is a family-owned business that makes paper, binds and embosses books by hand.

Parts of the Khan el-Khalili is very touristy, but the back alleys are much more authentic and devoid of crowds.

There is always a visual feast awaiting those who look, in the old Souks.

Its the back alleys I love to wander through and the upstairs stalls which people tend to forget exist. This is where you will meet the old wizened men who have been honing their trade for decades, often handed down through generations, who will invite you in for sweet mint tea and a yarn (often geared towards selling you something, but also often geared towards plain good old kindness). I met a Spanish independent journalist this way (foreign correspondent). She lead me through the Khan and introduced me to her favourite jeweller. She had lived in Cairo for ten years and had impeccable Egyptian Arabic.

I wondered if I would stay ten years and be as comfortable as she was here.

If I stayed.

As the Khan is in Old Cairo there are also several stunning old mosques which are open for viewing. I decided last weekend to see these also. I found myself on Al-Mu’ez Street (El Moez) without too much effort. It’s a 1 km long pedestrian street, and to quote the UN, it has “the greatest concentration of medieval architectural treasures in the Islamic world”.

This area of Cairo is known officially as Historic Cairo, but we locals refer to it as ‘Old Cairo’ (masr el adeema in Arabic).

Some history!

Cairo was officially founded in 969 AD by the Fatimids (a North African Shi’ite Muslim caliphate) and the modern-day area of Old Cairo contains stunning remnants of the pre-Cairo cities (Fustat, Al Askar, Al Qatta’i), as well as Coptic Cairo and Islamic Cairo. Moez Street is named after the 4th caliph of the Fatimid dynasty.

Historic Cairo Map, showing places of interest

Old Cairo/Historic Cairo was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979, and it was called "one of the world's oldest Islamic cities, with its famous mosques, madrasas, hammams and fountains" and "the new centre of the Islamic world, reaching its golden age in the 14th century."

Egypt was conquered by Arab Muslims in 641 AD, led by Amr ibn Al-As, who proceeded to build the first mosque in Egypt and all of Africa (the reconstructed mosque still stands in Cairo today).

Although the capital of Egypt at the time was Alexandria, on the Mediterranean coast in the north, Amr ibn Al-As created a new capital where his mosque was, and named it Fustat.

Fast forward 300 years to 969 AD, the Fatimid Caliph El Moez Li-Deen Allah Al-Fatimi built his new capital Cairo (Al Qahera in Arabic) north of Fustat, and later absorbed it. When Cairo was first built, it was a walled area for the royal caliphs, and part of that wall still remains today -- El Moez Street runs between two different gates of the wall.

Part of the old city walls run beneath the grounds of Al-Azhar Park.

History aside, it's one of my favourite places to wander and I always know I will marinate in true Cairo culture here.

The mosque I love the most in this stretch of Old Cairo, is the Qalawun Complex. It is utterly gorgeous inside and provides an intriguing mix of colourful islamic tiling and high ceilings, with narrow steep winding hidden staircases and tiny rooms with wooden shutters. The history is tangible. You can stand on the roof (if you slip the doorman some money), and grab a different perspective of the thousands of minarets piercing Cairo’s skyline.

I have been to the Khan el Khalili enough times now to know I am best to walk back up to Al-Azhar park in order to order and find an uber home or to my next destination.

After mid-day this area becomes bedlam with bumper to bumper traffic as people negotiate their way along the main street which divides Khan el Khalili from the Al-Azhar markets and Al-Azhar mosque. My sense of direction is now becoming more dialled in to where I am in Cairo.

I know I could find my way back to Tahrir Square very easily if I needed to walk, or to Al-Azhar Park; these landmarks became staples in my uber drop-off/pick-up life.

Not far from the congestion of Khan el Khalili, (about a 30 minute walk or 10 mins by uber), is the calming oasis of Oldish Cafe.

I really love heading to this delightful cafe on the weekends and having a refreshing lime and mint juice, especially after being amongst lots of people on a warm Cairo day.

The food and coffee here is also very good although I have to say I come for the ambience rather than the coffee. This old cafe is gorgeous, and has a rustic colourful brick-lined outdoor eating area along with an indoor area which has hands down the most beautiful cafe toilets I have ever been in; although like nearly every toilet I have been in so far in Egypt, it's often BYO toilet paper here. What the heck is it about toilet paper here? I used to wonder why so many women sat on the roadside selling small packets of tissues. Does everyone in Egypt suffer from perennial colds? Do people spill their drinks down their fronts all the time? What? Then I realised once - when caught short - what the tissues were all about, and now I never leave home without some! Anyway, Oldish Cafe is my go-to in Downtown (until I unearth some other new delight).

Another wonderful way to spend the time in downtown is to wander along the Nile Corniche - this is the road that follows the river through the city. Along most of this road is a wide footpath directly alongside the Nile where you can get amazing views during golden hour across to the city of Giza, or to Zamalek, depending on where you are along the way.

It provides those classic views of felucca’s cruising effortlessly along in the late afternoon breeze, or the dahabiya lit up brightly at night, along with all the city lights reflecting in the water. Simply stunning. It is also an easy spot to get an uber.

The dahabiya can often be seen under sail along the Nile and lit up at night with lights. Image from google.

Connecting the Cairo city side with Zamalek and Giza are several large bridges which are a popular spot for photography and I am always amused at how open the egyptians are about getting their best pose sorted for IG - pouting their lips and ensuring there is more face than view in the frame. Especially the women here who seem to be happily posing wherever they can. I feel in New Zealand we are much more discreet about this sort of thing - an odd thing to say when I live in a somewhat conservative Muslim country.

If I am desperate to find something I need for my apartment, such as a household item, my preference is to try to find it in the downtown markets rather than one of the massive suburban malls. But if the need is there, on a weekend I will head to CFC - Cairo Festival City Mall.

This sprawling city within a city is located in New Cairo and has a footprint of 206,000 sq metres - it is a beast of a thing with three levels. It houses all the top name brands and the usual mix of cafes and a huge Carrefour supermarket. It is a place I avoid unless I really know that what I need to get will be there. The mall is heavily guarded and like anything of value in Cairo, you have to put your bags through x-ray and yourself through the metal walk-through machine, to get inside. This is normal anywhere here including at any venue such as museums. I hear some people head to CFC just to walk around it for exercise. Hmmmm… if I get THAT desperate then it's time to join a gym!

Whilst I miss my big outdoor backyard in New Zealand, I am enjoying the semi-colon that Cairo has become, in the story of my life. The abrupt change to what I knew and enjoyed, has had to be exchanged with other offerings - and these are the sensory ones of a different kind.

An impressive storm lights up the sky above the Cairo American College in Maadi.

I enjoy my wanderings in Maadi; the local store keepers I have shopped with regularly now standing in their doorways and yelling out to me “hello!” as I wander by - “you come for tea?”. I have found a home in my neighbourhood and have enjoyed the exploration and discovery of where I fit in all of this madness.

And so, as it is the last day of my weekend, I will first head to my local for a coffee and stick my finger into the breeze to decide if a wander in the wadi is on the cards for later today (late afternoon after the heat has waned a bit) or an uber to the city to walk the Nile, visit a museum and grab a lime and mint juice at Oldish Cafe..

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