MODERN CAIRO a walking tour in Cairo inc felucca ride & Cairo tower

A representative will pick you from your hotel up with a private coach to start the evening with a felucca ride on the Nile to enjoy the sunset over Cairo for ca. 30 mins. After your ride you will have a walk for ca. 25 mins over the bridge of Qasr El Nil; this bridge was rebuilt in 1931, to the Cairo Tower in the southern part of an island and it’s called El Gezira.

The most wonderful panoramic view over the city you will ever experience is that from the Cairo tower. You can see the Nile with its glamorous lights and see the luxurious hotels of Cairo. At 187 m (614 ft), it has been the tallest structure in Egypt and North Africa for about 50 years.

After enjoying the view over Cairo you will be then transferred with your private coach to the northern part of the island and it’s called El Zamalek which is originally derived from Turkish: üzümlük, meaning vineyard. Enjoy a walk through its streets between the wonderful 19th century’s buildings and villas. At the end of your tour you will have a remarkable time at one of the cafeterias in Zamalek and enjoy a shisha and one soft drink, tea, or coffee.

 

 

More info about sights:

Qasr El Nil, previously El Gezira Bridge, was built between 1869 and 1871 by Linant de Bellefonds with the participation of France's Five-Lilles Company. The foundation stone for the present Qasr El Nil Bridge was laid by King Fuad I on February 4, 1931. After over two years of construction, undertaken by Dorman Long & Co. Ltd, King Fuad inaugurated the bridge's opening on June 6, 1933.

 

Under Khedive Ismail the Island was called "Jardin des Plantes" (Garden of Plants), because of its great collection of exotic plants shipped from all over the world. French landscape designer De la Chevalerie designed the island's landscape plan, gardens, and plant nurseries. On the east shore a kiosk was built for attending the island and supervising its development.

The kiosk was replaced in 1869 with the Gezirah Palace, a U-shaped summer mansion, which was designed by Julius Franz Pasha and decorated by Karl Von Diebitsch. The palace was built and first used for guests attending the 1869 opening of the Suez Canal. Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria and Eugénie, Empress of the French were some of the noble guests of the palace. Today the Gezira Palace is the central part of the Cairo Marriott Hotel, with its rooftop having an open-air theatre facing the Nile. Other palaces were also built in Zamalek, including Prince Amr Ibrahim's palace (1924), which is now the Museum of Islamic Ceramics. In 1882 the Gezira Sporting Club was built in the southern region of the island. Later a water garden known as the "Grotto Garden," with a rare collection of African fish, was built by British Captain Stanley Flower in Zamalek.