Besides the pervasive human warmth, several things set Cairo apart:

-Safety. You can walk anywhere in the entire city, at any hour of the day, and be safe. This city of 20 million people has no dangerous neighborhoods (although petty theft is common). Can you name a single city in the United States with that kind of record?

-Trash. Many buildings here are old and dirty. It’s a national habit to chuck trash down any chute that will take it. The trash generally lands on the roofs of other old buildings. It’s not unusual to see old chairs, wire fencing, cardboard boxes, and any number of other non-recyclable items heaped up in piles that must have started when the buildings were first put up. (A group of Coptic Christians picks up all the recyclables and sort them in their town in another part of the city.)

-Cats. Cat-haters might call it an infestation. I like cats, which is a good thing, because there may be as many cats as people here. They beg for food, stare at your from elevator shafts, slink around corners looking for scraps. Calicos, tuxedos, tabbys, tortoiseshells–every variety of housecat you’ve ever met lives ferally in Cairo. Cat rescue aficionados would be eaten alive here.

-Stunning ancient neighborhoods. To list a couple:

The City of the Dead, where people inhabit ancient tombs
Mosque-lined Islamic Cairo, which hasn’t changed much since medieval times
Coptic Cairo, where you can visit the church where Mary and the child Jesus hid from King Herod’s lackeys

The other treasure here is the Egyptian Museum, which contains a mind-boggling number of mummies, stone pharoahs, tombs, obelisks, tomb accessories, papyrus paintings, trinkets, and other precious finds. The precision, care, and artistry with which ancient Egyptians constructed their edifices in unreal. It’s as though they had slide rules and laser etchers…but they didn’t.

The Pyramids
These are the real deal, the actual Pyramids of Giza. It is breathtaking to see them in real life. Although they are located on the outskirts of the city, they retain a sense of distant mystique. We explored the three pyramids and the nearby Sphinx (whose nose is in France, and beard in England) on the backs of camels.

According to our guide, in the old days, each pyramid was covered in smooth stone, so there was one red pyramid, one green pyramid, and one white pyramid. Imagine the splendor!

The combination of ancient and modern in Cairo, as well as its tolerant confluence of monotheistic religions (Muslim, Christian, and Jewish) make the city tintillating. It would be easy to spend two weeks here and never get bored. Strong lungs and willingness to play Frogger in traffic–a necessity here–help.