I talked with the waiter and he suggested that I try the kabobs -- their signature dish. Before entering the dining area, I was told to pick out three types of meat that I wanted in the kabobs -- there were four types of meats from which to choose. I made my selection (I skipped the lamb because I assumed that I'd have a ton of it in Athens) and entered the dining area. It was a fairly impressive looking place.
Muslim prayer chants played over the speakers, and the televisions played a loop of a prayer service. Initially, I was the only table there, but that changed after I arrived -- there was one table with four women, and another with two men and a woman. That table fascinated me because only one guy would order for the entire table, and each time food or drink was to be delivered to the table, the waiter paused and waited for the man to wave him over. Very strange.
The first dish for me was a delicious lemon broth based soup. I took my time eating it, and savored every bite -- ah, very nice. Then, to my surprise, the dishes just kept coming. Next up was some bread, followed by eggplant, followed by some veggies, followed by humus, followed by another soup, followed by my actual main dish. There was so much food, I was taking over the place setting across from me. Holy crap!!
Everything was absolutely excellent. This was the best food I had had since Thailand. Truly spectacular! By the time I finished (yes -- I ate everything!), I was bursting at the seams. Of course, no meal would be complete without dessert. I thought I was going to throw-up, but I didn't want to offend them by not finishing it, so I persevered.
The bill came to a whopping $15, and I headed out after graciously thanking my waiter. Ashraf then took me over to perfume shop where I shared amazing hot tea (the secret is in the number of sugars added to the tea -- I kept my tame with only one; some guys added 10+) with several of Ashraf's friends. We talked for an hour or so before heading out to the Nile for a night cruise.
Ashraf sent me off with a guy he called "The Turtle." An unbelievably apt description. indeed. Seriously, I don't think I've ever seen someone move so slowly. The guy was probably 51 or so, but my god, it was like he was in slow motion (perhaps he had been to Amsterdam one too many times??). We made it to the Nile and hobbled out of the car to talk to someone about getting a cruise for me. About 10 minutes passed, and finally things were organized.
I hopped aboard a sailboat (it was now about 9pm) and we departed -- just the sailor and me (hmm -- that sounded like the name of a gay porno...nope; nothing like that happened). The sites were pretty cool -- Cairo danced on one side of the Nile, while Giza played on the other. The two cities were dramatically different; tons of buildings and lights filled the sky on the Cairo side while the Giza side was far less dramatic and Muslim prayers poured from randomly placed speakers.
As an aside -- in this neck of the world, visitors gotta be prepared for the random loudspeaker piping prayer services. These speakers were everywhere, and, played eerily muffled and distorted voices. For the mentally insane, I'm sure these voices drove them further down the rabbit hole.
Anyway...The cruise down the Nile was calming. We basically drifted down the river for an hour or so and cruised back and forth across it. A couple of times the boat dipped enough that I was able to skim my hand through the water -- it was just a surreal feeling to be cruising down the freakin' Nile River!
Once we got back to the shore, The Turtle and I headed back towards Giza. We stopped on the bridge over the Nile and he motioned that this would be a good photo op location (his English was really bad). Seven painful minutes later, he had finally exited the vehicle. I pointed at the place to touch on the phone in order to take a picture, and, after 3-4 false starts, he was able to snap a picture that cut off my head. Ugh!
After about 6 attempts, he finally was able to take this shot. I was sick of waiting for him, so I said that this was good enough and we went back to the apartment.
Next post -- finally...The Pyramids!
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