Walk any street and the day is already under way, with shopkeepers trading jokes, scooters threading through traffic and the smell of spices drifting from an open doorway. In Cairo the neighbourhoods change every few blocks, from narrow old lanes to broad avenues beside the Nile, and the pyramids remind you it all stands on very old ground.
The climate is hot desert, with long dry summers, mild sunny winters and a little rain on the northern coast. With a Local Friend to read the menu, the map and the mood, a crowded corner you would have walked past becomes the place your evening begins.
