In October, I took a big trip with my girlfriend Catt and my friends Nick and Doug. The impetus for the trip, aside from having not traveled abroad in three years and my plans to travel to East Asia again before COVID looking increasingly hopeless, was Nick’s sister’s wedding in Rome. We couldn’t decide between Turkey and Egypt as a destination after the wedding, so when both countries opened up to travelers, we pounced on the opportunity to do both, electing to spend 4 days in Rome, 3 days in Istanbul and almost 5 days in Cairo/Giza. I had been to Italy once before when I was about 12 or 13, so much of the city of Rome felt familiar and being in Italy forced me to brush up on my Spanish as the languages are so similar. Although we were mostly outside the city near the wedding, it was fun to get a taste of what life is like in the smaller cities near Rome which are well-connected via train to Roma Termini, my new favorite train station. Much of my time in Rome was spent marveling at that station and taking in the great transit infrastructure in addition to the ancient sites.
Istanbul felt more foreign. Between the constant singing of muezzins belting out regularly scheduled call to prayer, the lyrical sound of the Turkish language and the incredible street food and spiced meats, Istanbul was a delight to the senses. It’s not only a great daytime city but also one of the best nightlife cities I’ve ever been to, on par with New York City and Seoul for its late night hours and diversity of drinking options. We ate our way through what seemed like a million meals, traversed the hilly neighborhoods of both sides of the Bosphorous and met friendly local people who were happy to point us in the right direction both in terms of food and nightlife, leading to some late nights and good times.
By the time we had to leave Istanbul, I felt like we still hadn’t had enough time to fully see the city, but onwards to Egypt we went on a 4AM flight after having pulled an all-nighter. By the time we got to Egypt, I was borderline delirious and kept falling in and out of sleep on the cab ride from the airport almost 2 hours across town to Giza, with religious music playing the whole ride and the vast, beige outskirts of the city zooming by as the thick heat lulled me to sleep in the back seat. We made it to the pyramids by 10AM (alas, I did not take photos because I didn’t feel like I could even capture them) and had a surprisingly great meal at the cafe above the pyramids after a long hike up the dusty sand dunes, where we got our first taste of the savory spiced meats with tahini dip that I’ve since incorporated into my regular cooking rotation here at home. We stayed in Giza for a night and then went into the bustling metropolis that is Cairo, a place where the roads have no rules, the only constant is the sound of honking horns, and life starts at 6PM. I’ve never seen a place like Cairo – its incredibly vibrant street life makes it one of my favorite places I’ve ever been. Most of our time in the city was spent drinking tea, sitting outside taking in the city’s vibes and dodging the occasional stray dog. The best part of the entire trip was climbing the tower gate in the middle of the medieval Khan-el-Khalili market and listening to the call to prayer echo across the city with the wind, looking out at one of the oldest civilizations in the history of humankind extending in every direction below our feet as far as our eyes could see.
Several recordings are included in this post, primarily from Egypt. I wish I had recorded more in Istanbul, but I didn’t think of recording until we made our way into Cairo, whose unique and surreal soundscape felt unlike anything I had ever heard. Cheers.