Its
nice to be up high in Cairo. It gives one a
prospective view of this great city, with it's
very modern and very ancient districts. Anyone who
has stood atop the Citadel or from the
upper floors of some of the taller hotels is aware
of the grand views that Cairo offers.
One of the best views is from the Cairo
Tower, located on Gezira Island (Zemalak)
just north of the Museum of Modern Art (which
is also very much worth a visit), which
provides a panoramic vision of Cairo. This 187
meter tall tower, in the form of a latticework
tube that fans out slightly at the top, is said to
imitate a lotus plant, and ranks only fourth among
the worlds highest towers. It is made of granite,
the same material often used by the ancient
Egyptians, and is about 45 meters taller than the
Great Pyramid at Giza.
To the
late President Gamal Abdul Nasser, the
Cairo Tower was the best place to dine
out. He used to go together with his family to
dine in the tower’s restaurant, where there is
also a cafeteria. Today, the restaurant rotates at
an almost unnoticeable speed. Signatures of all
the
presidents
and various other prominent figures who visited
the tower are here in the honoring book and even
engraved in the tower's walls keeping
unforgettable memories. But such politicians were
not the only ones who loved the tower. In fact,
one of its first visitors was Hollywood movie
star, Katherine Hepburn, even though the tower had
somewhat of a rocky footing back then in
Egyptian-American politics. It was actually
financed with American funds, but was not exactly
what the Americans expected Nasser to do with the
money.
Completed in 1961 under the direction of
Naum Chebib, some say that the tower is, after the
Great Pyramid, Cairo's most famous landmark.
Certainly this tallest of Cairo's buildings is a
highlight of the modern city.
The best time to visit the tower, also known as
Borj al-Qahira, is at sunset, when millions of
twinkling lights come to life. From here, one can
make out on a clear day the easternmost extent of
Cairo, where the dark gray buildings run up
against the cliff face of the Muqattam Hills.
Looking west, the pyramids mark the limits of the
city and the start of the desert. Below, the Nile
River flows serenely north to the Mediterranean,
seeming to slice Cairo in two. To better
facilitate the view, there are also telescopes. |