
The Cairo de las Pyramids, that of the new great museum on the ancient Egypt of the Pharaohs or that of the capital of the Arab world (and of this Mediterranean country) with its mysterious and fascinating historical center full of mosque, stepmother and medieval mausoleums. These are the first images that come to mind when a trip to this city blessed with hundreds of valuable monuments is raised. But there is another Cairo, nothing famous and without a tourist claim apex, which has a particular and very unknown charm. It is the Cairo of the city center, the Wust El-Balad district, created in the last decades of the nineteenth century at the initiative of the Viceroy or Jedive of the Ottoman Empire, Ismail Pachá, which for this took as a Paris model.
This is the Cairo of the Egyptian Museum, which would be said from the pages of Agatha Christie, the beautiful modernist buildings and the Art Deco of the twenties and thirty of the last century. It is a Cairo in whose bass still they last legendary cafes where the intellectuals and the parishioners who show the proverbial sense of humor and satire, and where auditoriums that welcomed the performances of Umm Kalzum – the greatest diva that Arab music has gathered. It was also the scenario of success and successful films such as The Yacobián building (2006) by director Marwan Hamed, based on the homonymous book of Alaa ‘Al-Aswany. In addition, here there are apartments where some of the best known artists inhabited not only of Egyptian cinema, but worldwide, and classic call hotels Belle Époque of the city.
The route to know the main architectural milestones of the twenties and thirty of the last century in the center of Cairo can be done on foot that allows stops to rest, eat or dinner in historic restaurants, coffees and pastries, or have coffee or tea with Arab cupcakes in garden care.
The walk can start after a breakfast in one of the premises that the Pastry El Abd has in the center of the Egyptian capital since the seventies. The one located at the corner of July 26 Avenue with Sherif Basha Street is the closest to the Jedival buildings, four impressive twin blocks crowned by those domes that are also seen in Paris or on the Gran Vía de Madrid, located on both banks of Emad El-Din Street and built in 1910. It is interesting to enter the portals to take a look at their small gardens or interior courtyards. After a couple of perpendicular streets in the south direction, Al Alfy street concentrates a few places to take a Shawarma To continue the route with energy if breakfast has been frugal.
Descending south on Sherif Basha street you get to Adly Street, and turning right is the Shaar Hashamayim synagogue, style art nouveau, with beautiful native details on its facade – as the bas -reliefs of palm trees. Of course, you can only see its exterior: it is closed to the cult and protected by a couple of police vans. Five minutes walk from the Jewish temple, the Great Diagonal Talaat Harb Avenue appears, the formerly called Solimán Pacha, in honor of the general and governor of Algiers, whom the Egyptian revolution of 1952 left without a street. Here, the first buildings that come to our path are the Miami cinema, opened in 1938, and the adjacent Yacobián building, housing in the nineties of workers, dependent, aristocrats in full fall, undercover homosexuals and some thug in the novel by Alaa ‘Al-Aswany and the Marwan Hamed movie. Style Art Decowas designed by the architect Garo Balian for the Armenian businessman Hagop Yacobián in 1937. After a splendor time in which his residents were millionaires and members of the Egyptian royalty, the 1952 revolution expropriated it to ced it to military and their families until reaching the current decline: the building is the headquarters of offices and impersonal business.

The walk continues along Talaat Harb avenue to the square of the same name. Shortly before arriving, the Cinema Radio Theater stands, built in 1932, where Umm Kalzum performed several times Enta omri accompanied by the Cairo Symphony Orchestra. Following the Avenue is the Behler passage, designed in the twenties by the Franco-Armenian architect León Nafilyan in a vague style Art Deco and that houses several fashion stores and cosmetics.
Two steps from the end of the Behler alley, the Cosmopolitan Cairo hotel stands, with a facade too Art Deco of 1928, more interesting than its restored interior, although the drowns Churchill can serve for a break along the way. From here a walk in the direction of the Nilo River leads to Tahrir Square, also known as the Liberation Square. This place has been the scene of several mass protests that have resulted in violent clashes. From this square, climbing Meret Basha Street, you reach another notable building, the Egyptian Museum of Cairo, of neoclassical style and opened in 1902 to house the best archaeological treasures in the country of the pharaohs. In one of its rooms they await its definitive transfer the mask and the throne of Tutankamon to the great Egyptian museum in Giza, which has already opened most of its rooms on the eve of its official inauguration on July 3.

The superb buildings making Chaflán in the roundabout of the Plaza de Talaat Harb are other good exponents of the modernist Cair Immobilia, who once was the residence of actor Omar Sharif, until the firm Groppi Garden opened there an establishment in 1891, a delicious oasis in the middle of the chaos of the traffic chaos of ABD El-Khalik Tharwat Avenue. Before or after coffee or tea with pasta in the garden you have to admire the beautiful windows that adorn their living room. Another era coffee is à l’mericaine, five minutes walk from the Garden Garden, on July 26. This place is a classic place of the forties with a beautiful facade and with original details such as the steaming cup cut in the back of the wood from the chairs where the characters of The Yacobián building.
At dusk, Café Riche, from the beginning of the last century, along with Midan Talaat Harb, is ideal for a beer dinner in the nostalgic environment of its lounge decorated with black and white photos of the ancient actors and the divas of the Egyptian cinema and intellectuality that frequented the premises, chaired by a great portrait of the Nobel Prize for Naguib Mahfuz literature.

And for a pleasant end of the tour, especially on a hot spring or summer night, next to the entrance of Café Riche starts the alley to the Bostan al Sidi, where a few terraces are crowded-that of the cafetín Zahret al-Bustan is one of the most popular-very lively, with parishioners of all the ages that smoke Shishas and drink juices until the hours of the morning.