Paris on the Nile

This afternoon Dad and I made the 20-minute journey on the Metro from Maadi to downtown Cairo to buy nuts. This is a long weekend so the streets were relatively quiet and one could admire the vision of Khedive Isma'il Pasha. Ruling in the late 1800s, he was determined to modernize Cairo. He brought gas and lighting and designed a new downtown core with open midans (squares) and wide boulevards lined with architectural gems. He created 'Paris on the Nile'.

On Midan Talaat Harb, named after a nationalistic industrialist who created the first true Egyptian bank, stands an culinary institution. Italian entrepreneur Giacomo Groppi established the Groppi patisserie here in 1909. It was the chicest tea room in Cairo, drawing in royalty, literati, cinema stars, and revolutionaries.

Although it can no longer boast to be the best tea room in town, it is a nice place to stop for a rest in a  nostalgic setting.

In the faded interior, elements of its Belle Epoque past can still be seen.