Cairo, the great metropolis is the hub not just of Egypt but of the whole middle east. the noise and nonstop bustle of the capital don’t perhaps encourage a prolonged stay, but there’s no getting around it.
You can’t begin to understand Egypt without exploring Cairo’s great national museum and its Islamic and Coptic quarters before going on your pilgrimage to the pyramids of Giza on the edge of town and further south at Saqqara.