Mena House

For our first few nights in Cairo we arranged to stay at Mena House; we wanted to see the famous old Giza hotel in the shadow of the pyramids. It’s been an iconic Egyptian destination since the 19th century, and is evocative of the days of the ‘grand tour’. It’s been the location of a variety of political summits, the romantic backdrop to several old films, and has hosted plenty of people over the years, from Winston Churchill to Barbara Bush. The hotel itself has been pretty well preserved and modernized. It’s tacky in a charming sort of way, ornate with gilt and marble; it has a strong institutional scent of soap, jasmine and cigarette smoke that reminds us of Turkey.

Culturally, Egypt may be the most “foreign” place we’ve been. Turkey is practically Greek by comparison, and we’ve always been reasonably comfortable in our various travels to places like China, Japan, Thailand & Cambodia—Asia feels familiar to us after years of living, working and socializing in a predominantly Asian city like San Francisco.