As the cacophony of honking horns surrounds me on our hotel terrace overlooking the Nile, I wonder to myself if they make them differently here, with all the use they get. I think to one of my favorite movies, Raiders of the Lost Ark, when Salah says to Indy, “welcome to Cairo, the city of the living.” The capital is certainly alive with activity. Twenty million people strong, Cairo resembles a hive, people scurrying everywhere, minarets punctuating the polluted sky. There is as much to experience here as there is to see.

And yet Coptic Cairo transports you to a resemblance of Europe, with the oldest churches in Africa and Christian cemeteries. Wandering around Islamic Cairo, with few vehicles, almost takes you back to medieval times. Cairo is a city with many faces. And if you can get past the chaos, see through it, you’ll discover a very unique place.