March 16, 2026 – Cairo Travel: Saladin’s Citadel & Grand Egyptian Museum

Our second day in Cairo saw us catching an Uber out to the Sultan Saladin Citadel, about a twenty-minute drive from our condo. Ubers in Cairo are a fantastic way to get around. The drivers are polite and waiting is at a minimum. I can’t express enough how convenient and safe (in our personal experience) it was. Having said that, they do drive fast, so those grab handles came in handy!

The Sultan Saladin Citadel is a fortress that is nearly 850 years old, and unlike many historic sites that were built, completed and then left largely as they were, the Citadel has been in a continual state of change. Saladin began construction here in 1176, choosing the high ground of the Mokattam Hills for its strategic advantage and as a way to protect Cairo from invasion. The fortress was completed under his successors, and over the centuries it evolved from a military stronghold and royal residence into a sprawling complex of mosques, palaces and other buildings. Mamluk sultans added to it, the Ottomans left their mark, and eventually Muhammad Ali Pasha transformed parts of the Citadel in the 19th century. In other words, what you see today is really a snapshot of nearly 850 years of Cairo’s history layered on top of itself.

Once inside the fortress, we made our way straight to the Great Mosque of Muhammad Ali, AKA the Alabaster Mosque. We entered the fortress at the same time as a number of other bus groups and sought to get ahead of the impending crowd. It worked, and we had the mosque mostly to ourselves for a solid ten minutes.

The Mosque is massive, humbling and beautiful. Construction began in 1830 under Muhammad Ali Pasha, the founder of the dynasty that would rule Egypt for more than 150 years. It was built on the site of Mamluk palaces and was deliberately designed in the Ottoman style, reflecting Muhammad Ali’s connections to and ambitions within the wider Ottoman world. The nickname “Alabaster Mosque” comes from the extensive alabaster—or, more precisely, alabaster-like marble—paneling covering much of the interior and exterior. Its enormous central dome, surrounded by semi-domes and smaller domes, dominates the prayer hall, while its twin minarets rise 84 metres above the Citadel.

We wandered the outside courtyard, admiring the intricate decorative washing station, as well as the clock tower, which was a gift from the French king Louis-Philippe to Muhammad Ali in 1845. The clock was part of a diplomatic exchange between France and Egypt; in return, Muhammad Ali gave France an ancient Egyptian obelisk from Luxor, which now stands in the Place de la Concorde in Paris. The clock itself was damaged in transit and famously never functioned properly, but nevertheless stands watch over the courtyard.

Once inside, the grandeur is almost overwhelming. The multiple domes are decorated with gold and calligraphic inscriptions from the Quran. Columns of alabaster glow in the light of the enormous chandeliers, and the scale of the prayer hall makes you feel very small, very quickly.

We stepped out into the side courtyard with its astonishing views of the city and the two mosques nearby; the Mosque-Madrasa of Sultan Hasan and the Al Rifa’i Mosque. We did not make our way there, however. Finding some chairs in the shade next to a coffee shop, we sipped blazingly hot espresso while just basking in the sheer magnificence of the Alabaster Mosque and the view stretching out across Cairo.

Setting out to explore the rest of the complex, we found yet another mosque, the Al-Nasir Muhammad Mosque. This one took us back several centuries from the Alabaster Mosque to the Mamluk period. Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad ibn Qalawun commissioned the original mosque in 1318, then had it rebuilt and enlarged in 1335. It served as the royal mosque for the Mamluk sultans living in the Citadel, which gives you a pretty good idea of its importance at the time. The architecture is very different from the grand Ottoman style of the Alabaster Mosque, with an open central courtyard surrounded by covered porticos and two distinctive minarets that were originally topped with green tiles. It has also had a rather less glamorous chapter in its history; during the British occupation of Egypt in the late 19th century, the mosque was used as a prison and storage facility and suffered considerable damage before eventually being restored.

From there we explored the jail and the outer plaza with an old cannon. The Citadel, being a fortress and seat of government for centuries, naturally had its share of prisons. There were actually several prisons within the complex over its long history, including some pretty grim underground cells. The current Citadel Prison Museum, however, dates primarily to the 19th and 20th centuries and was used to hold political prisoners and other prominent figures. Walking through it was a rather sobering contrast to the beauty of the mosques we had just been admiring.

And then there was the cannon. There are a number of stories surrounding the Citadel’s famous Ramadan cannon, including the tale that a cannon was fired accidentally at sunset during Ramadan in 1467 and people took it as a signal that it was time to break their fast. Whether that is the actual origin or one of Cairo’s many wonderfully persistent stories, the tradition stuck. The cannon became associated with the announcement of sunset and the end of the day’s fast.

From Saladin’s Citadel to the Grand Egyptian Museum

By mid-morning, we decided to call an Uber and head for the New Grand Egyptian Museum. We hadn’t booked our tickets in advance as we were unsure as to the time we would arrive, and we had read they were sticklers for the entry times. (They are.) We went to the ticket counter only to find that they do not, in fact, accept payment for regular admission tickets at the museum counter, but rather tickets are purchased online with the QR codes displayed on your phone. The museum does operate with timed entry, so our concern about getting there at the right time wasn’t entirely misplaced.

So here’s the thing — if you can book your tickets and get there on time, do it, because the chaos of trying to buy tickets through your phone is a hassle. For us, we were travelling on an e-SIM, and to purchase the tickets online required receiving a text from our bank. This, of course, goes to your regular number, not your e-SIM number….I guess you can see where I am going with this.

Eventually, we had to be taken in the back of the customer service desk where, lo and behold, you could buy tickets with your credit card. Why they don’t have this as a regular option is beyond me. There were a number of tourists with the same issue. But I digress…

Entering the Museum, your attention is immediately drawn to the massive statue of Ramses II. And massive really doesn’t do it justice. The pink granite statue stands more than 11 metres tall and weighs approximately 83 tonnes, so it isn’t exactly something you can casually walk past. Ramses II ruled Egypt for roughly 66 years during the 13th Dynasty and is one of the most famous and prolific of all the pharaohs. His monuments and statues are scattered throughout Egypt, so having this particular colossus standing at the entrance feels like a pretty spectacular introduction to what lies ahead.

They have done an incredible job of setting this museum up, with detailed descriptions of the pharaohs, the different gods, tablets of hieroglyphics and monumental artifacts all incorporated into the entry experience. The building itself is enormous and modern, but the way they’ve arranged the ancient pieces makes the transition from the present day into thousands of years of Egyptian history feel remarkably natural.

The different rooms are set up to wander through easily, with the most impressive displays, of course, being the gold coffins, the chariots, and the famous mask of Tutankhamun. And yes, that mask is every bit as spectacular as you imagine it would be. Tutankhamun’s tomb was discovered by Howard Carter in 1922, and the treasures found inside became some of the most famous archaeological discoveries in the world. The Grand Egyptian Museum now brings the king’s collection together in a dedicated series of galleries, allowing you to see not just the famous golden mask, but the coffins, funerary equipment, jewellery, furniture, weapons and everyday objects that were buried with him for his journey into the afterlife.

This museum is incredible and I would say you shouldn’t go to Cairo without seeing it. The views of the Pyramids from the walkway were the cherry on the top! Having been to the Pyramids on our previous Cairo trip, we opted out of them, but they are truly magnificent.

A Steak and a Glass of Wine on the Nile

After a long day, we headed back to the condo to get ready for dinner. I had made reservations at Le Steak at Le Pacha 1901 some months prior, and we were excited to sit down for a fancy dinner.

Le Pacha 1901 is a pretty unique place to have dinner. The restaurant complex is actually housed on a floating palace on the Nile, with a history that goes back to the turn of the 20th century. A pasha from Upper Egypt had dreamed of building himself a luxurious floating palace where he could spend his later years surrounded by his treasures and beautiful things. Construction began in 1887, but he died in 1901 before the boat was completed. The unfinished vessel was eventually abandoned in Upper Egypt, where it sat for almost a century before being rediscovered, restored and transformed into the Le Pacha 1901 we see today. It opened as a dining and entertainment destination in 1992 and has become something of a Cairo institution, with several restaurants spread throughout the boat.

Le Steak is the French restaurant on board, designed with an Art Nouveau feel, complete with train-like booths and a very Belle Époque Parisian atmosphere. Sitting at water level with the Nile just outside the windows, it felt like a pretty perfect choice for our last meal of the day.

We were not disappointed. The variety of mezze to start were perfect, and we both opted for the Peppercorn Steak, which is what they are known for. And for good reason; it was excellent. Good wine is hard to come by in Egypt, but the waiter suggested a bottle of Chateau de Granville and it sat alongside our meal just fine, making it a great way to finish our day!