The main reason i came to Cairo is because my grandad lived here for 3 years during the second world war. On the whole i think he had quite a 'good war' as they put it, with that i mean he was never in combat. So i was excited to come here to find out a bit about the city that he lived in and talked so fondly about. I expected the architecture to be a mixture of Islamic and colonial and indeed it was, but really i found it quite unique in style. I spent most of my time in downtown Cairo because i was staying there; an area which was designed by french architects with wide boulevards and a grid layout. It was laid out in the late 19th century and the buildings are reminiscent of Paris at that time although most are run down and tired (see above a picture of Midan Talaat Harb, Downtown Cairo -note this photograph was not taken by me). The street i was staying on however, Emad El-Din Street, i found the buildings to be of a different style and incredibly imposing. The architecture a strange blend of European and Islamic resulting in these tall stone buildings which could almost be described as Islamic brutalism, if there is such a thing.
