Millions of tourists seek cheap flights to Cairo each year. This is the teeming metropolis of almost 18 million people, Africa's largest city, where the history stretches back 5,000 years.
Cairo is described as the City of a Thousand Minarets, although visitors may remember it as the City of a Million Screeching Horns. While it is undeniably crowded and dirty, few cities are as atmospheric and exciting.
It is the place to immerse oneself in the colourful and highly scented souks (the Khan al-Khalili alone is 600 years old), to fight one's way past the touts and papyrus sellers to enter the Egyptian Museum and gaze upon the golden face of Tutankhamen. It's also the place to view the Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx, smoke a water pipe (known by the locals as a shisha) enjoy a Turkish coffee and play a game of backgammon.
One of the most memorable ways of experiencing Cairo is by taking a trip on a felucca along the Nile at sunset, just as Cairenes have done for millennia.