Manial Palace

If you’re spending long enough in Cairo to get tired of seeing Really Old Things with lots of other tourists, take a morning and check out the Manial Palace. It’s a pretty quiet place, with far fewer visitors than the cramped Egyptian Museum. On a pretty day the grounds are beautiful, and you can spend some time wandering through the opulent rooms in the palace and check out the Islamic art throughout the grounds. I don’t have my guide book in front of me, but it was built for a late-19th century prince in the royal family and the museum consists of several different buildings, including the main house, the visitor’s rooms, the mosque and the creepy “hunting museum”, which is not for the faint of heart. Like most house museums, you won’t get too fatigued and you can soak in the great surroundings and relax a little.