Photo : Hatem Moushir — CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Cairo · Zamalek
Aquarium Grotto Garden
Rockwork grottoes built under Khedive Ismail, an aquarium opened in 1902, in the shade, in mid-Zamalek.
The garden, also called Gabalaya, takes up a corner of the old Gezira palace estate; the false-rock grottoes, put up by an Italian engineer for Khedive Ismail, took in a freshwater aquarium opened to the public in 1902. You go in by a stair, follow dark cool corridors with tanks set into the walls, and come out on a hill planted with banyans and figs. It is a neighbourhood garden, tiny by Cairo's standards, and the one corner of Zamalek where you can sit down without ordering anything. The tanks themselves are few and tired: come for the garden and the grottoes, not for the fish.
The extra bit
The top of the hill, behind the grottoes, costs you a few steps: benches, the street noise gone, and nobody about. Late afternoon for preference — that is the hour when the light reaches into the corridors.
Know before you go
Entry costs very little, and couples come here for a little quiet: the garden is calm, not empty. The corridors are dark and the floor uneven and wet in places, so wear something sensible on your feet. Not all the grottoes are open at once, and the state of the tanks changes from one visit to the next. The lavatories are basic.
