After a lovely dinner at the Kadoura restaurant in Mohandessin with Ulises, Lauren and his coworkers Mr. Ahmed and Ms. Mariam, we went on the search for the best Nile views. My uncle knows best, so he took me to the Qasr al-Nil Bridge, which connects Downtown Cairo with Gezira Island and Zamalek district. 

The first sights of the bridge are impressive, with two huge stone lion statues flanking its approaches. Qasr al-Nil translates for Palace of the Nile, and you do get that feeling by walking its broad sidewalks, a popular place for strolling in the evenings and a beloved spot for young couples. 

As we walked towards the bridge's center we passed by couples (some of them holding hands and one of them even kissing), chain hotels like the Novotel, one or two vendors selling flowers and Cairenes hurrying to get home, almost as if they ignored the surrounding landscape, which they  see everyday.

Before my eyes, the magnificent, millenial, mighty Nile making its away across Africa's largest capital in such a silent, but powerful manner. I couldn't help to be quiet for a minute or two. Of course I wanted to take pictures, but I was too impressed at first to do so. The delicate breeze was caressing us in a warm summer night and everything seemed just as if it was a painting, a snapshot from a photographer's dream. The neon lights that decorate the boats crossing the Nile seemed to move at the speed of  light, but the boats were as slowly as a snail's pace. The lights coming from the skyscrapers and hotels along the Nile looked blurry against the huge advertising screens, which put up a light show that remembered me that this city never sleeps. Perhaps it is the Nile which gives this city its beat, the pulse of a river that has meant life and wellness since the dawn of History...