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Rising 187m above Gezira, the Borg al-Qahira or Cairo Tower offers a stupendous view of the seething immensity of Cairo (daily: winter 9am-midnight; summer 9am-1am; GBPE25, video permit GBPE15); the entrance is to the north of the tower in Sharia el-Borg. Built between 1957 and 1962 with Soviet help, the tower combines pharaonic and socialist realist motifs within a latticework shaft of poured concrete that blossoms into a lotus finial. On the fourteenth floor is an overpriced "Egyptian-style" restaurant (set meal GBPE60; ticket from the entrance) that occasionally revolves; above it is a similarly styled cafeteria serving tolerable tea, with the viewing room - complete with telescopes - upstairs from here. The real attraction, though, provided by the cafe, restaurant and a viewing platform at the top, is the panoramic vista of Cairo . East across the river, the blue and white Nile Hilton and the antenna-festooned Television Building delineate an arc of central Cairo. Beyond lies the medieval quarter, bristling with minarets below the Citadel and the serene Muqattam Hills. Roda Island and deluxe hotels dominate the view south (upriver); to the north are Zamalek, Shubra and the Nile Delta. Westwards, the city extends to meet the desert, with the Pyramids visible on the horizon on clear days. Come a while before sunset to witness Cairo transformed by nightfall, as a thousand muezzins call across the water. Below the tower is the Legends nightclub which has belly dancing every night and a minimum charge of GBPE30.
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