We have been scouring our brains for interesting new things to do with Maya in Cairo, where it seems there is a dearth of good, stimulating activities for the under-four set. Going to the Gezira club every day and music/art toddler classes once or twice a week has been getting too tediously predictable recently. So in advance of the granparents' visit, I was actively searching for new things to do with Maya. My parents have already done the whole Egypt tourist thing, and really this visit is all about family. But I knew they would get pretty tired of just going to the park.
So we heard about a place near the pyramids called Fagnoon (Crazy Art) that was supposed to be really fun for kids. We weren't sure if Maya would be too young to appreciate it, but we decided to give it a try anyway. And we drove out there today.
First, we got completely lost. We basically drove all around Giza for 3 hours (not kidding here), but we were determined to find it. Once we finally arrived -- after multiplephone calls for directions, taking the wrong turn like 3 million times, and then getting stuck twice behind the world's most slow moving piece of machinery -- it was well past Maya's naptime. But we decided to just stop for a quick visit to stretch our legs and get a sense of the place.
It was AWESOME! Can I just repeat myself -- awesome! Maya had a terrific time painting. She painted the walls, floor, table, benches, cardboard and best of all, herself. It is a really laid back place where they basically encourage kids to be as creative as they want to be and to decide themselves how they want to do art. When Maya was literally pouring the paint out on the floor, the staff were encouraging her to experiment with it, touch it, smear it, etc.
They also have goats that you can feed, and a donkey that you can ride -- though Maya was too scared of the animals to get that close. But she did like to look. We will definitely be going back to this place again. And it looked like there are lots farm-style Egyptian restaurants nearby that serve country-style food in an open-air atmosphere. We didn't have time to try them today, but maybe next time. Hope you like the pictures.
5 comments:
Wow, Fagnoon does sound great. I've read about it, but your review is compelling. Maybe we'll try to get out there later this week... it sounds like they are open during Eid, eh? What was the admission price?
I'm just blog happy today!
Yes, they're open during eid. I think it was 40 pounds for one child to do two activities (Maya only did one because we were running up against nap time). And feeding the animals is free. I think they might have a discount for more than one child, but I'm not sure. While we were there, I was thinking Bug and Giggle would really enjoy it. I thought it was great!
Boy, does Maya's joy show in these pictures (and she usually looks happy)!/G'ma L.
Lucy would so LOVE a place like this! What a fabulous idea... and according to some, it's true art they are creating (no boundaries)!
Makena would dig this too. This looks incredibly fun and satisfying for a toddler (hey, and an adult).
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