Gone are the times that smartly dressed gentlemen gathered here for a match of cricket, ladies lingered for a game of bridge, and Egypt's young elite flocked to the pool to exercise and gossip. Only some of the buildings still bear testimony to its colonial past as the Khedivial Sporting Club of the 1880s, one of them being the lovely red-bricked manager's cottage. The Gezira Sporting Club in Zamalek, short The Club, might have lost most of it's splendour and grandeur, but it still is a pleasant place for an extended stroll on a Saturday afternoon without the traffic, noise and hawkers that are a staple in most other parts of town. The good news is, it's now a rather democratic place, also granting access to us ordinary people as long as we can fork out the LE100 entrance fee. If you find the right entrance, though, it's only LE5. The Club is especially popular with families and while the young ones practise soccer or tennis, mummies and daddies meet over coffee and shish kebab in one of the many food outlets. Going with the times, there's a veritable food court now that can compete with most shopping malls around (if that's what you like), boasting even a miniature McDonalds branch and many an ice cream parlour.
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