thanks for the info saulius!!
when was the last time you were there?
Last time I was there, I didn't leave the airport area. I flew in from Tel Aviv on 2 JUL 2013, to catch a 11pm flight to Johannesburg,
and it was during the 2013 Egyptian coup d'état.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Egyptian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat , when President Morsi was deposed by the Egyptian army. There were major protests going on at Tahrir Square, however the airport was very quiet. I did step out of the airport to go to a nearby pharmacy though.
Prior to that, I was there a few months before for a full day stop-over.
My first time in Egypt, was around in 2003, I flew in from Germany to Sharm El Sheikh (taking a taxi straight afterwards to Taba/Eilat) dressed in my black suit and borsalino. The Lufthansa lady at check-in was asking me in German, "Are you Jewish?", and telling me it's stupid (blödsinn) and too dangerous for me to go, and telling me I should fly to Tel Aviv instead, but I only paid €19.99 for a round trip ticket. (Back in those days, tickets from Europe to Tel Aviv were over $800 off-season). I later read up the Lonely Planet Egypt book, and took a friend along who was learning in yeshiva there. (I was thrown out, because I had no money for tuition). To get to Cairo, we took Egged bus to Eilat, went to the Egyptian consulate, where we got a visa on the spot, and then crossed over into Taba, and took a taxi to Suez, and then a bus to Cairo. We toured the shuls, pyramids, museums, markets (Khan al Khalili). In Cairo, we mostly travelled using the underground metro system and by foot. We returned taking the night bus from Cairo to Taba. My friend was extremely paranoid, asking me "Is this safe?" non-stop for the 2 days we were there. He returned back to Jerusalem, telling everybody that he felt more safe in Cairo than in Jerusalem. However, during those years, the atmosphere in Cairo was much different, and there were tourist police on every corner. (They have different uniforms). These days, there are few tourists at the Pyramids -- the millions of European tourists who do travel to Egypt each year, primarily stick to to their resorts in the Sinai (Sharm El Sheikh, Hurghada, Marsa Alam, etc.).