Ellen and I got off to a bumpy start this morning, but it worked out just fine. I waited outside but never saw Sayed. Finally I asked the gentleman at the front desk to call Sayed's celli. Sayed stated that he'd been waiting outside but couldn't see us. He told me that he wasn't allowed on the grounds of the hotel and that we had to walk out to the street, where he was waiting.

Sayed seemed to be a very nice gentleman, probably in his late 50s. He asked us where we wanted to go and I told him. He also said he'd take us to some special spots and we were whisked off.

I asked him what the chant was on his celli. He said it actually is a prayer. Prosperity, peace and good will.

First stop, The Mosque of Sultan Hasan is a massive Mamluk era mosque located near the Citadel in Cairo. Its construction began 757/1356 AD with work ending three years later "without eve n a single day of idleness". At the time of construction the Mosque was considered remarkable for its fantastic size and innovative architectural components. Commissioned by a sultan of a short and relatively unimpressive profile, al-Maqrizi noted that within the mosque were several "wonders of construction". The mosque was for example designed to include schools for all four of the Sunni schools of thought: Shafi, Maliki, Hanafi and Hanbal I.

But Ellen and I hopped out onto Salah El Din Square which is near the Citadel, to take some photos, we even had Sayed to take some photos of us. The square was buzzing with people. I was feeling pretty happy about this day.

Behind us was the Al-Rifa'i Mosque in Midan al-Qal'a, adjacent to the Cairo Citadel. The building is located opposite the Mosque-Madrassa of Sultan Hassan, which dates from around 1361, and was architecturally conceived as a complement to the older structure. This was part of a vast campaign by the 19th century rulers of Egypt to both associate themselves with the perceived glory of earlier periods in Egypt's Islamic history and modernize the city. The mosque was constructed next to two large public squares and off of several European style boulevards constructed around the same time.

The Al-Rifa'i Mosque was constructed in two phases over the period between 1869 and 1912, when it was finally completed.
It was originally commissioned by Khushyar Hanim, the mother of the 19th century KhediveIsma'il Pasha to expand and replace the preexisting zawiya (shrine) of the medieval era Islamic saint Ahmad al-Rifa'i. The zawiya was a pilgrimage site for locals who believed that the tomb had mystical healing properties. Khushayer envisioned a dual purpose for the new structure as a house for sufi relics and a mausoleum for the royal family of Egypt. Over the course of its construction the architect, design, and purpose were changed.

Husayn Fahmi Pasha al-Mi'mar, a distant cousin in the dynasty founded by Muhammad Ali in 1803. He died during the first phase of construction, and work was halted after KhediveIsma'il Pasha abdicated in 1880. Khushayar Hanim herself died in 1885, and work was not resumed until 1905 when the KhediveAbbas Hilmi II ordered its completion. Work was supervised by the Austrian architect Max Herz, head of the Committee for the Conservation of Arab Monuments in Cairo.

The building itself is a mélange of styles taken primarily from the Mamluk period of Egyptian history, including its dome and minaret. The building contains a large prayer hall as well as the shrines of al-Rifa'i and two other local saints, Ali Abi-Shubbak and Yahya al-Ansari.

The mosque is the resting place of Khushyar Hanim and her son
Isma'il Pasha, as well as numerous other members of Egypt's royal family, including King Farouk, Egypt's last reigning king, whose body was interred here after his death in Rome in 1965. The mosque served briefly as the resting place of Reza Shah Pahlavi of Iran, who died in exile in South Africa in 1944, and was returned to Iran after World War II. Part of the burial chamber is currently occupied by Reza Shah's son Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, who died in Cairo in 1980.

We hopped back into the car and Sayed asked if we would mind if he picked up his son to take him to work. We didn't mind as we were enjoying the city. We even laughed when Sayed's wife called him. He told her he was working. It was kind of cute. There were so many sights as Sayed winded through the streets of Cairo with ease.

We picked up his son who didn't talk much. He's engaged to be married. We dropped him off and continued on our way. I asked Sayed about women wearing the hijab, jilbab, burqa. Sayed explained to us that that wearing these traditional garments were totally the decision of the husband. The husband may not want other men viewing their wives, so they make them cover up and that it was not a women's choice as explained to us earlier on the tour. He also explained that most marriages were arranged and if they weren't all parents had to agree on the marriage. Dating is permitted but definitely no pre-marital sex. I asked about seeing young women dressing as Westerners. He explained that there are girls who are wayward same as the U.S.

We also saw girls wearing jeans but still sporting the hijab. Strange combo, but every country has their traditions.

We headed on to our next stop. Before we got out Ellen was trying to whisper something to me but I couldn't here her. Then she said, "your pants are ripped." I look over at Sayed and he looked a bit embarrassed. He said, "I was hoping your friend would tell you as it is embarrassing for a man to tell a woman." He should have just finished it, "that her butt was out." Luckily Ellen wore a cap, so I could wrap my head with her scarf and wrap my body with my cover-up, to enter the next mosque.

We headed into the gate and took some photos. Then on up to the actual mosque. I wished I'd counted all the steps I'd taken since we began two weeks ago. Inside there were monks (I supposed) who had green satin slippers for people entering the mosque. They just asked for a small donation. There were some other tourists who were very rude. I have no idea how Americans got the bad rep of being bad tourists. Anyway, one of the guys in the group shouted, "no, I'm not giving you any money and proceeded to walk through with his bare boat shoes on. It was just awful how disrespectful people can be. He probably doesn't walk through his own house with those boat shoes on. The daughter also had on shorts. These people are rude. Sayed and Gladys both stated that it is very disrespectful to their country; however, tourists just have no respect.

I placed a donation in the box and the gentleman removed my sandals and tied the satin coverings over my feet and we headed in.

The Mosque of Ahmad Ibn Ţulūn is arguably the oldest mosque in the city surviving in its original form, and is the largest mosque in Cairo in terms of land area.

The mosque was commissioned by
Ahmad ibn Ţulūn, the Abbassid governor of Egypt from 868-884 whose rule was characterized by de facto independence. The historian al-Maqrizi lists the mosque's construction start date as 876 AD, and the mosque's original inscription slab identifies the date of completion as 265 AH, or 879 AD.

The mosque was constructed on a small hill called Gebel Yashkur, "The Hill of Thanksgiving." One local legend says that it is here that
Noah's Ark came to rest after the Deluge, instead of at Mount Ararat.

The grand ceremonial mosque was intended as the focal point of Ibn Ţulūn's capital, al-Qatta'i, which served as the center of administration for the Tulunid dynasty. The mosque originally was backed by ibn Ţulūn's palace, and a door adjacent to the minbar allowed him direct entry to the mosque. Al-Qatta'i was razed in the early 10th century, AD, and the mosque is the only surviving structure. The mosque was constructed in the Samarran style common with Abbassid constructions. The mosque is constructed around a courtyard, with one covered hall on each of the four sides, the largest being on the side of the qibla, or direction to Mecca. The original mosque had its ablution fountain (sabil) in the area between the inner and outer walls. A distinctive sabil with a high drum dome was added in the central courtyard at the end of the thirteenth century by the Sultan Lajīn.

There is significant controversy over the date of construction of the
minaret, which features a helical outer staircase similar to that of the famous minaret in Samarra. Legend has it that ibn Ţulūn himself was accidentally responsible for the design of the structure: supposedly while sitting with his officials, he absentmindedly wound a piece of parchment around his finger. When someone asked him what he was doing, he responded, embarrassed, that he was designing his minaret. Many of the architectural features, however, point to a later construction, in particular the way in which the minaret does not connect well with the main mosque structure, something that would have been averted had the minaret and mosque been built at the same time. Architectural historian Doris Behrens-Abouseif asserts that Sultan Lajīn, who restored the mosque in 1296, was responsible for the construction of the current minaret.

The mosque has been restored several times. The first known restoration was in 1177 under orders of the Fatimid wazir Badr al-Jamālī, who left a second inscription slab on the mosque, which is noted for containing the Shī'ī version of the shahada, adding the phrase "And Ali is the wali of God" after acknowledging the oneness of God and the prophet hood of Muhammad. Sultan Lajīn's restoration of 1296 added several improvements. The mosque was most recently restored by the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities in 2004.

During the medieval period, several houses were built up against the outside walls of the mosque. Most were demolished in 1928 by the Committee for the Conservation of Arab Monuments, however, two of the oldest and best-preserved homes were left intact. The "house of the Cretan woman" (
Beit al-Kritliyya) and the Beit Amna bint Salim, were originally two separate structures, but a bridge at the third floor level was added at some point, combining them into a single structure. The house, accessible through the outer walls of the mosque, is open to the public as the Gayer-Anderson Museum, named after the British general R.G. 'John' Gayer-Anderson, who lived there until 1942.

Parts of the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me were filmed at the Mosque of Ibn Tulun and in the Gayer-Anderson Museum.

This felt like a sacred place and I enjoyed it's peacefulness.

There are so many cars and so many people here. Sayed is a very careful driver.

We headed on to Coptic Cairo. Coptic Cairo is a part of Old Cairo which encompasses the Babylon Fortress, the Coptic Museum, the Hanging Church, the Greek Church of St. George and many other Coptic churches and historical sites. It is believed that the Holy Family visited this area and stayed at the site of Saints Sergius and Bacchus Church (Abu Serga). Coptic Cairo was a stronghold for Christianity in Egypt until the Islamic era, though most of the current buildings of the churches in Coptic Cairo were built after the Muslim conquest of Egypt.

We drove as Sayed explained, until we reached The City of The Dead. The City of the Dead, or Cairo Necropolis (Qarafa, el-Arafa), is an Arabic
necropolis and cemetery below the Mokattam Hills in southeastern Cairo, Egypt. The people of Cairo, the Cairenes, and most Egyptians, call it el'arafa (trans. 'the cemetery'). It is a 4 miles (6 km) long (north-south) dense grid of tomb and mausoleum structures, where some people live and work amongst the dead. Some reside here to be near ancestors, of recent to ancient lineage. Some live here after being forced from central Cairo due to urban renewal demolitions and urbanization pressures, that increased from the Nasser 1950s on. Other residents immigrated in from the agricultural countryside, looking for work — an example of rural to urban migration in an LEDC. The poorest live in the City of the Dead slum, and Manshiyat naser, which is also known as Garbage City, a center of recycling and reuse Zabbaleen vendors.

City of the Dead is also described as a
slum. The slum possibly has a population of more than half a million people. It is in the East of the city. Another slum in the same conurbation is Manshiyat naser.

While driving through here I saw a rather eerie sight. Slithering between some headstones was a woman in full burqa. I could tell she'd been crying. I didn't see her feet which made it almost seem as though she was floating really fast. She was gone in an instant. Sayed explained that there are some entire families that live in the tombs. Some families where the breadwinner has passed on and left the family with no income and nowhere to live. It seemed to be a pretty shady area and I don't think I'd like to be caught there at night. There was a small tourist group that got out and their guide was leading them down a small alley.
Sayed drove us on to what seemed to be a dead-end road. He spoke to a few of his friends and directed us to go around the corner to view another church.
We walked around the corner and past a fire station. The church was to the right. I should have worn shoes because there was not only trash in my path (notice I didn't say road) but broken glass too.

Coptic Orthodox Church also known as the Hanging Church (El Muallaqa) is one of the oldest churches in Egypt and the history of a church on this site dates to the 3rd century AD.

The Hanging (The Suspended) Church is named for its location above a gatehouse of
Babylon Fortress, the Roman fortress in Coptic Cairo (Old Cairo); its nave is suspended over a passage. The church is approached by 29 steps; early travelers to Cairo dubbed it "the Staircase Church." The land surface has risen by some 6 meters since the Roman period so that the Roman tower is mostly buried below ground, reducing the visual impact of the church's elevated position. The entrance from the street is through iron gates under a pointed stone arch. The nineteenth century facade with twin bell towers is then seen beyond a narrow courtyard decorated with modern art biblical designs. Up the steps and through the entrance is a further small courtyard leading to the eleventh century outer porch.The Hanging Church is the most famous Coptic Christian church in Cairo, as well as possibly the first built in Basilican style. It was probably built during the patriarchate of Isaac (690-92), though an earlier church building may have existed elsewhere dating as early as the 3rd or 4th century. However, the earliest mention of the church was a statement in the biography of the patriarch Joseph I (831-49), when the governor of Egypt visited the establishment. The church was largely rebuilt by the Pope Abraham (975-78) and has seen many other restorations including one very recently, after which objects of historical interest that were no longer of service went to the Coptic Museum.

This church was beautiful and so much beautiful artwork. I took some great shots of Cairo from here. Ellen and I ventured through to a small vending area. There was also a woman accepting donations for the church. They even sold cards and envelopes and other souvenirs. We ventured on through and into the church. There were people praying and chanting. We stayed just a little while longer and came out to look at the items in the gift shop.
We headed back and Sayed whisked us off to "The Khan." He couldn't park there, so he took us to a parking lot and we paid the attendant. It took forever to get in, as there seemed to be no special order in which people parked. It was a mess. Finally we parked and Ellen and I headed down to "The Khan."

Khan el-Khalili is a major
souk in the Islamic district of Cairo. The bazaar district is one of Cairo's main attractions for tourists and Egyptians alike.
In addition to shops, there are several

coffeehouses, restaurants, and street food vendors distributed throughout the market. The coffee shops are generally small and quite traditional, serving Arabic coffee and usually offering shisha. The al-Hussein Mosque is also in Khan el-Khalili; Al-Azhar University and its mosque are not far away.

This place was teeming with people and tourists. I thought the mall I'd visited in Hong Kong with over 1K stores was a lot, but this place tops that probably by 5K. As we entered we found ourselves in a crusty little alley. I was so in awe, I was almost hit by a car. I tried to get out of the way but didn't realize I was standing next to a very high curb. I fell but didn't hurt myself. An American gentleman asked if I was alright. I said, "yes" and then he asked if we needed help finding something. I told him I was looking for a soap shop. He said, "I really don't know of one of those in here." So I told him we were really just coming to check it out. He said, "my apartment is around the corner, would you like some water or use the bathroom." Both Ellen and I
We headed back in and there he was, just like everyone on Tripadvisor talked about. "Shaggy." Shaggy was 29 I think he told us. He was a real talker. I showed him Denise's jewelry choices and he sent someone out to get the earrings. Shaggy even sang a reggae song by Shaggy. Too funny. He even said he liked "brown sugar." Oh my goodness, I couldn't believe he said that. He watches way too many American movies. Anyway Steve, Ellen, me and Shaggy talked a while waiting on the people to bring the jewelry. Reminded me of the Coach purse situation in Hong Kong, accept Shaggy didn't lock the door.
I was kind of worried that Sayed would leave us. Steve said, "did you pay him?" I said, " no, not yet." He then said, "he'll be there." Steve said he had to leave and he was going to send someone back with a business card and a bar of soap someone had given him. I thanked him and he left the store.
I asked Shaggy where could I get some hibiscus tea from. He had someone bring the tea to us. Man I'm telling you. This is customer

said no. We didn't know this man, but we waited outside his apartment and we looked around a bit.
On the corner was some kind of bird shop. It smelled so bad and the chickens looked horrible. All I could think of, was, bird flu. Who would buy those let alone eat them. They all looked sick. Anyway Steve came down and led us in further. He said he didn't mind showing us through as he had some errands to run.
We headed on in and he stopped at a shoppe with some absolutely beautiful things inside. I grabbed a seat and Ellen tried on a few things. I could tell by Steve's conversation he was some type of distributor. Turns out he has his own export business. Pretty cool.
We left there and we walked further in. There was so much stuff, I actually couldn't take it all in at once. There were so many little shoppes selling all kinds of stuff and what seemed to be billions of people.
We walked further and Steve told us to wait. He wanted to stick his head in a shoppe to say hello. So then he asked where did we want to go next. I said, "well I'm looking for a jewelry store called Gouzlan." He smiled and said, "that's the shoppe I just came out of." I looked up and saw the name across the front. I'm telling you, there's so much to just see, who has time to look for names of shoppes.

service at it's best. The tea was of a smaller quantity and I'd asked for more. The young man brought us a larger size that Ellen and I could split.
Then I asked Shaggy about getting a tattoo. He said, "let me find out. There's a Nubian woman who does them but she may be gone." I paid Shaggy for the jewelry he had that matched the closest to Denise's list. The young man came back to report that he'd found the Nubian woman. I don't know if the woman was packing up or not as it took a while for her to come.
Oh my gosh did she look mean. She looked as though I stunk. I explained to her that I wanted on my back waist. The guys including Shaggy went outside. I think so they wouldn't see my bare skin. The woman yanked my pants down and rolled the waist down. Ellen watched. I was glad she was there as I don't think I could take this woman, she was huge. I sat on the stool in front of her and she began to do her thing. Ellen was telling me that the design looked nice. After she was done she motioned her hands for what seemed to be way too much money. I asked Shaggy to come in and explain to me why she wanted so much money. Of course Shaggy broke her down and told me what to give her and showed her the door.
Ellen helped me wrap myself so the dye would dry. I smudged one side of Horus' eye a bit with my finger. Before we got out of there, Shaggy wanted me to tell all the American girls about him and give them his eMail address. I said okay and we headed out. I grabbed a shot glass and magnet for Donna. I just wished that each city had something on it other than Egypt, at least the name of each city.
Ellen and I headed out happy. I really wished we could stay there for a few more hours. I would have also liked a guide with us, because it was so densely populated.

We walked up to the parking lot and Sayed was standing there. He said he was worried because we stayed so long, but I told him I got a tattoo. He just smiled. We got out of the parking lot and headed back towards the hotel. I wanted to stop and grab a soda, since I drank my last Pepsi yesterday, but we passed a street vendor and I asked Sayed what he was selling. He said the Arabic name and then she said potato. I then said, "yam?" He said, "yes, would you like one?" I said, "yes." He drove back around the corner to get us one. He insisted on paying for it, in the event we didn't like it.

It was wrapped in paper that seemed to be someone's algebra homework. It was roasted and it was absolutely delicious. Sweet with nothing on it. Had we had some butter, oh my goodness, it would have been the bomb.
Sayed dropped us off at the hotel and we took a couple of photos of him, as he posed next to his car.
It was a great day, just wished for another.
It was such a great day, I didn't mind packing for my trip home.
We had dinner which wasn't as delicious as last night's but it filled an empty spot. I kept telling myself I'll sleep on the plane.
This was such a memorable trip, but I do want to get home and into my own bed.