Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Cairo, Egypt

Our first outing of the day was Coptic Cairo. This is the oldest part of the city. The compound lies within the walls of the 1st century Roman fortress of Babylon.The Hanging Church is the most beautiful of Cairo's churches and has an ornately decorated interior consisting of three barrel-vaulted, wooden roofed aisles, ivory inlaid screens and a finely carved marble pulpit. While sitting on the pews we were given a lecture on Coptic Christians whose ideas most closely resemble that of Catholics.

Perhaps the most famous church in all of Egypt St. Sergius owes its reputation to the widely held belief that the Holy Family took shelter in a cave on this spot during their flight into Egypt. The cave is preserved in the form of a crypt. Whatever the truth of the Holy stopover, the church is likely to be the oldest existing structure within the fortress, with foundations dating back to the 5th century.

Our final stop in this old section of Cairo was the Ben Ezra Synagogue. This is Egypt's oldest synagogue. It underwent extensive renovation in the 1980's and although it is no longer used for worship it is in a pristine state.

The Citadel was home to Egypt's rulers for almost 700 years. The site offered fantastic views over Cairo of the city's minarets, domes and fortifications. We had been advised to dress appropriately (either pants or skirts covering the knees) and bring a plastic bag to carry our shoes in for our visit to the huge Mohammed Ali Mosque housed inside the Citadel. We sat on the floor in the Mosque while Salad gave us informative details of the Islamic religion and the Koran.

Khan al-Khalili is the medieval bazaar of the Islamic Quarter. The narrow lanes are lined with shops selling everything from water pipes and handicrafts to silks and spices. I did find an item that I am going to convert into a Christmas tree ornament. Inside there was a lane that was a coffee house and everyone (both men and women) were smoking water pipes. I saw a proprietor bring a pipe to a patron and I asked if I could watch the ritual of setting it up and take a photo. The customer is given a clean plastic mouthpiece while the bottle is filled with water. Next, tobacco is put into a small bowl and then a fire of small pieces of charcoal is built on top of the tobacco. There was somewhat of a language barrier as I tried to ask questions such as how long could one smoke on the bowl of tobacco before it was gone. I think the answer was 5 minutes. I also asked the cost and was told 100 pounds ($20.00) but I don't know if that meant the price for the pipe or the price for smoking one bowl of tobacco. In any event they wanted to set me up with a pipe but I declined.

After our shopping, our guide met us at an outside café and I noticed the name of it and realized it was the same café were a bomb had exploded just about 6 weeks ago. I asked about it and he pointed to a bench about 15 feet away and said that it was an amateur job and I had been placed under the bench.

We stopped at a large restaurant/boat in moored on the Nile for a buffet lunch. This was the first time on the trip that we had actually seen the Nile.

We had a little free time before we set out for dinner. The tour company I use has a policy of having in-home visits with local families and tonight was the night for that. We went to a 6th story apartment of an interior decorator and her family. She took us on a tour of her home and introduced us to her sons. The meal she prepared was great but this home visit wasn't nearly as enjoyable as others I have been to. It just seemed too rehearsed and formal. It was interesting on the return to our hotel. We had a police escort with sirens and lights flashing both in front and in back of our bus. They even raced ahead to stop traffic going the opposite direction. We asked about it but did not really get a good explanation.

Well I need to start repacking because we will be leaving Cairo tomorrow and heading to Aswan.