Pyramids and Mosques and a Nile Cruise--Part II, Lower Egypt

So Monday morning we arrived in Cairo for our four days there. Once again, no sight of the pyramids as we passed Giza.

Typical building along the railroad tracks.

But I think most everywhere you don't

see a city's best along the tracks.

We arrived in Rameses Station and had a huge hassle over the price of a taxi to our hotel which wasn’t too far away but too far for me to want to haul a suitcase. We finally settled on LE40 which we could tell by later trips was a lot, and this was after getting them down. The traffic in Cairo was just as bad as we had heard—just like Delhi. It was hard to find our hotel because numbers on buildings are few and far between. Our hotel, Eco Hotel, was the top two floors of a ten-story building on a busy street, Kasr al Nil. It was a great location. The owner proudly showed us the view which I thought was hilarious. It was of the tops of less tall buildings. There was no “view”. But our room was great (other than the anemic pressure of the shower—and the mosquitos.)

The great view from our room

We soon left for lunch—koshary, the first of several portions of this national dish. It’s a crazy combination of rice, noodles, macaroni, lentils, chickpeas, fried onion, and tomato sauce. Pretty good. Very good, in Glenna’s estimation.

One of our koshary meals

Mar Girgis metro station

Then it was off to find the Metro to explore Coptic Cairo. It was really easy to use as we had read. As in India, there are special cars for women in the middle of the train though they aren’t required to ride in them. 

We switched lines with ease and got off at Mar Girgis, right in front of the famous Hanging Church (Saint Virgin Mary’s Coptic Orthodox Church, to be formal), a very old Coptic church built atop a much older Roman gate (and no doubt that was built over something ancient and Egyptian though Cairo wasn’t a place back then). The church contains 110 icons and other treasures, and the walls are decorated too. Very beautiful.

Closeup of the entryway to the church complex

Walled entrance

Hanging Church towers in the background

Mosaic of Joseph, Mary and Jesus in Egypt

Decorated ceiling of narthex

Entry to sanctuary

Altar screen

Detail of wooden altar screen

Detail of doorway

Our next stop was a mosque (Mosque of Amr Ibn al-As), a mosque with an incredible number of columns, in part from as far back as 642 (seems awfully early—Mohammed only died in 632). 

Mosque of Amr Ibn al-As

Maze of pillars inside mosque

Carpet on mosque floor. For those of you who have never
visited a mosque, the carpet is always patterned with
a niche for each worshiper.

Then it was back to the Coptic area because we knew there was much more there even though we weren’t seeing it. We saw a set of stairs going down and took them. And there it was—underground Coptic Cairo. First we visited the tiny St George Church and then the Church of Sts Sergius and Bacchus, the most famous Egyptian church because of their claim that the Holy Family sheltered in a cave underneath this spot after their flight from Israel to Egypt. It has 3rd and 4th century pillars.

Beautiful old door at
St George Church

St George and the
Dragon icon

Another Joseph, Mary and Jesus in Egypt--this time in
Church of Sts Sergius and Bacchus

Sanctuary of Sts Sergius and Bacchus

Cave underneath where Holy Family sheltered

One of the very old manuscripts

Our next stop was Ben Ezra Synagogue (thus completing our day trip to houses of worship of the three great Abrahamic religions—and the three are very close together). Ben Ezra is the oldest monument to Judaism in Egypt. Seating was around the outside with the Torah area in the middle.

Bema from which Torah is read

Seating around the perimeter

We hunted for the Greek Orthodox Cemetery and found that we were in it. It feels and looks like a residential area with mausoleums all over the place. As we walked through the Coptic area, there were vendors whose wares we glanced at but didn’t buy.

Another kitty for Glenna to be enthralled with

Some mausoleums in the Greek Orthodox Cemetery

Numerous family memorials on a home

Domes of one of the churches

Bean wagon in the market

We took the metro to the area where we wanted to have dinner which was still 3 hours away. We walked some very workaday streets and looked at the foodstuffs and other things in the street market and then stopped in a koshary shop so I could sit. The owner was not happy with us for only ordering a drink (which he had to get from the drinks stand next door), so we finally ordered koshary which I really didn’t want.

Then we walked over to the Garden District which is the area where the British lived when they controlled Egypt. It was their little England with houses typical of London’s tonier sections. We stopped in a very nice coffee shop which also had local crafts, some of which Glenna got. 

One of the houses in the Garden District

Another house in the Garden District--the British did live well

We walked over to the Corniche (along the Nile again) where we sat until after dark, watching the feluccas on the Nile and the lights come on. 

The Corniche at twilight

Cairo Tower, a Cairo landmark

We needed to cross the street to get back to the restaurant. We simply could not do it. It was about 6 lanes of one-way traffic, and there were no stop lights in sight, so the traffic never stopped and was going fast. All guide books tell you that you are taking your life in your hands when crossing a Cairo street—and this is even streets where there are lights. They say you must tag along with someone from Cairo. We did that many times in the next three days, but this time no one was crossing. I was really afraid to try it. So we tried to uber. Glenna followed the driver's progress; he wasn’t that far away but he kept turning away from our location. That happened to us later with Uber drivers—very frustrating. We eventually gave up and got a taxi, thank goodness. 

The restaurant was one we had been told about by the family on the boat. The orzo soup was very good, but my meat-filled pastry was just too greasy. After dinner we got into an auto (auto rickshaw) who took us part way but then had to drop us off because autos can't go on big streets—which means any of modern (Downtown) Cairo. We transferred to a taxi with a meter! And it was only LE13. That let us know that the LE40 we paid for the taxi to the hotel in the morning was way out of line. 

The amazing Egyptian Museum

Tuesday was a day we had been looking forward to—a visit to the Egyptian Museum and then Islamic Cairo. After a minimal breakfast, we walked to the museum. We were a little early, so we stopped in a little shop which had perfumes and artifacts; I got some Queen of Egypt perfume. Then on to the museum. 

This is truly a glorious place despite the fact that it is long in the tooth—impossibly crowded with objects, labels with all sorts of fonts (though in English, thank goodness), missing labels, hard to find or non-existent room numbers, rooms numbered in no discernible order. But oh the glorious things you see! Many of the uncovered tombs and the temples all over the country have been emptied of their artifacts and brought here. So this is the real treasure trove. They are building a huge new museum in Giza; it is years late and way over budget with no real end date named. But it will be state of the art. Meanwhile the world has this museum.

Examples of two...

...totally dissimilar labels

We had a floor plan and a list of the must-see items in each room, so we proceeded. We paid to have one camera, so Glenna took lots of pictures, albeit sometimes with glare. The King Tut items (most of which could not be photographed) were simply spectacular. I had seen some of them in an exhibit at the National Gallery years ago, but here was much more. We wondered if all the tombs (pharaohs anyway) had such wonderful objects originally but had been robbed over the years; probably the answer is yes. None of them have such things now—none that are visited anyway. They are narrow so there wouldn’t be room for cases; it would require a lot more security, etc. etc. And the tombs would have to be much more brightly lighted than they are now which would damage the wall decorations in time. So really a museum is the best way to see these things. 

The bottom floor had chronological rooms full of lots of statutes.

A funeral boat

Djoser, oldest life-size royal

statue known

Menkaure and Hathor, he with

tall rounded hat of Upper Egypt

King Khafre (more tomorrow)

Scribe with scroll missing

Tomb relief showing crossing a river with cattle

Scribe in wood, a rare material 

in Egypt

The dwarf Senab and family

Carrying chair of Khufu's mother 

Bed with cradle for head

Ty with skirt shaped like a

pyramid to indicate royalty

Stela showing scenes of daily life

Beautifully decorated and

well preserved tomb of

Tuthmosis III

Sphinx of Hatshepsut (1458 BC)--

a lion body shows power

A large section of the second floor was all King Tut.  In the hallway were some of the nine layers of his sarcophagus consisting of shrines, sarcophagus and coffins. We could not take pictures in the incredibly spectacular rooms containing many of the objects in the tomb. The gold was dazzling and mesmerizing.

Outer layer (of 9) shrine of King Tutankhamun--
nine means infinity

Detail of inner shrine of King Tut

Necklace for the afterlife

Tut's ceremonial chair

Gold jewelry piece

Tut's throne

Image of Tut's wife

Image of King Tut

Not Tut, but typical. A decorated gold face mask was
placed over the head so that the person could be
identified in the afterlife. A decorated piece was
also placed over the body. These pieces comprise
the coffin lid.

Here the body piece is removed to show the
linens wrapped around the body

Another prized possession is the Papyrus of Yuya which was found in the corridor of his tomb. It is 64 feet long and well-preserved. It contains the Book of the Dead, a book of recitations, spells, warnings, threats, guides, and confessions for use in the afterlife, in some fashion contained in every tomb.

Part of the Papyrus of Yuya

We both really liked the Royal Mummies Room. One had a visible wound in his forehead and arm; another had pierced ears; one had a white appearance which had to do with the relative concentrations of minerals in the embalming fluids. They were all very shrunken; that just shows how much of our bodies is water. It was just amazing to me that I was looking at the actual body of Rameses II and Hatshepsut among others.

Stolen (no photos allowed) picture of the mummy of Yuya

Everywhere there was statuary, sarcophagi, sphinxes, mummies, lots of jewelry, miniature likenesses, Greco-Roman mummies with painted portraits over the embalmed faces expressing personality, furniture, animal mummies, miniature scenes from daily life and rows of wooden warriors. And so much more.

Egyptian pikemen in painted

wood from a tomb

Their adversaries, the Nubian

archers

Models of everyday life

Model of bread making

Fishing boat

Counting of the cattle before Meket-Re

Rameses II as a child with his finger in his mouth

Unfinished head of Nefertiti

Tomb of Akenhaten with sun 
streaming down (aten=sun)

It was sensory overload. Afterward we had to get some lunch. We went to Felfela which we had read about; tour companies have read about it too. But there were plenty of locals also, probably because the food was really good.

My grilled vegetables and stuffed grape leaves

Glenna and a tourist group

Our next stop was Islamic Cairo—too far to walk which meant another bargaining session with taxi drivers. Several just wouldn’t take us. We figured after awhile that if they don’t know exactly where you want to go, they just turn it down. The one who finally agreed to take us was going out of the way which Glenna told him in her minimal Arabic; he said ‘GPS’. I guess he saw that she was following with her phone. We eventually just got out. No driver had a phone with GPS. Maybe it just isn’t common there or maybe it’s just out of their price range, but it sure would help them in Cairo’s rabbit warren of streets. 

Islamic Cairo, like Coptic Cairo, is a very old section with narrow, winding streets, lots of people around, markets—and loads of mosques. We got out right at the Al Ghouri complex which was on our list to visit.

First sight of Islamic Cairo--Al-Ghuri complex

Detail of lintel
Both Glenna and I love Islamic art (it is her
academic specialty along with South Asian art), so be
prepared

When we walked in the door of the mosque, a man was encouraging us to go with him. Afternoon prayers were in progress, so he took us upstairs to the women’s space which was empty and afforded us a wonderful view of the mosque. Glenna also climbed the stairs to the minaret with him. It was fun also just seeing the “back” side of the mosque, walking through the non-public places. I always like to see what you don’t usually get to see—backstage, upstairs, etc.

Al-Ghuri interior from women's place upstairs

Walls of Al-Ghuri

The bowels of the building

Next we walked up Al Moez street that had several mosques on it, one after the other. We visited Al-Ashraf Barsbay and Qalawun.

Three minarets and a dome on Al Moez street

Al Ashraf mosque

Detail of side of mosque

Door of Al Ashraf

Stained glass window

Lots of lamps and niches (second from right is the mihrab, the place in all mosques
that points the way toward Mecca)

Take off your shoes when you go in

Finishing ablutions (the washing before entering the
mosque for prayers)

Minaret of Qalawan mosque

Dome of Qalawan mosque

Ready to go inside

Minaret of Masjid El Moez (masjid is the Arabic
word for mosque)

Mosque and Sabil-Kuttab (school) of Shaykh Aliu al-Mutahhar

Detail on exterior of al-Mutahhar

Porch on mosque

Doorway of al-Mutahhar

We were into Khan al-Khalili, the huge Islamic Cairo market which is laid out on many streets, generally with shops carrying one type of merchandise together.  We were first going through the jewelry and perfume section.

Market stall carrying bags--and this oud

Carrying bread on his head

Another market scene in Khan al-Khalili

Along the way we happened across Fishawy’s, the famous coffeehouse, which is one of those de rigueur tourist stops. We sat down and had hisbiscus tea (for me—I had had some in the morning perfume shop also and for lunch) and chai.

Fishawy's coffeehouse

Hibiscus tea and chai

The two of us at Fishawy's--there really were 
other people there

We did a lot more walking and looking (Glenna got a few things) and eventually came out onto a large square where Cairenes and tourists were relaxing.

Al-Hussein mosque

Closeup of Al Hussein--having pointed pieces atop a
wall was very common

Minaret among the trees

We stayed there awhile and then took another long walk to the metro. 

Mosque on our walk to the metro

Lights coming on in Islamic Cairo

Minarets lighted up

Elegant Sabil-Kuttab 

We got out in one stop but were unknowingly in a giant local market that we had a hard time getting out of. It was interesting to see the everyday items on sale, but at this point I was hungry and tired.

A really loaded down truck 

Herd of sheep in the middle of Cairo

Eventually we escaped and found an Italian restaurant for dinner. Judging by the amount of pasta we had on the boat, I think Egyptians are fond of Italian food. I certainly am; it is my favorite ethnic food. But this one had no wine! How can you possibly have an Italian restaurant that doesn’t serve wine? It must not have been owned by Italians. Egypt is a Muslim country, of course, but it wasn’t that difficult to find alcohol. 

Wednesday was another highly anticipated day—our visit to Giza and Saqqara. I had arranged with Djed Travel the day before for a driver and guide to take us there. It is just too large to do via public transportation. It took about 45 minutes to get there leaving at 8 AM. 

Our first site was of the Great Pyramid of Cheops (or Khufu). My first impression was that it was rougher than it had looked in pictures. I had decided that I wouldn’t go inside because it is steep and claustrophobic and low, but Glenna also decided not to go in. We knew that there was nothing left inside, and we had seen many tombs already which this is also.

The unfinished Grand Egyptian
Museum which will relieve the
Egyptian Museum

First glimpse of the pyramids

Map of Giza with the three pyramids in green

Opening in the Great Pyramid of Cheops (Khufu)

Glenna walking on the pyramid

Glenna on her walk

Camel in front of the Great Pyramid of Cheops (Khufu)

The gold layer was removed from the top of the pyramid

It was so interesting to learn about how they were constructed. And by the way, it was not slaves who built the pyramids, but rather farmers who couldn’t work the fields in the rainy season. Pyramids were always built exactly facing north, south, east and west. They were first made in layers so that they had a stepped appearance (as we saw later). Then they tried to build one which would appear smooth. They realized after a certain point that if they continued, it would fall down because the angle was too steep (they are more or less hollow inside—rooms for burial, passages, etc.). They regrouped and changed the angle. We saw an example of this from a distance later. Then Cheops was built with all that knowledge (around 2590 BC). They dragged huge stones up a ramp that wound around the pyramid. When they got to the peak, they put on a gold topper. Then they came back down the ramp putting on a layer of polished limestone (and taking down the ramp as they went). Now the top layer as well as the gold peak of Cheops is all gone, carted off for other building; thus the rough appearance. 

The pyramid near Cheops is that of his son Khafre built 30 years later. Farther away is the pyramid of Menkaure, Khafre’s son which was built another 30 years later. The pyramids in this area were all built in Old Kingdom times (2575-2150 BC). They were built in this area because it was flat, the limestone was nearby, and the Nile was very near (for hauling—it is more than a mile farther away now as its course is always changing). There were still some pyramids built in the Middle Kingdom (1975-1640 BC) in Thebes, but in the New Kingdom (1550-712 BC) tombs were cut into the hillside.

Khafre in the distance

Camels waiting for riders

The two of us with Khafre and Cheops

The two of us with the family in the background

Camel with Khufu behind

A failed pyramid

When a pharaoh died, the body was mummified over a period of 70 days. Then the body was transported on a causeway to the Mortuary Temple which once stood near each pyramid. There the formal burial ceremony was held, ending with the body being put into the pyramid and the pyramid being sealed. It was very expensive to build such an enormous structure for one burial inside, so all but pharaohs were buried underground. Some pyramids were made on the cheap, with only the outer casing of limestone and the under layer of mud bricks and sand. They generally fell in, an example of which we saw. 

Another famous feature of Giza is, of course, the Sphinx, a huge reclining lion with the head of a man, said to be that of Khafre. Our guide said that the thought is now that the sphinx was meant to be a chunk of Khafre’s pyramid but the limestone wasn’t good enough, so they made an image of this mythical creature. It is impressive. You can just barely get a picture of him and the three pyramids in the background.

In the foreground is the path from the Nile on which the stones were dragged 

Full side view of the Sphinx

Frontal view

Side view

Closer view of the human face

Khufu and the Sphinx

Khafre and the Sphinx

The boat canal by Khufu

The unassuming appearance
of the Boat Museum

As we were walking around Cheops, we saw two pits where the boats which ferried the pharaoh back and forth to the underworld had been buried. One boat was uncovered years ago and is housed in the Boat Museum; I was really looking forward to seeing it. When I booked the tour, I said that we wanted to go to Giza and Saqqara. I was not specific in what we would see (you would think that I would have learned after our experience in Luxor of not feeling that we had seen all we had bargained for). When we were walking around Cheops, there was a building which looked as if it was used to house maintenance equipment or some such. When we were leaving Giza to go to Saqqara, I asked about the Boat Museum. The guide replied that we had seen the building on our walk. I was so upset that we weren’t going to see it that the guide called the Djed manager in Cairo. His excuse was I had said we wanted to see the pyramids which I hadn’t said. Later when I was thinking about the conversation, I thought well, I didn’t say the Sphinx either and we saw that. I am still upset about not seeing that boat even though we saw a smaller one in the Egyptian Museum.

So on we went to Saqqara where we first saw the Mortuary Temple of Djoser, an earlier pharaoh dating from the 27th century BC. The temple contained 42 niches, one for each of the regions of Egypt ruled by him. At that time, burials were made underground with a mastaba on top of it. A mastaba is a rectangular stone structure with sloping sides containing storerooms needed by the one buried there for the afterlife. The story goes that Djoser’s architect, the great Imhotep, built the mastaba for Djoser’s eventual burial, but Djoser couldn’t see it from the temple. So Imhotep put a layer on top slightly smaller than the first one. Djoser still couldn’t see it, so Imhotep put on another layer. At this point he liked the look of it, so he kept going thus producing the Step Pyramid. About 2600 BC the Bent Pyramid was built (the one I described where they had to change the angle half way up). We could see it in the far distance but didn’t go there. With the Great Pyramid, they got it right, being off only by a few centimeters at the top. To me that is just an incredible feat, not only the building of it but also the design.

Typical mastaba

Burial chamber

The pillars in Djoser's Temple

The Step Pyramid

There is a large square area between Djoser’s temple and pyramid. The Nubians had a tradition that every 30 years the ruler had to prove that he was still man enough to rule. The Egyptians adopted this idea but did it more frequently. The pharaoh had to run around an arena a couple of times (this area I just described in Djoser’s case) and then tackle an ox. If he could fell the ox, he could still be king and so was crowned again with the double crown of upper and lower Egypt.

Near the Step Pyramid are tombs for family members of kings with rich paintings and carvings of fishing, birding, and a count of what was given to the queen for her afterlife (1000 of everything). One had a false door which enabled the family to leave offerings outside the door which could get through to the dead who needed them for the afterlife. 

The Egyptians believed that the pharaoh’s job after death was to bring the sun back every day by chasing the monsters from each hour of the night. He used his boat to make the journey each night. Our guide said that the three Abrahamic religions are based on the religion of the ancient Egyptians. As evidence he cited the trinity (from the father, mother and son I described at Karnak), mother and child notion (Isis and Horus I described at the Temple of Horus at Edfu), and the concept of the afterlife. Um. Maybe.

Cows and fish from a tomb wall

Hippo being born and crocodile ready to chomp

Fishing with net and spear

Hunting

Our last stop was to the excellent Imhotep Museum, named in honor of Djoser’s architect. We couldn’t take pictures. Too bad. The exhibits were wonderful.

Imhotep Museum

We were hungry at this point. The place they took us had good food, way too much of it, and it was way too expensive. Oh well. Then it was back to Cairo. Both Glenna and I left the area with a vague sense of disquiet, in my case because of not seeing the Boat Museum and Glenna not feeling that she had been able to get good enough pictures of the pyramids because of where we were taken by the driver. We also felt that the guides, though full of knowledge throughout our trip, were sometimes phoning it in. So I would recommend Djed Travel, but my caution is to be very specific about what you want to see!

Back in Cairo we had the driver drop us on the island of Zamalek, an upscale part of Cairo. We went first to the Fair Trade Egypt shop where we each got a few things, choosing from among many colors which is always hard for us, susceptible as we both are to color. Then we stopped in at Sufi, a coffee shop that Glenna had found online. I had a too sweet lemon drink and Glenna a coffee chocolate.

River walk in Zamalek

Hotel on the Nile in Zamalek

After walking around a little, we crossed the Qasr al-Nile Bridge back to the mainland. We walked quite a way through a local market which, after a while, was just too workaday to be of interest. So we went back and stopped into a dress shop where Glenna had fun trying on tops and bought three cute ones.

Drying herbs on an upper porch

Old minaret and modern
building

Market from that upper roadway
that we weren't supposed to be on

We then wanted to find a metro. On the Google map on Glenna’s phone, it directed us onto a road above the street with lanes of cars streaming toward us. We walked along it for quite some way before a driver stopped to tell us that we shouldn’t be up there. It turned out to be a cross-Cairo road which I’m sure went for miles and miles. We retraced our steps back to where we had been. We must have looked a bit lost because a car stopped to ask us where we needed to go. It was two modern young women who offered to take us to a metro stop but took a look at the traffic going north and instead got out of the car, took us across the very busy street, hailed a taxi, told the driver where to take us, paid the fare and wouldn’t take anything from us. Now that was awesome. And just one example of the kindness shown to us by Egyptians.

Near the metro stop we walked down another wrong street but bought a few items along the way. 

Perfume shop--you can sample anything

Then it was on to another koshary shop for dinner. By now I was tired of it, but Glenna wasn’t. This one was a good one though, and we got to see them make it too. 

Watch the video of koshary making above.

Glenna wanted to do some shisha before we went back. On the way we spotted the famous El Abd Bakery where we got chocolate croissants for breakfast. We found a really cool shisha place with a large outside area where we sat for a long time, for hibiscus shisha (not me!) and chai. We then walked back to the hotel. The GPS on the phone was really helpful, despite the one very wrong route we took earlier.

Mural on wall of bar

Another mural--all of prominent
Egyptian figures

See any women in this picture?

Glenna and shisha

Glenna's bites

Our room had a balcony, and the door must not have been airtight. We got so many bites the night before; Glenna’s face had several. And the bites around my ankles that I got in the south were still really itchy and puffy. As I write this in May, I can still see the red dots from the bites on my ankles. Our room did have a bug zapper which should have told us something. Glenna covered her face this night.









Thursday was our last day and we had a lot to do, so we were up at 7. We got a taxi to the Citadel which is a very large fortified and walled area on a hill dating from the 12th century, part of Islamic Cairo in which we planned to spend our day. It was a longish walk the rest of the way up the hill. Not much was open yet so we walked around and admired the view of Cairo.

Up the hill to the Citadel

View of Islamic Cairo from the Citadel

Our first visit was to the Mosque of Mohammed Ali in the Turkish style. It was quite beautiful and we spent a good bit of time there.

The bushes were trimmed to spell Allah

Mosque of Muhammad Ali

Wall panel

Ceiling of mosque

Minaret and dome

Above see video of the beautiful interior of Muhammad Ali mosque.

We intended to see the Mosque of Suleiman Pasha within the Citadel, but after walking all the way down there we found out it wasn’t open. We stopped in the shop on the way out where Glenna got a pretty blue tile (Turkish influence), one of her weaknesses.

We soon got a taxi, and as it turned out we kept him all day. He had a meter which was great. And he was so nice and helpful. When he found out that Glenna could speak a little Arabic, he took pleasure in teaching her words all day long. He knew very few in English. He showed us pictures of his kids, one a newborn. We went back and forth all over the narrow streets of Islamic Cairo, often having to back up to let someone else through and getting into traffic jams. At one we just sat for a good awhile; no one was going anywhere until one man took it upon himself to tell people to back up, let people through, etc. I imagine this happens often. I can't fathom driving in that mess every day. No wonder we had a hard time getting a taxi there two days ago. 
We asked him to take us to the Mosque of Aqsunkur which turned out not to be open at that hour. As we were trying to find another one, we happened by another one on our list and so stopped there. This one was the Mosque of Ibn Talun, my favorite and one that is described as the most beautiful.

Courtyard of Ibn Tulun

Glenna in the courtyard

Mosque entrance

Dome of the ablution fountain

Minbar (pulpit)

Mihrab

One place Glenna was really looking forward to was the Museum of Islamic Art. When we got there, we tried to leave our driver, but he insisted he would wait for us. That’s when we decided to keep him all day. The museum was magnificent; Glenna could have stayed there all day. The Egyptian artifacts were in chronological order; the artifacts from other parts of the world were thematic. The wall labels were wonderful (always there, in English as well as Arabic, and very explanatory), and the displays were really well done. We came away thinking that the Egyptian Museum should take a lesson from them. 

Glazed plate, Abbasid, 8-9th c

Carved wood panel, Fatimid,
10-12th c

Ceramic jar, Fajoun, 10-11th c

Portable mihrab, Fatimid, 12th c

Arched stone window,
Fatimid, 12th c

Wooden cupboard, Mamluk, 14th c

Ceramic tile, Mamluk, 15th c

Casket with ivory veneer,
Fatimid, 12-15th c

Ceramic tile, Mamluk, 14th c

Stained glass window,
Mamluk, 15th c

Ceramic tile, Ottoman, 16th c

Watercolor, Ottoman, 13th c

Artist at work

Glenna in her element in front of
ceramic panel, Iranian, 14th c

Wooden wormer with tiles,
Ottoman, 17th c

Marble fountain, Iranian

Even the bathroom had pretty tiles

Falafel in bun and sugar cane juice

After getting more money from an ATM (we always seemed to be running out), we needed lunch. Our driver kept jumping out of the taxi to get us more from street vendors—wonderful rolls, delicious ta’amaya (Egyptian name for falafel--best I’ve ever had), sugar cane juice, water and chiclets. He wouldn’t take anything for it. He had bought six rolls, and we only ate two. Later in the day he offered one to a disabled person we rode by. And once when we were coming back to the car from a site we found him giving water to a puppy. Just a very kind man.

We then went by the Qaytbay complex. (In our travels, as we spotted places on our list, we stopped.) The mosque was being repaired and was thus closed, but we saw an adorable group of young children in the madrassa practicing their chants for a Mom’s Day celebration.

Grafitti on a wall and baskets of onions

Sultan Al-Ashraf Qaytbay mosque

On the way to Bab Zuweila, we passed Aqsunkur again, and this time it was open. It was filled with gorgeous blue tiles; Glenna was in heaven. For some reason, it had two mihrabs, probably because they put in a new one at some point but wanted to keep the original for historical reasons.

Blue tiles on mosque wall

Mihrab of Aqsunqur

Minbar at Aqsunqur

Wall panel at Aqsunkur

Minaret from doorway

Then it was Bab Zuweila which is one of three remaining gates from the old walled city of Cairo. We were dropped at the mosque nearby, that of Sultan al-Mu’ayyad, built on the ancient Roman gate. The imam and another man took us around, telling Glenna just the spots to stand to get good pictures. She was going to go up in the dome with them until they told her that would be LE200. She said no, and we left.

Sultan al-Mu'ayyad mosque

Another beautiful minbar

Wooden paneled ceiling 

Mosque interior

Fountain, dome and minarets of al-Mu'ayyad

The second man followed us down the street to the entrance to the Bab (gate); they do this to act as an unwanted guide, hoping for a few pounds. While Glenna took the stairs to the top of the Bab, he gave me a sob story about his family until I gave him some which he turned up his nose at but which I said was all he was going to get. That experience was not great.

Glenna's view from Bab Zuweila

View of courtyard of al-Mu'ayyad from Bab Zuweila

Selfie from the Bab

When she came back down from the top, we had to walk a way to the taxi. This was when we got in the biggest traffic jam. We literally could not get to the taxi for awhile. There wasn’t a path through the cars that I could get through. Glenna could have gotten up onto a short, narrow wall as others were doing, but I didn’t think I could do that. We eventually wedged through and then sat in the taxi until the forceful guy I mentioned took over.

View of traffic from the Bab;
it was much tighter when we tried
to get through

Our driver giving the puppies
some of our water

Colorful food truck near the Bab

See video above of some of the traffic jam.

Our next stop was the Mosque of Al-Azhar, back near Khan al-Khalili where we needed to end the day; this is where we finally left our taxi driver. He had really appreciated using Glenna’s GPS. I don’t remember what the meter came in at (about LE100, I think), but I gave him LE300 (still only about $18). I’m pretty sure we made his day. It was worth it.  

Al-Azhar’s courtyard was filled with gleaming white tiles. For some reason Glenna at this one was dressed in a long abiya (probably because her sleeves were short), and I was put in a long skirt. We were there just as prayers were finishing. There were men sprinkled around inside reading the Koran or chatting or praying. It is very old but surely much restored.

Al-Azhar mosque

Minarets of Al-Azhar

Glenna all dressed up

Windows of the dome

Pretty lamp and wall

To get back to Khan al-Khalili we had to cross the big highway (probably the same one we had wrongly walked along yesterday farther west) which was bordered by a fence. Someone had moved two of the vertical slats of the fence, enough that one could squeeze through. Others were doing it, so we did too and then had to dash across the street with the others.

In the distance the fence we had to get through

We had fun walking the streets back and forth to get all the things left on our lists. Shopping is indeed one of the fun aspects of travel even if you don’t need any of it. Somewhere in there we sat down for a pancake topped with honey and feteer (cheese).

Lamp shop where Glenna made a purchase

Honey and feteer pancake
(more like a pizza)

Collectibles shop where Glenna
played old records

Eventually we also had dinner. We finally did it right in terms of volume--just ordering soup and a tuna salad to share (and in Glenna’s case, chai and another shisha).

Dinner at Mahony Cafe

Our soups and our tuna salad

I couldn't face walking to the metro again, so we found another taxi back to the hotel (which included another "discussion" over the fare—now we really had an idea of what it should cost). Glenna got us some snacks and some rice pudding from a nearby shop. We ate the pudding as we packed and got to bed about 11:15, hoping for no more mosquito bites.

I didn't get too much on this trip--scarf, perfume,
hibiscus leaves, glasses case, marble elephant,
three pyramids, scarab, ankh, and a
a hieroglyphics bookmark

Hieroglyphic alphabet

Friday we were up at 5:30 for our departure for the airport at 6:30. At that hour it only took us 20 minutes to get there. We passed by a different part of Cairo, a more prosperous area than many we had visited. We went through three security checkpoints, one actually at our gate which doesn’t seem very efficient. I slept a little on the flight to Istanbul. We managed to get some Turkish delight before boarding the second flight and then sat on the runway for a long time, partly because there was some medical emergency. In Atlanta I was anticipating the usual horrendous lines at customs, but we were the only flight going through, probably because it was pretty late. Then it was on to Columbia and an Uber home where JR was still up but had a bad cold. I was actually able to sleep even though I had slept off and on during our 24 1/2-hour trip.

It was a wonderful trip. I had long wanted to see the vestiges of ancient Egypt and was also pleased to see Coptic and Islamic Cairo. I loved learning all the history and customs. It is always satisfying to us to make it around on our own, even though we sometimes make mistakes, wasting time, and despite the inevitable hassles. The dahabiya cruise really was the highlight of the trip. I would do that again in a second. And it was surprisingly inexpensive—only $5500 for the two of us for 10 days in country, everything but gifts included. I feel very blessed to have a wonderful daughter who is still willing to travel with me and with whom I am so compatible. Here’s to many more!

The two of us with an awesome backdrop