Islamic Cairo

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It's Michael and my very last day in Egypt :-( This trip has flown by and I'm really disappointed that it is coming to an end. We'll just have to make the best of our very last day!



Michael and I decide to hire a fairly nice Mercedes Benz SUV to drive us around Cairo for the day. We negotiated a deal for 150LE for the day. We gave the driver a list of places we wanted to see including The Citadel, Khan al-Khalili, and the Al-Azhar Mosque. We started off at the Citadel. The Citadel was the royal residence until the late 19^th century. The Citadel includes three mosques, a few military museums and the Gawhara Palace. When we arrived we paid our entrance fee of 50LE and ventured up the inclined road toward the center square. This place was so much bigger than it looked from the outside!



We decided to start off by going to the main mosque of Mohammed Ali. We walked through the terraces and then arrived at the front of the temple. We took off our shoes when we entered and noticed the white marble cenotaph just inside the entrance where Mohammed Ali is buried. We continued walking over the red carpet in our socks as we stared up at the beautifully painted dome ceiling. A huge crystal chandelier hung from the middle of the dome and lite up the entire space.



Like any good tourist would do, Michael and I decided to sit Indian style on the carpet and took a picture looking up at us with the ceiling detail beyond us. It’s one of my favorite pictures from the trip.



Next Michael and I decided to head to the Mosque of Suleyman Pasha. It’s a small 16^th century mosque that was built in a Turkish style. My guide books told me that the painting on the dome inside of the mosque is breath taking. We navigated through the Citadel campus to where the Mosque of Suleyman Pasha was and all the doors were closed L We were so disappointed. We hung around hoping we were wrong, but then noticed that some refurbishing was being done to the building, which would explain why it was closed. I really wanted to see the dome ceiling inside this mosque so I decided it couldn’t hurt to walk up to the door and see if anyone would let us take a peek. I was lucky enough to see a man right inside the door when I opened it – he told me that they were closed, which I had guessed, and I explained that I really was hoping to see the ceiling, “Just a peek.” I think he was really flattered by our interest and he offered to show us the way. He brought us past scaffolding and sandblasters into the main part of the mosque. The carpet had all been ripped away, however the ceiling remained as beautiful as described. We just stared at it. An assortment of blues, greens and reds in perfect detail creating a masterpiece of color – it was so beautiful (probably still is!) The old man then started singing and his voice echoed throughout the dome like a choir. He saw me smiling and asked me to repeat after him as we sang a song in Arabic. Our voices echoed throughout the mosque and sounded almost as beautiful as the painting on the ceiling did – and that’s saying a lot for my voice! After a moment he lead out onto another terrace to show us a beautiful arched doorway and offered to take a picture of Michael and I – we gratefully accepted. Not wanting to take anymore of his time, we gave our impromptu tour guide a beesheesh as a thank you and headed on our way.



Michael and I walked through a few museums and admired the many gardens before heading back down the hill to meet our driver. He was there waiting for us and we headed off to the Al-Azhar Mosque, which turned out to only be a short drive away. When we arrived, we found out that Al-Azhar Mosque was closed for noon prayers and would open at 1, which was only 15 minutes from now. In the meantime, Michael and I walked through and small portion of Khan al-Kalili to Al-Azhar Park. The park was recently built and had some beautiful parks and fountains with many children playing in it. We returned from our short walk and to are pleasure, the mosque was open once again for tourists. I wrapped my scarf tightly around my head and asked Michael to make sure that none of my hair was showing. Knowing that I was going to be visiting a lot of mosques today, I wore long sleeves, long pants and a scarf wrapped around my hair, as a sign of respect. We walked into the mosque through a beautiful arched gateway into a square. We walked across the stone floor of the square to the center and just looked around. The architecture was beautiful. We took our time, making sure we saw it all – including the prayer rooms. Then we ventured out into Khan al-Khalili for some shopping.



Our first order of business in Khan al-Khalili was to get some tea and coffee at Fishawi’s, a place strongly recommended by the President of the Kemper Foundation I was a part of throughout college. We walked in and found a seat right away. The souq wasn’t nearly as crowded as my guidebook said it would be. My books warned me that people would be squashed into the area like sardines – though we were quite comfortable. Fishawi’s had a giant alligator mounted up on the wall and tons of mirrors. There were old men playing backgammon and smoking their Sheesha pipes. This coffee house has been in business for over 200 years, yet I can imagine not much has changed.



We enjoyed our tea and coffee and began exploring the souq. The souq dates back to the 16^th century. There are stone gates and labyrinthine alleys throughout. Michael and I got lost quite a few times, but just kept asking directions back to Al-Azhar to locate the correct direction out. I was determined to buy a backgammon board to bring home for my mom, and I found a beautiful one made of mother of pearl. I know she’ll appreciate it – just maybe not the factor that the backgammon pieces are made of camel’s teeth. Ek. Michael got a few stone statues for his family and did a great job negotiating a good price. All in all, negotiating a price is so much more fun than just having a price tag. We even got a silver necklace with my name ‘Maeve’ written in hieroglyphics down the center. It was Michael’s birthday gift to me, he said J



Anyways, it was nearing the time we needed to meet our driver to go back to the Marriott hotel. We headed toward our meeting place outside Al-Azhar Mosque and watched about 3-4 fender bender accidents happen in the 5-10 mins we stood waiting there. Accidents like those are a common occurrence in Egypt and everyone just keeps on driving as if it didn’t happen, even when their bumper is completely dented in.



Michael and I made it back to our hotel. We went up to the concierge lounge so that Michael could grab some more mango and strawberry drinks. He loved the big chunks of mango as he drank them. He made sounds like he was eating a perfectly done steak as he drank. He’s so appreciative of food. We needed to be up really early the next morning to depart for the airport, so we ate something at the hotel restaurant and called it a night. We had a hard time going to sleep knowing that we were leaving. Michael and I sat on the balcony watching the city of Cairo go to sleep for quite some time before closing our eyes. This was a fantastic experience and memories that I will cherish for my whole life.

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Photos

One of my favorite pictures
Sitting on the floor inside the Mosque of Mohammed Ali