Al Azhar Park

Friday lunchtime we took a trip to Al Azhar Park. The streets of Cairo were almost empty of cars and we took a quick ride in a white taxi for 9LE. The Park lies on a hill between the ring road and Islamic Cairo, and was opened in 2006. Preparation for the Park involved the excavation of 800 years of rubbish as this area was a rubbish dump outside Cairo's city walls. In fact, this is the reason why Al Azhar Street rises upwards as you reach the Northern Cemetery. As the area was excavated, the old city wall was exposed and so excavations continued to a depth of 15m so that it could be fully excavated and restored. These are the walls built by Salah al-Din and so far several towers and two old city gates are under restoration. It has a similar look to the Old City of Damascus, also built by Salah al-Din. I believe ultimately there will be access to the Park through one of the old gates and archaeological exhibits of artefacts from the 12th century Ayyubid period. The park has been arranged in a traditional Islamic style with grass lawns, palm trees, fountains and water courses. There are beautiful views of Cairo, especially of the Citadel, the Muqattam Hills and Islamic Cairo, and on a clear day the pyramids are visible. As we had arrived during Friday's midday prayer, the park was largely empty, although it seemed like all of the Friday sermons in Cairo could be heard from our vantage point. People started arriving en masse after the prayers concluded. Egyptians love to picnic on grass, This even extends to traffic islands. So in a place like this park with large expanses of grass, Egyptians made the most of it. Unfortunately for them, cooking implements aren't allowed, so they are not allowed to make cups of tea. The kiddies also loved the ponds and fountains. By the main entrance is a series of fountains erupting out of the ground, and kiddies as well as their parents had fun playing in the water. We had fun watching the long-suffering guards trying to get the people out of the fountain. The Park is open in the evenings until late and we would like to come back at night to see the lights of the city. Another enjoyable outing and highly recommended.

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Part of trip: Egypt

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