Last Day in Cairo

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On our last day, we had the chance to see Islamic Cairo. We started at the Ibn Tulun mosque, the oldest mosque in Cairo. It really shows how the mosque was at once a religious building, a fortress, and a school, even sometimes a hospital. It is not the largest or grandest mosque I have ever seen, but it has an old majesty and a fascinating history. Its minaret spirals around the outside with stairs, inspired by the lighthouse of Alexandria. There is a similar mosque in Samarra, but that was actually inspired by this mosque. Who knew? Our tour leader considered Ibn Tulun to be one of the most important leaders in Egypt.

For example, Napoleon's troups occupied it and used it as a barracks. At a later time, it was so decrepit that it was used as an insane asylum. But in recent years it has been cleaned up and reopened as a mosque, and many of its unique features have been restored. For example, the original wooden carvings of words from the Quran still decorate the walls.

Next we visited the Gayer-Anderson museum, which is really just two medieval-era Cairo houses filled with odds and ends belonging to an eccentric Englishman. He decorated the rooms in different styles, such as Chinese, Queen Anne, Turkish, etc. He also kept some rooms as they would have been in a medieval Cairo house. It was fascinating to see how they lived. I loved the rooftop deck with the views over Cairo, all protected from the outside world with wooden-carved mashrabeyas (screens). And over the marble room where the men would have parties, there was a hidden passageway where women could watch what was going on below.

finally we ended up at Fishawi's, a famous old coffeehouse in Cairo that is still very popular. You can get a shisha here, but I didn't want to smoke with the state of my lungs. I did order the turkish coffee, and I got my hand painted in henna here. Then we were free to wander the bazaar. It was easy to get lost, but everyone was happy to help point you along the way. I eventually found Yasser's, but the salesman had to leave to attend friday prayers.

Later on, Nicky (a tourmate) needed a ladies room. A young man named Karim led us there, and on the way out of this "mall" building in the middle of the market, I saw a store selling the most beautiful beledi dresses. Turned out to be Karim's shop, so he was delighted that I wanted to run back in and look at them. I also got to meet his sisters and brothers. This place was where I finally found a melaya, so that I can take Katia's melaya leff workshop.

Meanwhile, my stepdad was busy buying a marble chess set. There is so much to buy and you could be lost for days in the Khan El Khalili. I loved stumbling upon old passageways and doors. This bazaar is so old - it feels (and maybe is) older than the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. And it's far less annoying too. Most of the vendors in the KEK were relatively chill, compared to Luxor and Aswan. They know people will be shopping there for eternity and don't have to kill themselves for sales.

In the evening, we had our last meal together at Felfela. It was on Peregrine, because they felt bad about the cruise boat debacle. It was really sad to say goodbye to the wonderful people we met. Strange to get to know people so well, and then, probably never see them again! I would happily host them at my house if they ever came to Boston though, or at least show them around the city.

Afterwards, Alli & I went down to the Nile Pharaohs boats. Big Mo had made a reservation for us, for the dinner cruise at 9:45. When I got there, the manager introduced himself to me, as I must have looked like a lost little puppy. We exchange business cards, and he told me that the dancer tonight was Outi. I know her from an online bellydance community, and he ended up changing my table to one right at the front so that I could see better.

An Egyptian wedding was going on, with a big band playing, and the bridal party processing in. This was pretty cool. The bride was gorgeous in an orange dress. Their party was on the first deck of the boat, whereas the rest of us were on the second deck. The show started with two singers. The female singer pulled me onto the stage, but I wasn't going to sing. I danced a little bit - sheepishly. Confused! But I figured out the deal when she brought the mike over to a table of young Egyptian women, who used the opportunity to sing along like karaoke!

Next, the folkloric show featured Outi and two guys dressed as sailors, in a sort of melaya leff performance. I've never seen anything like it - it was very cute. She pulled me up to dance with her - which I did for a bit before letting her have the stage back. Then, there was a long and AWESOME tanoura show. I have never seen real tanoura before and this guy did a great job. He even did floorwork while still twirling the skirts. the man had an inhuman ability to keep spinning. Then Outi came back out for a short Oriental solo. I wish there had been more bellydance! The show was very short in my opinion.

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Photos

Group Photo
Our small and exhausted group on Friday morning, last day of our tour. Pictured are Jill, Susan, Tamara, Rhonda, and me.

Comments

[Outi]

About the show
Hi! I saw your blog and I know how you must be feeling about the length of my show that night. There was a major emergency that night. The original dancer in thet boat got herself fired that night just before the first trip. The dancer on th other boat didn't show up, so in that night I had to do 4 trips on two different boats, one wedding in the bartoum and after that I even had work outside. So there was a big problem as the time of the cruises on the two boats overlap sometimes. I hope to see you again and hopefully this time without any problems. Outi