Advertisement
Published: March 20th 2007
Edit Blog Post
Bab al-Futuh - Gate of Conquests
This is part of the original wall of the Cairo fortress dating back over 1,000 years ago. Well going back to leaving Alexandria, it went fairly smoothly and I managed to successfully avoid the dodgy eggs they served up for breakfast again (the egg yokes really shouldn't be blackish once cooked right?) and headed to the train station. After a fairly relaxing 4 hour train ride, I caught a taxi to my hotel. Again I didn't think I would survive it because a) the driver was coughing up blood, and b) he had no idea where he was going so made up for it by pulling crazy u-turns. I ended up guiding him from my Lonely Planet guide.
But once again my luck continues to hold and I settled in safely. I went for a quick look around, but was hounded a bit too much by the touts, so I retreated back to the hostel. After a few hours of relaxing, I resolved that tomorrow would be different, and I would forget everything people had told me about the city being so dangerous and go out and enjoy it.
It turned out to be a great decision as I had the best day so far. After a relaxing morning watching the football highlights, I headed down
The Citadel
This is one of those awesome photos from atop the minaret, known as Bab Zuweila. Bab meaning Gate, this was originally the Southern gate of Cairo. to Khan-Khalili, which is the Grand Bazaar (ie, where you buy everything. Also with the amount of different animals they were selling down there, it made me wonder what kind of meat was in my kebab. Oh well.) After getting slightly lost, I ended up getting a guided tour of the 'hand-made' markets, which most of the tourists don't see, and a lesson in spices.
I then went around the markets and admired the amazing amount of stuff they have on sale, and listened to a barter for a scarf from 500 Egytian pounds down to 15, and this is normal! As you will see from the photos, there are a lot of mosques in this region as well because it is also the centre of Islamic Cairo, which I am informed is 1320 years old. Slightly different to NZ.
Now for this paragraph, Mum look away. At the end of the Bazaar, are a pair of minarets (sharp pointy towers) that give great views over Cairo. I climbed the stairs for these and got to the 'top', and realised that the top was another 15-20 'steps' up. By steps I mean 2cm wide steel that shakes quite
Don't drop the camera
The view down from the said minaret. a bit. Given that I was already 30-40m above ground, it's not the best situation. Also did I mention, this is one of the original buildings of the Cairo Fortress Wall? After surviving that, and getting some wicked photos, I headed up to 'The Citadel', which is a monstor of a castle, the biggest Islam-built one in fact.
It was here that I first got a glimpse of the Pyramids, but because of the smog, they didn't come out in the photos, so will have to wait a little bit for those. The pictures convey some of how awe-inspiring this building is. Even inside, the roof and balconies are simply amazing. Heading out, I decided to forgo the taxi and walk back. Of course, I managed to get lost, and walked through an Islamic cemetery. I didn't have an unruly mob after me with pitchforks and fire so I think it wasn't illegal. But after making the 30 minute trip back 3 hours later, I was rewarded with alot more guests to talk to in the hostel.
I had just sat down in the common room, when the owner was talking to two other guys about dinner, so
Random mosque
Can't remember this one, but deserves a picture to show there can be beauty in Islam. Amzing structures. I poked my head in and said "What's this about dinner?" Long story short, we ended up on a big ship rolling up and down the Nile for 2 hours while entertained by belly dancers and a buffet meal. When Julie said trust your gut, I don't think that's what she had in mind, but hey, whatever works.
Anyway the 2 guys I went with were excellent fun, Robert and Hasan from London, and our taxi driver on the way there was completely mad so we were just cracking up laughing. The highlight being when people walked in front of him and he took his hands off the steering wheel, clapped and shouted 'boom' as we sped past them, while they jumped out of the way. Just. Also worthy of mention, common to taxis is that they pull out cop lights and use them when they are in a hurry/come to red lights. As I said, never a dull moment.
As for the cruise, it was excellent and we all got pulled up at some stage, and see the excellent photo of Hasan checking out what he needs to do next in his training. Or at least, that
Citadel up close
This is the citadel on top of the fortress, and as you can see, it's huge. Also amazingly intricate with artwork everywhere. was his excuse. After that I sat around and chatted to several Americans back at the hostel, I am looking forward to tomorrow when Helen is arriving in and I can show her all around Cairo and completely warp her mind. 😊
Advertisement
Tot: 0.042s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 9; qc: 19; dbt: 0.0238s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb