The Citadel and More

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It was a very bleak and overcast morning when we went to the Citadel, the vast structure which was built partly out of stones pulled from the pyramids and that served as a military fortress, which protected the city from 1176 until the 1970s. It sits far above the city and its almost celestial location provided us with a breathtaking view of the city although on a clear day, it would have been much better. One part of the Citadel, which is definitely worth seeing, is the Al-Nasir Mohammed Mosque, which is a vast mosque with a soaring ceiling and enormous crystal chandelier that has the biggest carpet that Ive ever seen in my life.

The next stop on the tour was Old Cairo. Old Cairo is Christian Cairo or Coptic Cairo. Many people including myself do not really equate Cairo with Christianity, but Cairo was Christian before it became predominantly Islamic. Currently, the population in Cairo consists of 80% Islamic and only 20% Coptic Christian. The Christian women do not wear the veil or rather hajib, but then again, not all of the Islamic women do either, although most do.

Coptic Cairo is a very interesting place to visit and contains a number of orthodox churches and a museum. The churches are quite lovely and are reminiscent of other orthodox churches around the world such as the ones found in Greece or in Russia or even down the street from my Boston apartment in the nearby Russian neighborhood with their abundance of medieval style architecture, much of it in wood as well as religious golden icons. I particularly liked one of these churches as I was able to write my requests for prayers onto small pieces of paper and stuff them into a glass case containing the bones of a dead priest in the hopes that they would be answered. This seemed to be a rather odd practice and I wasnt sure how the whole thing worked, but Im of the persuasion of, well, whatever works. In this area, there are also networks of twisting alleyways, and nooks and crannies to explore. Its really an ideal spot if youre the type who likes to get lost.

Another surprise in Old Cairo came in the form of a Jewish synagogue that dates back to the 9th century, the Ben Ezra Synagogue. Who would think that there would be a synagogue in Cairo, but there is one although Jewish people dont worship here anymore. Its small, but very elegant. Our tour guide told us that to date, there are only 40 Jewish families in Cairo, which is not a surprisingly small number all things considered.

One tour that I took that seemed fairly similar to the Giza Pyramids tour is the tour to Memphis and Saqqara, which is actually one site since Memphis was built upon Saqqara. Although this is one of the greatest archeological sites in Egypt, after one evening and another half of an earlier day spent at other pyramids, I was starting to feel the effects of pyramid overload and was whispering to myself without a small sense of guilt, not another pyramid. These feelings I kept to myself of course, but definitely felt my eyes glaze over as the tour guide spoke and could not go all the way into the tunnel to the pyramid, which contained the most interesting part of the pyramid as I felt claustrophobic. This tour would have been a complete wash for me if I had not liked the desert so much and found myself asking the tour guide if it was possible to have a cook-out there some balmy evening.

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