Garbage City, Mohammed Ali Mosque, Khan Al Khalili, and last days in Egypt

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We started our morning with a tour of Garbage City. Garbage City is not your normal tourist attraction but it was an interesting place to visit. Garbage City is located inside Cairo and its population is 98% Christian. This is the only community in Egypt that is only Christian. Inside the city lives very poor people. They make their living by collecting the garbage in Cairo, sorting it, and recycling what they can. It is a very dirty place but it performs a vital function for Cairo by picking up their garbage every day. We visited a place for girls that allows them to work making special postcards, rugs, and cloth from recycled products. It was an interesting place to visit and makes me glad to have the job I do back home.

Located in Garbage City is the Church of St. Simeon. A miracal occured in this church when the workers were building it. An outline of the Virgin Mary appeared to the workers appeared on the rock ceiling. The church is built in an amphitheater style and can seat over 20,000 people.

After the church and garbage city we headed over to the Mohammed Ali Mosque. No, this was not named after the boxer but after the Egyptian Ruler named Mohammed Ali. The Mosque was designed after the mosques in Turkey. The King of France gave Egypt a clock tower and a hugh chandellier for the Mohammed Ali Mosque in exchange for a obelisk from the Luxor temple. The obelisk is still located in Paris but the clock tower never worked. The Mosque is absolutely stunning made from Egyptian marble and containing two minarets. The inside of the Mosque is decorated beautifully with the door opening to the west and the front area of prayer facing East. This is to help people pray in the right direction which in Egypt is East facing towards Mecca. The Mohammed Ali Mosque is no longer used for prayer except for special occasions. Surrounding the Mosque is a citadel or fortress in order to protect the mosque and area from invaders.

The last stop for the day was a trip to Khan al Khalili which is the biggest bazaar in Egypt. This bazaar is mostly for tourists now but there are still sections there that are just for the locals. Our guide showed us the local market area where real Egyptians shop. We had some lunch in the bazaar and then I went to buying a few things for the people back home. In the tourist area of the bazaar there is alot of hassel from the shop owners to get you inside there shops but you can say la shukran (no thankyou) and walk on.

Tonight I am heading over to see the belly dancing festival that is this week in Cairo. Tomorrow night I leave to travel to Jordan. I have enjoyed Egypt from the crazy streets of Cairo, the Felucca down the Nile, the awesome ancient Egyptian sites in Luxor, snorkling in the Red Sea, climbing up Mt. Sinai, and unique experience that Egypt is. So I say Good Night and Good Bye from Egypt as this is the last journal from Egypt. The next time you will hear from me I will be in Jordan.

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Photos

Inside the Dome in Mohammed Ali Mosque
This picture was taken inside the Mosque while lying on the floor.

Khan Al Khalili
This picture was taken in an alley where the shops only sold spices.

Last look at the city of Cairo
This is overlooking Cairo and if you look real carefully at the very center you can see the Pyramids. They are in the center sort of hidden by Cairo's pollution.

Comments

[noreen]

enjoyed the photos and journal very much
got even more excited about my Egypt trip in Nov.:) I work at Disnleyland...are you a Historian? How cool is that !!! I studied art history for years and tutored a little. How are the prices there? Can you give an idea? Like a taxi ride and trusting the rates etc. Or how about tipping...did you do a lot of it? Ive been to Turkey 3 times and Im still a little intimidated of bargaining :) Can I really see Cairo on a budget? OH ! And do you have any suggestions about booking a hot air balloon ride? Noreen [e-mail]

[Aly]

name of the Mosque
Just for clarification, the name of the mosque, Mohammed Ali Mosque, was not named after the prophet Mohammed. The name of the Mosque was named after Mohammed Ali Basha who became the ruler of Egypt after killing most of the Turk leadership that had invaded the country. I just returned from Egypt and that is what I learned from both the guide there and any of the tourist books that I read.

[rosemarie estrada]

my trips to egypt
well good that i looked up about the garbage city and i never went there but i have been to alexandria and cairo and i love it i have met alot of good people and hospitaliy is wonderful yes egypt is a bargain but you have to be careful how you bargain if you have any quesiton on help to make your trip a good one e-mail me