BAREFOOT THROUGH CAIRO

Cairo, Egypt

Today started off on the wrong foot as we realized that Miriam had lost my scarf at McDonald’s the day before, and I was UBER sad. We weren’t sure what we were going to do since we were visiting mosques throughout the day and we would have to cover our heads. But this is Egypt, and there are scarves for sale EVERYWHERE.

Our guide, Hany, came to our rescue to escort us through the rest of Cairo. Today was solely devoted to Islamic Cairo and the Egyptian Museum.

He took us first to the Citadel, a castle-like fortress on the top of the mountain surrounding the far end of Cairo. Good thing, too, because it wasn’t on our original itinerary, and we had made no plans to visit it on our own. That would have been a mistake! The mosques alone inside the grounds are well-worth the visit. The Citadel was originally built as a military compound, as it provided a view into the desert that gave them two days’ warning if the enemy was coming.

(Mosque of Mohammed Ali within the Citadel walls)

We ventured inside the mosques, where we had to take off our shoes, and Hany explained Islam to us as we sat on the floor under the amazing domes. The main mosque was just as awesome on the outside as it is on the inside, with huge domes and minarets (the towers used for the “call to prayer” chanting). We spent a lot of time sitting on the floor under the main dome talking religion and history—it was fascinating.

(Following the carpeted path in my socks to the Mosque of Sultan al-Nasir)

(Mosque of Sultan al-Nasir)

(Within the White Alabaster Mosque)

(The White Alabaster Mosque)

(The dome ceiling of the Mosque of Mohammed Ali)

(Doing whatever I have to to get the shot.)

The Citadel also provides amazing views of the city, especially Islamic Cairo with all the minarets and domes of the mosques—Hany says there are over 10,000 minarets in the Cairo skyline.

(There's always time for a little limbo...)

We then convinced him to take us to Khan al-Khalili, the Chinatown-like shopping area, and the Mosque of Al-Azhar. I was super excited to see the Mosque of Al-Azhar, as it’s to Islam what the Vatican is to Catholics, but, although beautiful, it didn’t hold a candle to the mosque at the Citadel. Miriam had to rent a scarf to cover her head, and we left our shoes with the shoe man.

(Miriam and our guide, Hany, in the Mosque of Al-Azhar)

(Miriam and I in the outside prayer area of the Mosque of Al-Azhar)

There wasn’t much to see in the mosque so I took some photos and went to retrieve my shoes and made a HUGE faux-pas…I dropped my shoes down on the carpet…Aaagh! Stupid, stupid me.

It was time for Khan al-Khalili! We weren’t too interested in shopping, but we did want to see it, so Hany pointed out where to go, told us the most we should pay for a couple of the items we were looking for, and gave us a half-hour to wander through the streets (which was awfully nice of him, because guides get a commission when they take you into shops, and the tourists usually end up paying more). He doesn’t like the stress of this area so he opted to sit and smoke a sheesha.

(Entering Khan al-Khalili)

(Hany and his sheesha)

Khan al-Khalili is a lot like NYC’s Chinatown, as it’s the same shops selling the same things right next to each other with men standing on the sidewalk trying to lure you in. The difference between the two is that Khan al-Khalili is much more compact—it’s a labyrinth of alleyways, so the streets are very narrow, meaning there are stores pressing on you from all directions. It was crazy! But the men didn’t push us too hard to come into their shops. They certainly tried but once we said la shukran (no thank you) they pretty much gave up.

The big deal is all about the bargaining. You have to haggle your butt off. We were looking for a scarf to replace the one we lost, and, luckily, Hany told us the most we should pay is 20 LE, or $3.30, so we were prepared. It was easy to bargain him down by saying I paid less than what he was offering in the US. We ended up getting a couple of scarves and then it was time to head back to Hany.

We took a break at the café he was smoking a sheesha at, and I got myself my latest obsession, strawberry juice. I LOVE IT! The waiter was really funny, too, and insisted on getting a picture with the two of us on his phone. Egyptians certainly love having their pictures taken with us!

After our respite, it was time for the Egyptian Museum. Hany does museums like we do—really fast. Although he did lecture A LOT…we would stand in front of something uninteresting, like a map of Egypt and he’d lecture about the different dynasties for about 10 minutes, when all I really wanted to do was look around the place. But we did learn a lot, which helped us through the museum—he was also preparing us for our trip to Luxor because he knew we won’t have a guide, and he wanted us to get the most out of our trip there.

(The Egyptian Museum)

(Having fun with some of the statues in the garden of the Egyptian Museum)

The best parts of the museum, of course, were King Tut’s famous gold mask and the mummy rooms. I couldn’t wait to see real mummies up close! It was so cool and so creepy at the same time! They looked like they could open their eyes and stare at us, which creeped us out even more. I was able to sneak a picture with my camera phone, as we had to check our cameras before entering. At that point I also realized I was really hungry. Is that wrong? Probably. But it’s the truth ;).

(Mubarak's Democratic Party building. Torched during the revolution. Right next door to the museum.)

I had mentioned to Hany that I really wanted to try koshary and it sounded like he would take us somewhere for that, but we ended up going back to the same restaurant we went to on our Pyramids day. Oh well!

Our half-day tour of Cairo turned into a full day of adventure. We had a blast! Now we are packing our bags and getting ready to fly to Luxor tomorrow! YAY!!!