Adventure Day # 2 a success! And we finally made it into Cairo—hooray!!
We once again took our hotel shuttle into Giza and made it to the metro all by ourselves and opted to ride in the Ladies Only car. We were still stared at, but at least it smelled better and was a lot more colorful. We really wanted to take a picture of the train car filled with all the colorful scarves, but I was too afraid of offending people.
(At the train station. Note the woman in the full burka walking behind me. Love it!)
One of our stops was called Mubarek, but we couldn’t find it on any map in any train car and soon discovered that it had been scratched off and written over—what the Arabic said, we have no idea, but I’m sure it wasn’t something nice about their ex-president. Everywhere Mubarak’s name had been printed was no longer legible.
(Mubarek stop should be between Masarra and Attaba)
We ventured down to Old Cairo, otherwise known as Coptic Cairo. It was beautiful part of the city, with all the centuries old Coptic Christian churches and the oldest synagogue in Egypt, Ben Ezra.
First stop was the Hanging Church, and we happened upon it during a church service (we forgot it was Sunday!). It was beautiful to watch the service and the church was amazing.
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| (Facade of the Hanging Church) |
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| (Inside one side of the church) |
(During the service. The priest is behind the sanctuary screen.)
Finding Ben Ezra Synagogue was a bit of a challenge. A tourist police officer had to show us the underground passageway, but first he insisted that we take the card for his “cousin’s” restaurant, as he would give us a “good price”—always the case with these guys. Everyone has a cousin, a brother, a best friend, who owns a shop where we will be given Egyptian hospitality and good price. I have yet to see that good price…but the hospitality has been nice—we haven’t paid for a single drink yet! Lots of soda and hibiscus iced tea (karkade). Yummy.
(Checking my guide book for the way to Ben Ezra)
Anyways, we followed the labyrinth semi-underground (there was no roof, but it was a bit lower than the main street) and finally found Ben Ezra. Miriam was sad because pictures were not allowed, but that didn’t stop me from secretly taking them! Hehehe…
While in the synagogue we happened upon our first American tourists, two Jewish women originally from Brooklyn, now living in San Diego.
(Miriam in the underground passageway to Ben Ezra)
(One of my illegal photos in Ben Ezra. Lots of coughing involved to cover the picture taking. Sshhh...)
We then headed up to Tahrir Square, home to the big revolution earlier this year. “January 25” was plastered everywhere with spray paint, signs, posters, and stickers. Street vendors were selling Egyptian flags and revolution signs. The Egyptian people are very excited about their new democracy.
We decided it was time for lunch, and I really want to find a koshary place because I’m fascinated in trying Egyptian food, but the streets around Tahrir were incredibly confusing. A nice student (whose teacher at the university is from “Seattle City”) helped us find the street we were looking for but he said we couldn’t dine yet because of the noontime prayers. At the last minute he came running back and directed us to a place where we could sit down and get out of the heat—another perfume/papyrus shop. Ugh. Gotta stop falling for that!
“Doctor” Adala at the perfume shop claimed to be a skin doctor. I’m not sure if that is real or not, but he was very amusing. He recommended a tree oil for my skin and showed me different ways of using it and then gave both Miriam and me a facial. I got roped into buying a bottle, but at least it felt good on my skin, and from what I’ve heard from numerous Egyptians in the last few days it’s not only good for complexion but can also be used as a sunscreen and massage oil—very interesting.
He was a very sweet man and invited us to his daughter's wedding tomorrow so that we can feast and celebrate with his family. Unfortunately, we had to decline as our day is completely booked, but he said the next time we come to visit him he will have us over for dinner, and his wife will cook us an authentic Egyptian meal. Ah, so friendly and hospitable here.
(Getting beat up during my facial)
(Miriam's mummy look)
(Me with the "doctor")
After seeing the “doctor” I was in no mood to wait for the koshary place, especially since I couldn’t remember the directions the student had given us, so we headed to McDonald’s instead. According to our tour guide at the Pyramids, when Egyptians want to go out somewhere nice, they head to the American fast food places, so I guess you could say we treated ourselves to a nice meal. Haha.
I ended up getting the McArabia Chicken meal—pita, chicken, tomato, and white sauce. Pretty darn tasty.
And even at McDonald’s we gathered a crowd. A group of young girls, maybe 9 or 10 years old, were absolutely fascinated with us. One of the girls got up the courage to ask Miriam her name. When Miriam went to the bathroom I was surrounded by them. They couldn’t really speak English, but they were having fun trying. They would ask questions and then giggle and whisper to each other when I would answer them. Pretty entertaining.
(Me with three of the five girls who came to talk with me)
Everywhere we seem to go, the Egyptian people greet us with smiles and say, “Welcome to Egypt!” And once they find out we’re American, they get very excited and exclaim, “Obama #1!”
(Just for fun-- here's a look at the traffic in Cairo. Imagine trying to cross the street...)
We’re still on the hunt for simple postcards and souvenirs, but Cairo is proving not easy to shop in! Oh well. We’ll keep trying. One more day here before we head to Luxor.
Tonight it’s room service and watching movies. Time to relax before getting up early to head to Islamic Cairo tomorrow! This time we’re heading out with a guide J.
Tisbah ala-khayr! (good night!)
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