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[Dec. 16th, 2008|07:17 pm]
Starsinger
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Today has been incredibly busy. I was awake at four am and up at quarter past five - couldn't sleep. I spent some time sitting out on the balcony in the dark, listening to the Muslim call to prayer. It's so beautiful - melodic and just so very Islamic. That and the architecture here really remind me I'm not at home. Well, among other things.
At eight, our tour guide and driver were here to pick us up. We went to the Citadel first, the largest compound built by Salah El Din, a massive structure including the mosque, guest quarters, storage facilities, his living quarters - all made out of limestone. The mosque built by Mohamed Aly was beautiful. Knowing what was acceptable and not in an Islamic country made things easier for us - we didn't have to wear the rather unattractive green robes that were given to some women who had bare shoulders or were wearing shorts. Both T and I brought our scarves (thanks cousin T!) and covered our heads while we were in there, although I noticed not all the women did. In fact, most didn't.
The architecture was pretty amazing. It combined Islamic and Byzantine art, because Mohamed Aly was influenced by the west - he'd sent been born in Greece. There was a clock tower given to him by Louis-Phillipe of France there, and Mohamed Aly's tomb is in the mosque, on the right-hand side by the entrance door. We also visited the military museum - less impressive for me, but the history was interesting. Our guide was quite knowledgeable.
Actually, while we were talking during lunch, we found out that he had to study for seven years to become a tour guide. He has a four-year bachelor's degree in Egypt Studies, and then a two year graduate degree in Tourism and another year preparing for his masters. He was quite surprised to find out that pretty much anyone can call themselves a tour guide back home. There's no regulation there.
After the Citadel, we went to Coptic Cairo, seeing all the old churches and an ancient synagogue that used to be a church - but when the Muslim rulers were taxing the Christians to essentially punish them for the invasions and the like, the priest of this one church had no money and couldn't pay the taxes. A Jewish man loaned him the money for the taxes, telling the priest he could pay the money back when he had it. The priest never had enough money, though, so the Jew took over the church and (naturally) turned it into a synagogue. You can still see the Coptic Christian elements, though, and some of the Islamic ones - one of the leaders of Egypt married a woman who was Coptic Christian, and upon her request he repaired all the Coptic churches, except of course he used Islamic artisans, so the churches as well as this synegogue are a mix of Islamic and Christian architecture.
It really was beautiful there. We stopped off at a shopping mall of sorts - one completely geared towards tourists, much like we saw in Mexico when we were headed out (or back, I don't remember which) to Chichen Itza. Wandered around a bit, but we didn't really buy that much.
After shopping, we went to lunch at a restaurant floating on the Nile - expensive, but totally worth it considering the view. The food was good - salad, beets (Grandpa would approve), pickled cucumbers and radishes; chicken, meatballs and some other type of red meat that I didn't eat much off; rice; and the dessert of our choice from their table - we tried what looked like candied figs (turned out to be roughly puff pastries without the cream and with a sort of sweet sauce) and what looked like sausage rolls (we knew they weren't, given their placement on the dessert table; they turned out to be very similar to an icing-less cinnamon roll).
We continued our day with a tour of the Egyptian Museum, checking out the sarcophogii on the lower floor and the many, many funeary items of King Tut on the second. We also paid extra to see the mummies; among them, Queen Hatshepsut (who has always fascinated me), her brother and husband, Tutmose II, and her step-son, Tutmose III. There's a mummy there puported to be Tutmose I (her father), but its hands are not folded in the manner of the kings, so it seems unlikely it's actually he. Ramses II was also there, and a few others I didn't recognize or can't recall now. We also went into another area (this one was included in the price of the museum entrance) that had mummified animals.
Good thing neither T nor I are the type to have nightmares! *grin*
After some time there, we went to the Khan El Khalili Bazar. We didn't spend a ton of time there - our guide told us we shouldn't buy anything there (I think he's worried we'll get fleeced - I might, but T probably wouldn't - she's good at bargaining) - but we wanted to wander around and get the feel of the place. Mom, by the time I come home, I will be very good at saying "no" to people.
The salespeople there are persistent, and that's putting it mildly. They will say almost anything to get you in there, and you just have to keep saying, "No, thank you" - and if you find something you want (we saw some postcards we wanted to get) but don't like the price, you have to be willing to walk away. (As we were coming back, though, he offered them for what turned out to be 20 cents each - he wanted to make the sale.) I can't count the number of times people commented on T and me being sisters (twins, even), or mentioned how pretty our eyes or smile was. One enterprising fellow even told us it was his first day!! *laugh* Sure - the first day of the rest of his time as a salesperson, I'm sure.
They have some beautiful things there, though. There's a lot of - well, junk, to me - things I wouldn't be interested in in a million years - but they have some beautiful perfume bottles (except I don't wear perfume) and scarves (which I don't often wear, but want to buy anyway). I took some pictures of the alleyway we walked through so you can see how busy it is. When we were finished wandering (about twenty or so minutes), we met our guide at a cafe near the mosque and had Turkish coffee (me) and cold hibiscus tea (T). Both delicious, although in completely different ways.
We were supposed to visit the Al Azhar Mosque, but T and I were feeling pretty tired by then (our tour guide had a cold as well as me, as it turned out, so he must have been feeling somewhat done in by then too!), so we missed it. (I had to write a note saying we'd elected not to go, though.)
We finished the day with a very relaxing felucca ride on the Nile as the sun was setting. It was a little chilly with the wind, but the view was incredible. As the sun went down, downtown Cairo lit up, and we saw the Cairo Tower - with its lotus-flower decoration - illuminated by soft white lights.
When we got home, our aunt, uncle and cousin were all here. S made use a prawn salad that was delicious - she's an amazing cook - and T's now passed out on the sofa. I have to say, I'm not far behind her. Amazing day, and I'm so glad we did everything, but I'm completely wiped. And we have Giza and Memphis and the Sakkara Step Pyramid tomorrow, so it's another long day.
Love,
C |
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