Walks Through Old Cairo

Don't forget to click on the photos so you get a better view of the detail.

This first group of photos are from the walk we did through the Coptic Christian area of Old Cairo. When I say old I mean OLD. The first church we visited, Abu Serga, was built in the 4th century AD because  the Holy Family had stayed there during their exile to Egypt when Jesus was a baby. (Did you know that??) Unfortunately we couldn't take photos inside but you can google the church if you're interested. 

The alleyways between the church and the synagogue were filled with shops, stalls and hawkers trying to sell their wares.

              

The Ben Ezra synagogue is the earliest synagogue in Egypt which was originally a Christian church.  Unfortunately another place you need to google if you want pictures. The Islamic artwork inside it is amazing.

The Hanging Church was built in the 9th century and is suspended about 30 metres off the ground. There are mosaics on the outside walls that lead to the stairs that take you up to the actual church. The colours of the tiles and skill of the craftsmen is amazing. The pulpit in the photo has 13 pillars which represent Jesus and his disciples. Interestingly one pillar is darker than the others, representing Judas. It also has a large collection of relics from patron saints which adorn the walls on either side of the church. The last photo in this group is the Church of St George which is under restoration by the Greek Orthodox church 

 



 

We drove to the Citadel, a fortress which was started in 1176 and continually added to by the Ottomans in the 1500  -1700s. In the 1800s Mohammed Ali, an Albanian governor turned pasha who lived in the fortress, decided to build the Alabaster Mosque in the Citadel. These photos are of the Citadel and the Mosque.

      

                  







This clock tower was given to Mohamed Ali by King Louis Phillippe. In return Ali gave him an obelisk from Saqqara. The clock has never worked, Saqqara has only 1 obelisk and the other is a well known landmark in Paris.

 





The outer square of the mosque.

        

Mohamed Ali's shrine

  the smaller pulpit

The main dome

View back over Cairo. Spot the pyramids.

An original entrance to the Citadel

To finish the tour Memo took us to the Khan al Khalili Market. On the way we passed the City of the Dead, an area where approximately 50,000 people live among and care for the tombs and mausoleums of their dead. They even have shops and schools.

The market was like stepping into another dimension. The stalls and shops were packed side by side and our van could just fit down the main "roadway" when we were leaving. Side roads and alleyways branched off the main roads and you could probably find anything you wanted in this area which would be about the size of St Lukes Mall. Each stall was only about 2 metres. The hawkers were onto us as soon as we arrived but the shopkeepers stayed within the confines of their little areas. The noise was incredible considering we had just come from the peace and tranquillity of the mosque.

       

 

City of the Dead is like another suburb. Some mausoleums are as big as houses.

 
The Al Hussein Mosque at the market has huge mechanical umbrellas which they open for Friday prayers and when it rains. Note the hawker who wanted to sell me a scarf, charging me nothing to look. I couldn't get past him for a decent photo.

We stopped for a falafel at one of the cafes Memo knew. Hawkers didn't give us much peace but then they were the same with the locals too.

 
The Alabaster Mosque is on the hill behind the market. The shop owners reached out to draw us into their shops so it paid to walk in the middle of the road. This is the same road we drove down to leave.
 
 Looking forward to a revisit for a whole day. Apparently we only covered a very small block for tourists... lots of trinkets but some very cool, reasonably priced stuff in amongst it ... if you can cope with the hard sell.

So, another full on day with a birthday party to go to later on. We were pretty tired today and have spent most of it on the couches listening to the league and getting this blog entry done.
Thank you 6th October for the 3 day weekend! Back to work tomorrow for 4 days then another holiday :-)