The day started off with another early start and a long ride through Cairo in the busy traffic. The congestion is epic and cars seem to move around with great smoothness despite there being 5 of them abreast in three lane roads! There is much horn blowing and the traffic includes buses and cars, tuk-tuks and motorcycles, donkeys and scooters all vying for space on the same roads. When pedestrians are also thrown into the mix it is a wonder to me that it runs smoothly at all!
We drove mostly on busy roads with views of the city abutting the highways. We were headed for the citadel that is famous as it was built in the 1100's and it contains a mosque which was added in the 1500's.
We visited the mosque that had an ornate solution area open to the sky and then visited the interior which had a fabulous chandelier that was donated by France and which includes 365 glass lights.
Then we went to the Cairo Museum. This is a treasure trove of egyptian artifacts, including displays of some of the contents of King Tut's tomb.
After lunch on the Nile we were off to old Cairo. We walked through the old town with its narrow streets and were led to a church Abu Surga and which had housed the Holy Family during their escape from the Romans.
Next we visited a Synagog called Ben Azra which marked the place where Moses was found in the reeds and also is believed to contain the ten commandments tablets.
Then we walked to Saint Barbara church where St. George is commemorated, and where we could see the prison he was kept in and the very instruments used to torture him (shudder).
Next we saw Saint Mary church also called the 'hanging church' because it was suspended between two towers.
It was a day of religious education, and an education it was as we were exposed to many differing beliefs and learned some basics about them all.
We then made our way to the bazaar which is again in areas of winding narrow corridor like streets with vendors to either side calling for our business as we walked along. We topped this off with a visit to an authentic style cafe. There were men smoking hookahs and people sipping coffee and it felt very authentic.
We were approached by a woman offering henna tattoos and thought to have some fun with this. Paul asked for a tattoo of an ankh, the famous egyptian symbol of life. To his surprise and our hilarity, the woman drew a very poor rendition of an anchor. She tried to produce a dove for me but she was no artist! We laughed uproariously!
After this long day we arranged for a trip to a local restaurant where we tried traditional Egyptian dishes! What a spectacular and full day!
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