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December 28th Log |
Dec 28th Pics |
| A few random thoughts about Egypt,
Cairo, and about being in a Muslim nation. I feel extremely safe
and the people here have been very friendly and kind. From my
experiences, Muslim people are wonderful and not to be feared. I
would recommend anyone to come here. The food at the hotel is
darn good, the tours are a little expensive, but I'm paying for
a private tour. Traffic is bad just like any US city, but
everyone seems to get along. Please come, you'll love it. I once again enjoyed breakfast on
the Royal Club Lounge. A great way to start the day and one of
the best views from any hotel in the world.
My guide and
driver arrived at 9 AM and we headed off to the Egyptian Museum.
Cairo is one huge city. Since I arrived at night, I had no scale
of the size. It took about 20 minutes to get to the museum and
traffic was tough. We pasted by many of the foreign embassies.
Driving in Cairo |
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We arrive at the Egyptian Museum
and the line for the first of two metal detectors is very long.
So my guide, Samy, takes me to the front of the line and we get
right through. Good guide. I by my ticket and we wait in another
line for a metal detector. The amount of people here is
incredible. The number of tour groups is endless. At the first
stop at the museum, my guide is talking and some French
gentlemen asked Samy to be quite so he can hear his guide. Samy
politely tells him that he is doing he job. Good guide.
You can contact Samy at:
ghadaghada30@yahoo.com
or samyaok@yahoo.com.
Samy is one heck of a guide, but you need to be very clear if
you don't want to go shopping!
The
Egyptian Museum has an amazing amount of Egyptian artifacts. But
like the guide book says, there is very little information about
each items. It would take days to get through all of it, so Samy
shows my the highlights in two hours. Getting into the area
where the Tutankhamen items are, is like a herd of cattle
getting into a pen. Very crowded. This is definitely worth a
visit, but bring a guide. You'll have to check your camera
outside.
From Eyewitness Travel Guides Egypt
Founded by Frenchman, Auguste Mariette (1821-1881), Egypt's
first national museum of Pharaonic antiquities opened in 1863.
It quickly outgrew two homes before settling in the present
purpose-built premises in 1902. More than 120,000 items are on
display, with another 150,000 reputedly stored in the basement.
Pride of the collection are the artifacts recovered by
Tutankhamen's tomb but there are excellent pieces from every
period of ancient Egyptian history, from the Narmer Palette,
dating from around 3100 BC, through to the haunting Graeco-Roman
Fayoum Portraits of the 2nd century AD.
Outside the Egyptian Museum
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| The next stop today is The Citadel.
It's a huge fortress on top of the hill in Cairo. You can see it
from everywhere is Cairo, as long as the weather is clear.
From Eyewitness Travel Guides Egypt
Home to Egypt's rules for almost 700 years, the Citadel
(Al-Qalaa) is today one of the most popular tourist sites in
Cairo. Originally founded in 1176 by the famed Muslim
commander Salah ad-Din (also known as Saladin), its mosques,
museums and battlements reflect a diverse heritage. Divided
into three sections, the Citidel's main tourist area is in the
Southern Enclosure, where the Mosque of an-Nasr Mohammed (the
Citadel's only surviving Mamluk structure) is dwarfed by the
19th-century Mosque of Mohammed Ali. The upper terraces of the
Citadel offer spectacular view over the city.
The Citadel |
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| At the Mohammed Ali Mosque, Samy
gave me a brief history of the Moslem teachings and the mosque.
Good guide.
From Eyewitness Travel Guide Egypt
Dominating the eastern Cairo skyline, the Mohammed Ali
Mosque is a relative newcomer, having been constructed
as recently as the mid-19th century. It was erected on the
orders of the reformist ruler Mohammed Ali, who is regarded as
the founder of modern Egypt. When he came to power in 1805,
Egypt was a backwater province of the Ottoman empire. By the
time of his death in 1849, however, the country was once again
a regional superpower
Mohammed Ali's imposing mosque was a grand gesture that was
meant to echo the great imperial mosque of the Ottoman
capital. it is modeled along classic Turkish lines, with a
great central dome and two towering, yet slender, minarets.
the ornate clock in the courtyard near the entrance to the
mosque was a gift from King Louis-Philippe of France, in
exchange for the obelisk in the Place de la Concorde in Paris.
The clock was damage on delivery and has yet to be repaired.
Mohammed Ali's body lies in a marble tomb to the right on
entering the vast space of the prayer hall.
Mosque of Mohammed Ali |
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| Outside, we had a great view of the
city. It's huge. View of Cairo |
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| Next, onto Coptic Cairo. To get
there, we had to pass through some police barracks. I asked
about this. Samy says it was to keep down the traffic in the
area. And I see why. The streets are very narrow on congested.
We walked first to Ben Ezra Synagogue, then to the Church of St.
Serguis. We didn't go to the Hanging Church, because it is
currently being renovated. No pictures inside the places, so
here are some from outside. From Eyewitness Travel Guide Egypt
Perhaps the most famous church in all of Egypt, St. Sergius
owes it reputation to the widely held belief that the Holy
Family took shelter in a cave on this spot during their
'Flight to Egypt'. The cave is preserved in the form of a
crypt, currently in the process of being cleared of
underground water. Whatever the truth of the Holy stopover,
the church is likely to be the oldest existing structure
within the fortress, with foundations dating back to the 5th
century AD. Rebuilt and reconstructed many times, most of the
fabric of the building dates to between the 10th and 12th
centuries.
Coptic Cairo |
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| What, no shopping? Are you kidding.
Of course. We went to a perfume shopping, which was actually
pretty cool. The showed us how they made the perfume jars out of
Pyrex. It was something worth doing. Tracy, Le Meridien is a
French hotel. Kinda strange.
Another great day!
Tomorrow, Alexandria. |
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