CAIRO, EGYPT
I spent most of the morning touring the sights of Old Cairo, again with my guide Ragab. We started at the Saladin Citadel, a hill at the center of the city that was fortified in the 12th Century by the famous Islamic leader Saladin (who I have to admit I only knew about because of that Ridley Scott movie). Anyway, the view over Cairo from the top of the citadel was pretty impressive, and so was the most famous building there, the gargantuan Mohamed Ali Mosque ("Not named for the boxer," Ragab helpfully pointed out). Compared to the citadel itself, the mosque is very recent (1800s), and it's constructed of white alabaster, so it's sometimes referred to as the "Alabaster Mosque." It's really a beautiful building, with multiple domes, towering minarets, and a huge chandelier in the main hall. Of course we had to take our shoes off inside the mosque, but Ragab warned me to keep an eye on them, because he had his shoes stolen here once! Not sure who would want my battered old sneakers, but I carried mine around with me anyway while I took photos.
We then headed to the Coptic section of Cairo, which is sort of a walled cluster of very early Christian churches, and also includes the oldest synagogue in Egypt. Interestingly enough, the mosques, churches, and synagogues here all look very similar, with the same basic style of architecture and decoration. One church there, known as Abu Serga, is famous for having a basement floor where the Holy Family (Mary, Jesus and Joseph) supposedly lived for a time, so lots of religious pilgrims come to see it. As if that wasn't reason enough, this is also the spot where lil' baby Moses was supposedly found floating in the river Nile. Another famous church we visited right next door is the "Hanging Church," named because its nave was built suspended above the southern tower gate of the ancient Bablylon Fort. And there may have been another church or two we saw--this surely must have been the largest number of religious buildings I've been in in one day!
Having had enough of that ol' time religion, we then headed to the Egyptian Museum, which of course houses the majority of Egypt's ancient treasures. It's a gigantic place, a little old and musty, and frankly, quite overwhelming in its scope, as there are literally thousands and thousands of sculptures, artifacts and other priceless objects there. Ragab walked me to what he considers to be the dozen or so "must-see" items and explained them, although being an archaeologist, he sometimes got carried away with his descriptions, and by the end of our visit my head was swimming with way too much information about pharonic dynasties, religious rituals, mummification processes, and the like.
Of course, the most famous pieces at the museum are the treasures from King Tutankhamun's tomb, and rightly so: It's a huge collection of priceless stuff, and all of it is fascinating. And considering the size of the exhibit of Tut's treasures that I saw last Christmas in Ft. Lauderdale, the fact that there's so much here is even more amazing. The most stunning pieces are the solid gold inner coffin and the famous golden mask, both of which are on display behind glass in a special room. Up close, the workmanship is incredible, as it's really intricate and precise. And man, all that gold....
After the museum, Ragab and Tamer took me to lunch at a floating restaurant on the Nile, which was a pretty decent all-you-can-eat buffet. Then, since my day's guided tour was over and I had already checked out of my hotel (I'm taking the night train to Luxor tonight), I had them drop me off downtown, as I still had the entire afternoon to kill.
And believe it or not, I decided to walk back to the Egyptian Museum for another overdose of Egyptiana. This time I found an almost-hidden side room in the back with a display of all kinds of animal mummies, including dogs, cats, hawks, shrews, sheep, crocodiles, and even a giant Nile perch! Crazy, but very cool to see. I also checked out a display of Egyptian jewelry, much of which looks identical to designs you'd see today--and of course I had to get another look at the Tut stuff before heading off to the train station.
I spent most of the morning touring the sights of Old Cairo, again with my guide Ragab. We started at the Saladin Citadel, a hill at the center of the city that was fortified in the 12th Century by the famous Islamic leader Saladin (who I have to admit I only knew about because of that Ridley Scott movie). Anyway, the view over Cairo from the top of the citadel was pretty impressive, and so was the most famous building there, the gargantuan Mohamed Ali Mosque ("Not named for the boxer," Ragab helpfully pointed out). Compared to the citadel itself, the mosque is very recent (1800s), and it's constructed of white alabaster, so it's sometimes referred to as the "Alabaster Mosque." It's really a beautiful building, with multiple domes, towering minarets, and a huge chandelier in the main hall. Of course we had to take our shoes off inside the mosque, but Ragab warned me to keep an eye on them, because he had his shoes stolen here once! Not sure who would want my battered old sneakers, but I carried mine around with me anyway while I took photos.
We then headed to the Coptic section of Cairo, which is sort of a walled cluster of very early Christian churches, and also includes the oldest synagogue in Egypt. Interestingly enough, the mosques, churches, and synagogues here all look very similar, with the same basic style of architecture and decoration. One church there, known as Abu Serga, is famous for having a basement floor where the Holy Family (Mary, Jesus and Joseph) supposedly lived for a time, so lots of religious pilgrims come to see it. As if that wasn't reason enough, this is also the spot where lil' baby Moses was supposedly found floating in the river Nile. Another famous church we visited right next door is the "Hanging Church," named because its nave was built suspended above the southern tower gate of the ancient Bablylon Fort. And there may have been another church or two we saw--this surely must have been the largest number of religious buildings I've been in in one day!
Having had enough of that ol' time religion, we then headed to the Egyptian Museum, which of course houses the majority of Egypt's ancient treasures. It's a gigantic place, a little old and musty, and frankly, quite overwhelming in its scope, as there are literally thousands and thousands of sculptures, artifacts and other priceless objects there. Ragab walked me to what he considers to be the dozen or so "must-see" items and explained them, although being an archaeologist, he sometimes got carried away with his descriptions, and by the end of our visit my head was swimming with way too much information about pharonic dynasties, religious rituals, mummification processes, and the like.
Of course, the most famous pieces at the museum are the treasures from King Tutankhamun's tomb, and rightly so: It's a huge collection of priceless stuff, and all of it is fascinating. And considering the size of the exhibit of Tut's treasures that I saw last Christmas in Ft. Lauderdale, the fact that there's so much here is even more amazing. The most stunning pieces are the solid gold inner coffin and the famous golden mask, both of which are on display behind glass in a special room. Up close, the workmanship is incredible, as it's really intricate and precise. And man, all that gold....
After the museum, Ragab and Tamer took me to lunch at a floating restaurant on the Nile, which was a pretty decent all-you-can-eat buffet. Then, since my day's guided tour was over and I had already checked out of my hotel (I'm taking the night train to Luxor tonight), I had them drop me off downtown, as I still had the entire afternoon to kill.
And believe it or not, I decided to walk back to the Egyptian Museum for another overdose of Egyptiana. This time I found an almost-hidden side room in the back with a display of all kinds of animal mummies, including dogs, cats, hawks, shrews, sheep, crocodiles, and even a giant Nile perch! Crazy, but very cool to see. I also checked out a display of Egyptian jewelry, much of which looks identical to designs you'd see today--and of course I had to get another look at the Tut stuff before heading off to the train station.
posted by John Kuge at 9:43 PM
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