Admittedly, part two is much more exciting than part one. With a bit more freedom, we were able to have more fun!
In week 3, I met up with another of Mrs. B’s connections, Magda. Magda took me to lunch in an area called New Cairo. It’s a recently developed area, and the interior ministry and many businesses have relocated there from downtown. It has a very different feel from the older parts of Cairo. I loved getting a chance to see it! Magda also helped us plan what we ended up doing that weekend in El Gouna.
Week 4 was action-packed! Mona took me on another adventure — this time to Islamic Cairo. Islamic Cairo is a historic district containing many mosques and the famous Khan el-Khalili. There is so much history, so Mona and I dedicated an entire day to it! What we didn’t plan for was the Muslim festival: Mawlid Al-Hussein. This meant we encountered some serious crowds.
We walked through the giant doors of Islamic Cairo, and it seemed as if we walked in a huge fortress. Our first stop was the Al-Hakin Mosque, which is a massive open air place of worship. The courtyard was filled with people: some enjoying lunch, some chatting, others praying. It felt so peaceful.
As we walked deeper into Islamic Cairo, we noticed the carnival gear set up for the holiday: merry-go-rounds, big swings, BB gun/balloon games and more! Slowly, the crowds made their way out in the streets to participate. We moved on to see Bayt Al-Suhaymi, which means House of Suhaymi. This is a large restored house that now exists as a museum. I loved seeing intricate wooden furnishings, particularly the lace-like windows that allowed women to watch the men in the garden without being seen.
At the “city center” is a building that used to serve as a school. Sabil-Kuttab of Katkhuda sort of sticks out in the middle of a street, making it highly visible and providing a wonderful view of its surroundings from upstairs.
We then went in the Complex of Sultan al-Mansur Qalawun. The most memorable part of the complex was the mausoleum, which had an elaborate wooden structure in the middle which houses the tomb. Mona showed me that the design below reads “Muhammad” over and over again in Arabic.
I cannot recall the name of the last place we went. I can’t skip over this location because I fell in love with this blue and gold ceiling. I can only imagine how beautiful it would look with the lanterns lit up at night.
As wrapped up our day of adventure (and as the road filled with shoulder-to-shoulder foot traffic), Mona and I headed into Khan el-Khalili. This market is filled with everything you can imagine from jewelry to bedding. We stopped in Fishawi’s for some of their famous peppermint tea. It was pretty chilly out, so it was nice to sit down and enjoy a warm drink.
We wrapped up our day by walking by the Hussein Mosque, which is where the Muslim celebration took place. Mona and I fought our way through the crowd and continued through more of the market. I have never seen so many shops or so many people! I joked with Mona that I felt as if I had seen the entire Cairo population in one day. We waited an eternity for an Uber, but it was a great opportunity to soak up how busy (and noisy) Cairo is.
Two nights later, the local Coke team took us to a fabulous dinner at La Pacha 1901. La Pacha is actually a boat that sits in the Nile River and houses a handful of different restaurants. We ate at Carlo’s, a Lebanese restaurant. We had a great time and enjoyed some delicious food (LOTS of it!). The photo below shows just the dishes for our table, which sat only 5 of us. We left very full and happy!
On our last full day in Cairo, Meadows, Lucky and I went to the pyramids. We had been told we wouldn’t encounter many other tourists, but there were actually many other people there! We can only assume that the local school holiday caused the atypical surge in visitors.
My immediate impression of the pyramids was pure awe. They are so large and impressive for something so old. Additionally, they are rather close to the city. It’s unusual to see a developed city next to ancient structures. We got to climb up on a few of the rocks, but were pretty quickly called down. I blame this guy, who recently climbed one of the pyramids without being noticed and documented it on his GoPro.
It is so hard to wrap my head around the fact that the pyramids have withstood the test of 4,000+ years! Our group hopped on camels to learn more about the complex. Meadows and I shared a camel, which is laughable in hindsight! The largest pyramid (the Great Pyramid or the Pyramid of Khufu) originally had a smooth limestone casing around it, which has since come off. The middle-sized pyramid (the Pyramid of Khafre) still has some of the casing stones on the top of it.
Our tour guide insisted we take some typical tourist photos. This was one I hadn’t seen before though! At the time I thought it was completely ridiculous, but we politely obliged. Now, I think it’s the funniest photo I’ve ever seen, and I love it.
The camels took us around the entire pyramid complex, and we finished at the Sphinx. After seeing the pyramids, the Sphinx seemed somewhat small! It was still amazing to see, as it is one of the oldest statues in the world.
When we left the pyramids, we headed to the Egyptian Museum. We got the opportunity to see many artifacts similar to what we saw still standing in Luxor. There was an entire room dedicated to Egyptian antiquities that were stolen and taken around the world. One sarcophagus made its way to Brooklyn before being returned to Egypt! The crown jewel of the museum (pun intended) was King Tut’s treasures. His golden mask, sarcophagus and jewelry were so beautiful! Photos are not allowed in the museum, so you can take a peek by clicking here or visiting for yourself!
We had a great time in Cairo – a VERY special thanks to Mrs. B and Mona for making it so memorable!
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