This area of the city, also known as Coptic Cairo, had a very distinct medieval feel to it. We wandered around for a while, poking our heads into churches and whistling through graveyards before wandering back towards the metro.
We were looking for a juice stand for some fresh-squeezed juice, but were unable to find the one we had passed on our way there. We ended up drinking some cold sugar cane juice, which was surprisingly delicious (despite its greenish hue), and tastes exactly like you would imagine it to taste.
Just as we neared the metro, we saw a mecca sent from the gods: a juice stand. We got aome mango juice, and the kind propriator found us some chairs so we could sit down and enjoy it. Because we weren't that close to Coptic Cairo at this point, we were an anomoly there too. Kit even noticed that a guy pointed us out to his wife so she could see the Westerners!
We took the metro back up to the main square, then took a cab to the souq (market). We decided to go to the Al -Azhar mosque first. As we were sitting outside reading about it in our book, an older man approached us and told us that he had taught there for many years (the mosque is also a learning center for Islam), and that he was a direct descendant from Mohammed. He told us about the history of the building, then invited us for tea. After tea, he showed us his friend's spice shop, and taught us quite a bit about all the spices and what they are used for. And then (we should have known this was coming!) he showed us his work shop where he and his son made boxes inlayed with mother-of-pearl. They were beautiful, but Kit and I were kicking ourselves a little bit for not anticipating the hard sell.
After this little diversion, we got into the mosque and looked around. It was actually quite different from the other mosques we've been to: instead of being a big open square space, it was more rectangular, and littered with columns. There was also a surprising number of men taking naps there, which I found bizarre, but it's apparently socially acceptable. I believe that we forgot to mention that we had to put on full robes in yesturday's open mosque. There are pictures.
Our next stop was lunch, and we had it at this "Egyptian pancake" restaurant...it was a cross between a crepe and a pizza. But quite good. After lunch, we wandered around the souq for a long while, each of us putting our haggling face on, and looking for presents for different people. The whole time we were there, people would shout at Kit "Two wives? Very lucky man!" One guy even shouted "I would kill my wife for you!" It's hilarious what people shout as they pass! (This last line is definitly up there with Turkey's "hey woman" and "yes please 1, 2, 3, 4" comments) We've also been "welcome(d) to Egypt" by just about everyone.
The souq had a very different feel from the bazaars in Turkey, but the bargaining was the same. On our way back to the center of town, we saw some sheep in the middle of the road, and as we turned our heads, we saw a man holding down one sheep, while it was twitching. We noticed that the street was dark with blood: we were watching a sheep be slaughtered right in the road!
We caught a cab to the heart of the city, and grabbed some koshiri (it's the new Greek pita!) for dinner. Soon, we met up with Karam, and he took us north to find a felucca. We ended up paying 70 Egyptian pounds for all 4 of us to rent out the boat for one hour. We spent a very peaceful hour watching the party feluccas and the Nile go by. By this time, it was quite late, so we called it a night. Pyramids tomorrow!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
1 comment:
You had tea from a stranger?? You're getting daring...I thought tea from strangers was a little risky....
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