Our final full day in Egypt was another busy day. After breakfast at the Sheraton Dreamland we headed to the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities aka the Egyptian Museum. It is located next to Tahrir Square and is home to a huge collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities. It has over 120,000 items in its collection and a fraction of the that (the most significant items) are on display. The remainder are in storage. Of course, it is most famously known for its mummy room and for the treasures of Tutankamen's tomb that are on exhibit.
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| Egyptian Museum |
We all saw the building that housed Mubarak's political party. It is completely burned out and is located right next to the Egyptian Museum and Tahrir Square.
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| Mubarak's Party HQ on Tahrir Square |
(Author's note: absolutely nothing was going on in the area of the museum or Tahrir Square next door. Before we left, one of the guides took me, my husband, and our nine year old for a quick "lap" around the square. It very much reminded me of Occupy Buffalo over the summer - except dustier and with much more traffic. I'm a current events/political junkie, so it was something I had to see with my own eyes).
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| Tahrir Square |
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| Tahrir Square |
It was too short of a visit to the museum (you would need weeks to really see it all), but we were off to our next stop, the Citadel.
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| Mohammed Ali's Mosque |
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| Inner Courtyard of Mohammed Ali's Mosque |
The Citadel of Salahel el-Din is on a high bluff overlooking Cairo. The complex includes the Mosque of Qualawun and Mohammed Ali's Mosque. We went inside the Mosque of Mohammed Ali. All the females in our group made sure to respect the Islamic culture by covering our hair and not exposing the skin on our arms and legs. All of us had to take our shoes off when walking into the mosque. As we exited the mosque, we enjoyed a beautiful panoramic view of Cairo and could see the Pyramids in the distance.
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| View from the Citadel |
Afterwards, we drove to Coptic Cairo to visit Abu Serga aka the Church of St. Sargius. Cars are not allowed in most areas of this part of Cairo and there are many small alleyways. It had a completely different feel than the other parts of the city and we really enjoyed the walk to the church. This church is the oldest in Cairo and was built on top of the crypt the Holy Family hid in during their flight into Egypt. The Gospel of Matthew says they went into Egypt after Joseph was warned by an angel to flee there because Herod wanted to kill Jesus.
We could not go down into the crypt (or take pictures in the church), but we were able to peer down into the crypt and also visit the beautiful church (and buy postcards).
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| Postcard of Abu Serga Crypt |
We left the serenity of Coptic Cairo for the Khan el-Khalili. It is the major souk (shopping area) in the Islamic district of Cairo.
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| Khan el-Khalili |
The bazaar district is one of Cairo's main attractions for tourists and Egyptians alike. We ate lunch in this area and shopped in the narrow side streets of the market. This area was also very neat because it is only for pedestrians. No one reported being hassled too much by shop owners trying to make a sale. In fact, most were very nice and thanked us for coming to Egypt (whether we bought something or not).
We headed to a shop in Giza that makes papyrus next. We were given a demonstration of how it is made and given time to shop for works of art painted on papyrus.
From there, we split into two groups. The larger group went to have dinner and the smaller one paid extra to go to the 7:00 pm sound and light show at the Pyramids. The first group went back to the hotel to pack and relax and the other group ate dinner after the show and then came back to the hotel.
Our flight leaves at 10:30 am tomorrow, so we have to leave the hotel at 6:00 am.
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