Dirt

If you summed up Cairo in one word, it would be dirt. This city is pretty icky; only second to Delhi. We didn't do a whole lot in Cairo except wait around for our visas to clear. With the beginning of the Haj (a month long pilgrimage for all Muslims to Mecca), some Iranian holidays, crazy Muslim weekends (Thursday and Fridays), and Christmas, there were only a few days each week were we could acutally accomplish anything.

But we did see a few things. We spent a day walking around Coptic Cairo (Coptic is the Eastern Orthodox sect of Christianity in Egypt), a day shopping for that ever elusive alabaster chess set in the Muslim Quarter tourist markets (didn't find the right one), a day wandering around the pyramids (which I already posted on), and an evening at a free Sufi twirling performance--spectacular! The twirling performance is actually Sufi's entering a trance like state of worship to Allah through spinning. It's really quite beautiful and moving. It wasn't hard to see the sincerity in their faces or the passion of the singers and musicians; several performers were crying. But just watching them spin for over 30 minutes straight is enough to make even the most seasoned sailor motion sick! They should have handed out bags and motion sickness meds at the door! Jk. Unfortunately we didn't take a camera. :(

I think these were some of the old city gates in Islamic Cairo.

Cairo over the Nile. This place is only clean looking because it's next to the Hyatt. Everywhere else is gritty.

Some mosque in Coptic Cairo where the men at the front tried to rip us off by asking for baksheesh (sorta like tipping) for minding our shoes. We refused to pay.

A view over Islamic Cairo.

This interesting little street in Coptic Cairo sold lots of English books and some tourist treasures like gold Annubis statues. Bah.

This is Midan Talat Harb, near where we stayed.

One of the lovely old Coptic churches in Coptic Cairo. The stained glass was amazing and made the whole chapel sparkle like a kaleidoscope. There was also an interesting synagogue nearby that is supposedly where Moses was found in the reeds but like most synagogues in Egypt, no photos allowed. It was beautiful though.

Jeremy took this picture from the roof of our hotel. Lovely, eh?

Other than that and the constant battle to have my x-rays released (it took several visits and phone calls to the embassy and hospital along with numerous arguments with power-tripping receptionists and a letter from the Australian Department of Immigration) and Jeremy's back and forth with the Iranian embassy, we pretty much sat online or read books.

Food wise, the downtown area of Cairo where we stayed was seriously lacking. Aside from McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, and Koshary (a lentil, chickpea, rice, onion and marinara concoction), there was just the random market store with biscuits. We ate sooo bad and have gained a little weight because of it. Darn. Back to working it off!!

After two weeks in Cairo, breathing the smog, battling the flies and cats, and wearing soot in all of our clothes, we finally escaped to Dahab--the Red Sea backpackers paradise.