Outside our hotel window I watched the city of Cairo wake up - growing number of cars whizzing by, women walking with their families, buses taking people to work, drivers honking their horns - normal city life... but with the pyramids in the background I realize this isn't just any city. It's Egypt. And I wake up feeling incredible fortunate to be here.
Our itinerary for the day: Islamic Cairo - The Citadel of Saladdin, the Khan el Khalili Market and the Egyptian Museum.
It was an overcast that day which made me happy we visited Giza & Saqqara the day before - a suggestion Ahmed made when we arrived in Egypt. Although he reasoned we'd be more comfortable ending our day at Giza with a nice hot shower - feeling fresh & clean compared to spending the night on the overnight train to Aswan feeling dusty and sandy.
Before we met Ibrahim R & I had breakfast and made our way to the ATM for some cash. After 4 or 5 trips to the ATM, R & I started to feel like we were ALWAYS taking out money - and it was just our 2nd day in Egypt. lol! Granted the maximum amount the hotel ATM would give us was 200 Egyptian pounds which is roughly 27 € or $36. It's not a lot of money. But because we received 200 Egyptian pounds it felt like a lot of money. lol! So what exactly were we spending our money on? Not on entrance fees; they were already included in our tour. No, our money was primarily being used to pay for Baksheeh (tips).
Now tipping is not required but it's expected if you feel you've received good or exceptional service. I have absolutely no problem with tipping but after a while I felt like all I was doing was tipping - the tour guide, driver, tour representative, hotel attendants, camel guide, cruise director, cruise waiter, toilet attendants - I mean the list goes on and on. And again I have no problem with tipping. Our driver & tour guides in particular did an exceptional job and I was more than happy to show my gratitude but when you need to tip to get 4 squares of toilet paper it begins to get a bit crazy. The stressful part for me was obtaining small change. Egypt has a shortage of small change. It's precious currency. lol! And things can get complicated when you give a person a large bill in hopes that person has change. Yeeaaah, that 's not going to happen. No... that person will probably think you were extremely happy with their service. We tried to get change at larger hotels and upscale restaurants but no one had change. At one point, R decided the only way to get smaller bills was to go to the bank.
When R went inside the bank (which was located in our hotel) he told the bank teller, "I'd like to get some change for this bill."
Do you know what the teller's response was? "We don't have change." lol!!
So R said, "What do you mean?? YOU don't have change. You're a Bank!"
Begrudgingly, the man gave him change.
Just thinking about this exchange between R & the bank teller makes me laugh. I think one thing that would have made the whole tipping issue easier is if we could have included the major tips to our bill like when you go for a spa treatment - you add the tip to your final cost.
Ok...where was I? Breakfast, meeting Ibrahim... oh, I know. Our first stop of the day - The Citadel of Saladdin.
The fort complex, which stands on a hill overlooking the old city of Cairo was constructed during the twelfth century by King
Saladin and his brother King El-Addel to protect Cairo from invading
Crusaders.
Before entering the Mohamed Ali Mosque, Ibrahim pointed out a brass clock tower which was presented to Muhammad Ali by King Louis Philippe of France. The clock was reciprocated with the obelisk of Luxor which now stands in the Place de la Concorde in Paris. According to Ibrahim, the clock hasn't worked since it arrived in Egypt in 1845.
The Mohamed Ali Mosque was added in the nineteenth century. The areas both outside & inside the mosque are magnificent. Before entering the courtyard, we took our shoes off and admired the beautiful details of the windows and the alabaster columns.
The mosque was built in memory of Tusun Pasha, Muhammad Ali's oldest son, who died
in 1816.The interior is very spacious and gorgeously decorated with greens and gold.
This was my first time visiting a Muslim country so I found the religious aspects of our tour to be especially intriguing. I loved seeing minarets and doomed roofs dot the city landscape. One of the most memorable sounds for me was the call to pray. Hearing the call to pray echo throughout the city was enchanting. The muffled recording sounded so foreign & mysterious like it had been recorded a thousand years old. To me, the idea of people all over Egypt gathering & taking time out to pray was beautiful.
Ibrahim thought R looked so much like President Bush Jr. that R humored him & agreed to take this photo. lol!
Ibrahim told us an interesting story of when President Obama came to Egypt & visited a mosque. According to Ibrahim, our President didn't want to visit an extravagant mosque. He wanted to visit a modest mosque where real people worshiped. Ibrahim said he really liked that President Obama was interested in their culture and meeting people in small villages unlike our previous President who never made the time to come to Egypt. It's well known here in Europe and in other parts of the world that our previous President wasn't the most liked. You can just imagine how I felt when several people started to motion to R and think he was George Bush, Jr.
Even Ibrahim told R, "You know who you look like?
And R would say, "I know... George Bush."
When we were in Aswan there was a guy circling around us holding a cell phone up to our faces and taking photos and a video. It was a little weird especially since I don't think R resembles George Bush at all. But R caught the attention of many, many Egyptians. On the streets, at the Khan el-Khalili market, the overnight train to Aswan, a shop in Luxor, at various temples... everywhere people would stare and couldn't believe how much he looked like our previous President. R was a good sport though and he agreed to take a couple of photos.
After we walked around the Citadel area for a bit we drove to the famous Khan el-Khalili Market.
This bazaar district is filled with shops, restaurants, street food vendors, and coffee houses serving Arabic coffee and shisha (an instrument for smoking tobacco in which the smoke is cooled and filtered by passing through water).
The variety of tobacco used for the shisha was amazing. Most of the tobaccos in the coffee shops sounded more like flavored teas... apple, mint, strawberry, orange, vanilla, coconut, sweet melon, banana, caramel, and the list goes on and on. Ibrahim told me he didn't use those flavored tobaccos; they were mainly used by women.
Walking through the Khan el-Khalili Market is not for the weak. The market is a mini maze... tons of tiny alleys with vendors selling similar items making it easy to get disoriented.
As soon as we walked into the market area we were accosted by aggressive shop owners trying to convince us to buy anything from their shop. We hear all sorts of interesting approaches...
"How can I take your money today?
"Lady, how can I make you happy today?"
We politely declined their offers but the salesmen continued to bargain and lowered their price as we walked away repeating for the 10th time, "No, thank you -la shukran". I quickly realized it's almost impossible to glance at anything without being approached and lured into the shops.
Ibrahim had warned us that by being Americans prices would automatically increase not to mention I was traveling with a President Bush look alike. lol! At one point I thought it would be best if I spoke Spanish but that didn't help at all. The vendors are multilingual and conversing with me in Spanish was as easy as speaking English.
Walking along the tiny windy streets we found lots of interesting items... an assortment of perfume bottles in every color and shape imaginable, Shishas in all different styles and sizes, backgammon and chess sets, and lots of spices.
I was hoping to buy some dried Hibiscus petals (seen above in the white & blue striped bag) to make tea but I was so overwhelmed I completely forgot. Not only was I obsessed with the local fruit juices but I was now addicted to Karkady (Hibiscus tea), a popular & most unusual drink found in Egypt. The tea is made from the dried, dark red
petals
of the Hibiscus flower. The drink can be served hot or cold but mine was always served chilled. You can find it in many of the cafe's
throughout Egypt.
One of the highlights of the Khan el-Khalili for me was the architecture. If you can look behind all the goods hanging in the air you'll discover some beautiful buildings and inscriptions.
After weaving our way through the market we met Ibrahim at a cafe and had lunch. The owner, like so many other Egyptians we'd met was incredibly friendly. After we ordered, the owner brought over a plate of Falafels and
insisted we try them. We told him (or I should say Ibrahim translated
for us) that we had had Falafels at the hotel the night before. The
owner got really excited and wanted to know which Falafels were
better... his or the ones from the hotel. When R & I tried those
steamy, hot Falafels we immediately agreed his were the best. I don't
think Ibrahim had to translate our sentiment considering the Falafels
disappeared instantly from our plates.
That's me smiling & holding my breath since I didn't want to inhale any of the smoke. Ibrahim doesn't smoke the yummy flavored tobaccos... remember that's only for the girls. lol! Straight tobacco doesn't smell quite as good!
While we ate outside it gave me some time to people watch. I loved it... sitting there at a local cafe near the mosque, hearing the call to pray, smelling the wonderful spices of the local food, observing woman dressed in various degrees of modesty and men walking in robes. Everything around me was so foreign.
I watched as women walked with their families or with a group of girlfriends. Rarely, did I see a woman walking by herself. Many young women were dressed contemporary with jeans, a sweater over a long sleeve blouse or a tunic with a scarf on their head while the older women wore long robes covering everything but their faces. And sadly, I noticed many women wearing burkas - completely unnoticed - like ghosts floating through the streets. But it was impossible for me not to focus on these women. On one hand I understand why these women chose to wear burkas but on the other hand I find it difficult to see a society encouraging their mothers, wives, daughter, and sisters to wear something that completely hides their identity and individuality and become completely anonymous. Many of these burkas had eye screens so you couldn't see the woman's eyes. I didn't take any photos of these women as it's discouraged but the visions of these women still haunt me.
Next stop... the Egyptian Museum.