Last Day in Egypt

We left Egypt at night, so during the day we decided to go out and see some of the things we hadn't seen yet. It ended up being one of my favorite sight-seeing excursions in Cairo (and a bitter-sweet ending to my stay there!) We first attempted to go to the Museum of Islamic Art. After a fairly long taxi ride there, we discovered that it was being renovated, and was closed. So we decided to go to "Islamic Cairo" which is a funny name (since most of Cairo is "Islamic!") but refers to the oldest part of Cairo, where the city originated from. It turns out, that area is just behind the biggest outdoor market in Cairo, Khan al Kalili. I had been very close to it on numerous occasions! Not knowing that at the time, I tried to tell the cab driver the name of a mosque I knew was in the oldest part of the city. After a hilarious and very typical experience involving a very different part of the city, the wrong mosque, and a group of about 5 Egyptian men attempting to help us out! We finally just asked them to take us to Khan al Kalili, and we were roaming oldest street in Cairo in no time! We had a map, so we went looking for some of the oldest mosques in the city. We came across the one photographed below, and a man approached us and asked us if we wanted to see inside. We got a private tour (after negotiating baksheesh of course!) and got to walk around in this magnificent, old mosque. Our guide took us to the roof, and we got a great view of the city as well. After leaving the mosque, we wondered around the old streets. I really enjoyed just walking around. We passed many old mosques and buildings, but I found myself more captivated by the old, tiny little shops. They are hard to describe, and I was out of film, but think of a movie that takes place during Medival times, and that is was it was like in this area! There was even a blacksmith working away in his tiny little shope! The area is known for being quite poor, and many people were living very traditionally. It was like taking a time machine back hundreds of years! I was very sad to leave Egypt, and I find myself still missing it! I would love to go back some day!




The street near the Museum of Islamic Art.



Inside the mosque were dozens of ancient laterns. It was fascinating to think what it had been like when that was the only light source in the building!



Detail on the outside of the mosque.



Damon took this one of me outside of Khan al Kalili. Minutes after this, we hopped in a cab, went to pick up our bags, and headed to the airport!