Islamic Cairo

Sunday - Blue wanted to be sure we made it to Islamic Cairo before we left Egypt; mainly for the experience and to get our January 25th Egyptian revolution t-shirts. The only thing I accomplished during the day was taking this photo.

This is Cairo at sunset...Taken from Blue's top floor balcony.

Around 2100 the five of us, Blue, Heidi, Kate, Ryan and I, piled into a little cab. The German was a no-show for this outing, which is probably a good thing because there is no way his gigantic body would have fit into the cab with the rest of us:)

Once we arrived we noticed a large open court/square area. There were people everywhere, and they were all celebrating Ramadan. Our first stop was Midan Hussein and Sayyidna al-Hussein Mosque. This mosque is considered one of the most sacred Islamic sites in the country, as well as the Middle East.  It is alleged to contain, within a shrine, the head of Ibn al-Hussein, the grandson of Muhammed the Prophet. In a mosque, women and men are separated into their own praying rooms. The entrance is also separate. Heidi and Kate did not have their heads covered but were given a hijab upon entry. Also when entering a mosque you must remove your shoes.  We gave the shoe-checker guy five Egyptian pounds (LE5) and he safely kept the shoes in a tagged box for us.

The Shrine

After visiting the mosque we walked around the street markets for a while, and settled at a cafe for juice, tea, and some shiesh. 

This is the small street/ally way the cafe was on:

I was declining to purchase a Koran that a street vendor was trying to sell to me here:

Here's a video of the action at the cafe, which was a narrow alley of shops and other businesses checkered with walking vendors selling everything from jewelry to cell phones to an English version of the Koran.

After all this excitement we walked around the market some more. Blue took us to his friend's shop where he bought us January 25th revolution t-shirts.  I also got a red a white checkered scarf, courtesy of Blue. 

The owner of the shop had his kids with him, a boy, Ahmed and a girl, Basan. The little girl instantly became attached to Heidi and they played for at least an hour, dancing and hopping around.

Here is a pic of Basan and Kate, the pictures with Heidi are on Kate's camera. Our camera died:(

This is a pic of the mosque taken on our walk back to the street. 

Heidi and another new friend. Too bad he is about to be offered as a sacrifice at the end of Ramadan. The goat that is, not the boy. You never know what you'll find in an Egyptian tire shop...tires, tools, and goats!

So, Mission accomplished! We have our t-shirts and were able to experience Islamic (medieval) Cairo.

Thanks Blue!!!