Mohammed Ali Mosque and Citadel of Salidin

Even though several days have passed since I could post, I want to backtrack to our tour of visiting the Cairo Citadel and Mohammad Ali Mosque (nothing to do with the U.S. fighter). One of many highlights to see in Cairo is the Saladin Citadel of Cairo, which is a fortification on the highest hill of Cairo called the Muqattam hill near the center of Cairo.

It was a fortification by the ruler Salah al-Din (Saladin) between 1176 and 1183 AC, to protect it the city from the Crusaders. The Citadel remained the heart of Egyptian government until the nineteenth century. Then in 1318 a fellow named Nasir turned the Citadel into a mosque. Later the Citadel is sometimes referred to as Mohamed Ali Citadel, because it contains the Mosque of Mohamed Ali Pasha, which was built between 1828 and 1848, perched on the summit of the citadel. He built it in honor of Mohammad Ali’s oldest son, who died in 1816.

Inside the dome of the Mohamad Ali Mosque.

A plethora of hanging lanterns inside the mosque.

Brenda during her marriage ceremony after she fell in love with an Egyptian Shiek.

While we were visiting, several local school groups came to see the mosque and Citadel. They loved having their pictures taken.

Many children were in groups touring the Mosque.

Once going outside you can take in a panoramic view of Cairo.

We had a nice panoramic view of Cairo from the Citadel.

Then we got to visit the famous Khan el Khalilli bazaar, but locally called a souk, which sits below the Citadel and Mosque we had just visited. It is a maze of little medieval alleys packed with small shops, coffee houses and restaurants, mainly attracting the tourist trade. Historically this souk dates back to 1382 when caravans would stop here to sell or exchange silk, spices and slaves.
Shop keepers and their assistants stand outside of their shops encouraging you to come inside to buy their wares. It is a little high pressure, but done in a humorous way, such as when a couple of them said, “Come in and let me help separate you from your money” with a laugh. Or, they will offer you the best deal in the bazaar for their lanterns, hooka smoking devices, scarfs, etc. Joe did manage to buy a few gifts while there and did well bargaining down. I found it much less pressure than the bazaar in Izmir, Turkey, and much safer than the crazy bazaar in Marrakesh, Morocco where we did not feel safe at all.
I am presently reading a book by Naguib Mahfouz, Egypt’s only Nobel Prize in Literature winner. The book his about the life of a Muslim family in Cairo in the early 1900’s. I had learned that there was a certain restaurant called, al-Fishawy café that Mafouz spent many hours hanging out or writing there. It was a goal of mine to at least walk through this restaurant. Our guard was very sweet to take us right there where he arranged a photo of me with the owner.

El-Fishawy is a microcosm of Cairo- crowded, loud, dirty and smoky and I wished we could have stayed for lunch. However, the plan had us driving quite a way to a much nicer upscale restaurant. After lunch we moved on to the Egyptian Museum and by taking a long drive in our big bus through Cairo and along the Nile through a beautiful part of town with nice apartment buildings. The Egyptian Museum was founded in 1858 by French Archaeologist Auguste Mariette, but the giant salmon-colored building for it was built in 1902. There is now a new Egyptian Museum being built closer to the Pyramids of Giza. It is hard to explain how impressive their collection of antiquities are- especially their King Tut exhibit. The one going around the U.S. is only a very small part of what they have in Cairo. Our guide gave us a great and detailed history of how King Tut’s tomb was found, as well as many of the other findings, dynasties, Book of the Dead and more. We couldn’t take any photos in the Museum, so none to share. Right next to the Museum are the burned out state offices which were Mubarak’s offices before the revolution of Jan. 2011. You can see from the photo that they have not been repaired.
We had to get up the next morning at 2:45 a.m. to get to the airport to take our flight to Luxor, so we were off to bed early this night.

So again, I’ll end this day’s report with a little video of some of what we saw today except for the Egyptian Museum.  It is 8 min. long of touring around Cairo.  What you’ll see is: 1st stop was Saladin Citadel,  then at Citadel we visit the great mosque of Mohammad Ali Pasha in memory of his son.  Next on to the Khan el-Khalil, a major souk (or bazaar) in Cairo. Fred says in the video that it was a small bazaar, but it was quite large actually, and a quick stop at El-Fishaway Coffee House.  We then go drive through Tahrir Square and then on to the nice restaurant on the Nile to have lunch. (So, just click below to see the video.)