Islamic Cairo Adventure, Part 1

The Islamic district of Cairo is overwhelming. Basically, it is the sum total of half a dozen cities and consists of a maze of narrow, congested lanes and marketplaces peppered with a mother lode of mosques, madrassas, and mausoleums from its Fatimid, Mamluke, or Ottoman years spanning from the 6th-18th century. It's enormous and confusing and I thought the best way to tackle it would be to carve away at it with short walks. Walk #1 was going to be between the southern gate of Bab Zuweila to the mosque of Al Ghuri along the famous Al Muizz street which used to be the main thoroughfare. What happened next was more than we had hoped but certainly not what we expected!

First off, the taxi driver didn't know where the Bab Zuweila gate was and dropped us off at the Al Ghuri mosque instead which was fine once we figured out where we were. Al Ghuri was the last Mamluke sultan before the Turks took over in 1517. He was both known for his ruthlessness and his love of the arts and architecture. This mosque and madrassa (school) stands as a tribute to the architecture side :) By the way, we had forgotten to bring our nicer camera and the photos show it. These are shots of the prayer hall, still used today. The digital display you see (with the red numbers) indicate the prayer times for the day.






















We went up to this minaret and had a look around.


This gives you an idea of what we saw. The mosque on the hill is the Muhammad Ali mosque which is part of the Citadel complex. The street below is Al Muizz street which we would soon be walking along.
















A few minutes later, here is that same Al Muizz street close up. Each area of Al Muizz was known for selling something different: fruit, perfumes, gold, spices, etc. This area used to be the Silk Merchants bazaar and there is still some remnant of that today, if not silk at least textiles.















As we were walking along, a man came up behind David and said "Hey, you can walk like an Egyptian, because now you are in Egypt!" He was smiling and said "Welcome to Egypt! I hope you have a wonderful visit" We chatted for a bit and found out his name was Bebo and he was a professor at this Islamic design school just down the way. He was pointing out various lanes he takes his students through and telling us we have to go down there because there's a workshop where they dye silk and down here because there's a workshop where they blow glass and this way they have the best lamb kebabs and if he didn't have a class, he'd show us around. Finally, he looked at David's watch and said "Let's just go". So we followed him around as he pointed out various design features and explained the history of various buildings as well as showing us some workshops. He ended up calling his colleague and asking if he could teach his class.

Here is the workshop where they hand-dye the silk.

















This used to be a harem. The mashrabiya woodwork on the second story allowed women to witness the activities on the street below without being seen.


Bebo showed us a very old printing press which still prints Korans for the famous Al Azhar mosque nearby. And then he took us to this workshop where they make mahogany boxes inlaid with very small pieces of camel bone, ebony, turquoise, and mother of pearl. This is the box and backgammon board we bought. I thought they were so beautiful!
















Now I can't remember the building on the left! But the one on the right is the Al-Muayyad mosque, complete with sundial to keep track of the time for prayer. Can you see it??

















There were several stands of these lamps. Bebo explained that these lamps were for Ramadan (coming up in August) and each night every family hangs it outside their house or apartment.



Finally we came to Bab Zuweila Gate, built around the 1090s. The photo on the right shows where public executions took place, both sultans and commoners have been hanged here.




































Bebo asked if we would join him for tea and took us to his regular stop. We've seen these tea shops everywhere with groups of men sitting around talking and smoking their sheeshas, or water pipes. We were honored to sit and chat with Bebo's friends (I tried out my Arabic but mostly Bebo translated :) By the way, he seemed to know everyone as we walked down Al Muizz street, greeting everyone and occasionally shaking hands or kissing their cheeks. Bebo got a sheesha for David to try out and insisted I try his so he could take a picture of us. I was surprised at the tobacco's mild taste...it wasn't that bad at all.
Oh and that brown beverage you see on that vendor's cart behind us is called Soos. Earlier that morning, Bebo insisted we try it. He called it "yellow tea" and said it was a great thirst quencher. A man was walking around with a tub of it on his back and Bebo bought us a glass of it to try. I told David that it tasted like dirt water and mint to me...but it was cold and I have to admit it was refreshing. Bebo downed his with great gusto. What interested us was the fact that our beverage guy only had 3 glasses...when one person finished, he quickly rinsed it out with water and handed it to the next guy!

And here's Bebo. We're constantly amazed at the generosity we're met with here. He seemed to have no other incentive than to make sure we have a good experience here in Egypt and he told us to please call him up next time we'd like to see more of the Islamic quarter and he will "show us things we've never seen before". We can't wait. :)

Tunis and Qasr Qarun

The other day we visited a local town in the Fayoum area called Tunis. From what our guide said, I understand it's named after a Tunisian caravan which camped out in the area. Tunis still retains an international flavor due to its large expat population....mostly Europeans. Some wealthier Cairenes have second homes here as well. The houses and views do look different here; the lake in the distance is the giant Lake Qarun.















We would pass by walled premises where we could just peek inside. With the house below, our guide told us we could walk around the grounds because this man was his friend. This man was also the manager of both the Four Seasons hotels in Cairo. And yes, that is an Infinity pool.
















The actual reason we went to Tunis was for pottery. Back in 1970, a woman from Switzerland, Evelyn, came to the Fayoum area with her father, who I believe was a missionary. He left; she stayed. She started a pottery school in Tunis and for the last 40 years has taught locals how to make pottery. Some of her students have their own studios now and Tunis has become a pottery destination. We visited the school and one of her student's studios. These are where your cups came from, Wendy Z!! :)

And here are two of the bowls we bought. The one on the right features a donkey or HoMAR in Arabic.
















Next, we went to a nearby site called Qasr Qarun where a Ptolomaic temple from the 3rd c. BC still stands. Our books told us that it was a temple dedicated to the Crocodile god Sobek (like Medinet Madi):































These headless reliefs are Sobek on the left and a King on the right:
















AND the temple stands next to the ruins of the Greco-Roman town of Dionysius. I asked the guards if we could walk out there and found that we were walking on piles of pottery shards. We saw some bones too. I understand that when your whole country sits on centuries of rubble, you just can't protect it all but it still blows me away. Here you can see that there are still some walls and parts of building standing:
















I tried to take some close-ups of the pottery shards:

My Birthday cake!

Samia made me an Egyptian cake for my birthday called Basbousa. It's a semolina cake with almonds which is soaked in a sugar syrup. Delicious!! I just saw that I have a Basbousa recipe in the Egyptian cookbook which Heidi gave me so maybe I'll cook one up for myself one of these days!

And I thought I didn't like daisies........

So, I don't exactly have a green thumb. Case in point, one of the other ladies here very kindly gave me one of her rosemary plants. I marveled at how perfect it looked and very carefully planted in my flower bed last week. This week, it's not looking good....too much sun? not enough water? Maybe it's just come within my sphere of influence and it KNOWS it's being handled by an amateur. At any rate, my mint plants are also looking dicey and the herb seeds I planted haven't sprouted. This is par for the course for me and plants.

However, I've inherited these wonderful flowers in my garden called Gazania daisies. They are desert plants, have beautiful dark green leaves and constantly produce buds. These buds are closed overnight and then once the heat of the day starts around 10 AM, they open up into gorgeous flowers. When I first got here, I was just spraying them once every 3 days and it didn't take long for most of the leaves to turn yellow. I wasn't sure if I was watering them too much or too little, but one of the housekeepers told me to flood each bed every 3 days and that made all the difference. I have beautiful Gazania daisies!! I'm a little in awe both at the flower itself as well as the fact I've been able to keep them alive and thriving......of course, they are desert plants, but I've been known to kill cactus before so I'm still keeping it as a feather in my cap. :)

I tried to capture what one of my flower beds looks like in midday when the daisies are in full bloom, but it looks much better in person. The other photo David took of me weeding one morning as I was flooding flower bed #1. I actually have a weeding callous on my finger!! If it showed up better, I'd proudly display a photo of that too!!

Monastery of St. Anthony

A few days ago, we visited the Coptic Christian monastery of St. Anthony. From what we've read, this is the oldest inhabited monastery in the world, built after Anthony's death in 356 AD. Anthony lived as a hermit in a cave and forbade his followers to stay with him so they camped at the foot of the hill which became the settlement of the eventual monastery.

Here's the gate. These are the new walls, built in the 18th c. They still have have remnants of the 6th c. walls inside.





When the gates were closed (the monastery was attacked and plundered several times over the centuries by Bedouins), they used a winch system (behind the wood balcony) to hoist up food and supplies.








It's a beautiful place. They have gardens, a bakery, and a mill and used to be self-sufficient. However, now with the increase in monks, they are supplemented by a farm in Beni Suef and purchase food from Cairo as well. Apparently, the Coptic Pope is very popular and there's been a recent upsurge in new, young would-be monks so the monastery has expanded.















The mill:


The square tower with the bridge was used as a fortress when attacked. The monks would climb over the bridge and then pull it back. The man in black is our tour guide; he's been a monk here for about 6 years.
















They have a spring which provides 100 cu. meters of water a day. I looked it up and a cubic meter equals 264 gallons. Our guidebook told us that legend has it that Miriam, Moses' sister, bathed here during the Exodus, but I forgot to ask our tour guide about it. :)



And then the church. Well, there are about 15 chapels throughout the complex but the original church is the Church of St. Anthony. It was built after his death over his tomb in the 4th century and then expanded throughout the centuries. The colorful wall paintings are mostly from the 13th century and, although these photos don't really do them justice, they grab your attention immediately upon walking in. In the late 1990's a conservation team from Italy came and removed all the soot and dirt; they left a small patch to show what it looked like pre-restoration and the difference is dramatic! The inscriptions you see are from notable visitors throughout the centuries.





























After we looked through the monastery (I was disappointed to not see the library which our guidebook told us had over 1700 ancient manuscripts, but we had to get special permission to enter), we climbed up to Anthony's cave. Over 2200 steps up and it was 1 pm so it was blazing hot! When we arrived at the cave there was just a very narrow opening and the walls were so smooth, we could imagine thousands of people throughout the centuries brushing their hands against them.




















Looking down from the top: