A Day in Old Cairo

Last weekend, we walked around a little area in the middle of Cairo called Old Cairo or Coptic Cairo. Old Cairo consists of the remains of a Roman garrison called Babylon dating from about 110 AD; inside the Roman ruins are about ten churches built by the Coptic community here.

This is one of the towers at the gate. If you looked over the handrail, you'd see that eye-level is really 30 feet above the base of the tower.....we're standing on centuries of mud and debris!! At the base of the tower, excavations have revealed traces of a drawbridge because the tower was built on the bank of the Nile. About 700 years ago, the Nile changed course and you have to walk about a half-mile to see it today. The photo on the right shows some of the Roman wall surrounding the fortress.
















Historians don't know when the churches inside this Roman fortress were built. My guidebook said that we don't have any information on the churches in Babylon before the Arab conquest in 641 AD. There is, however, a record of Cyrus, as the bishop of Babylon, attending the Council of Ephesus, held in 449 AD. So we know there was a Christian community here at that point.

I'm not even going to bother posting our photos because they're so awful but the churches were interesting and beautiful. One of the churches is called the Hanging Church because it was built over the South gate of the Roman fortress. Another church, dedicated to St. Sergius, is famous because it was built over the crypt where Jesus, Mary, and Joseph purportedly took refuge when they came to Egypt. (Note: this information isn't found in the Bible but from the writings of Pope Theophilus who saw the route of the Holy Family in a vision). Here's a mosaic at the entrance of the hanging church:



Again, no pictures, but there is also a beautiful synagogue in the complex dating back to the 9th century. In the 19th century, they discovered the synagogue's treasury which included thousands of letters, promissary notes, deeds, and contracts dating back to the 11th century. Apparently, the records were so complete, the collection was compared to the Domesday book. It, of course, like so much of Egypt's treasures was spirited away to institutions abroad.

Egypt does however have a wonderful collection of historical pieces from the Coptic community held in the Coptic Museum. What a wonderful museum!! Great English descriptions, wonderful display cases and layout, even handicapped accessible!! No air conditioning but we survived. :)
It was fascinating to see how Christians used the Greek, Roman, and Egyptian symbols around them for their own purposes. Pharoanic ankhs have been morphed into crosses, the Roman eagle was used as a symbol for Christ, one frieze shows two nude Roman cherubs holding up a laurel wreath which encloses a cross. I was surprised that a good number of items came from the Fayoum area down where we live (about 2 hrs south of Cairo). Actually, there was a Bishop of Heracleopolis, an ancient city down in the Fayoum delta, who was sent to the Council of Nicea in 325 AD!

Curiously, throughout the second floor of the museum, there are many alcoves which don't have windows but instead feature the mashrabiya wooden lattice work. You may remember seeing an example of this in the post about Islamic Cairo about a month back....the wooden lattice work was designed to allow women to look outside without being seen. This is Islamic design and I wasn't sure why they would make a point to build these into the Coptic museum, BUT they were beautiful!! And I finally had a chance to stand behind them and look out. I was surprised by how little you could see!

I am not making this up.......

Our oven isn't heating up as it should so we called in a service request for someone to look at it. The guy called us back this morning, asked if it was convenient for him to come in 5 minutes. When he looks at it and tests it, he says "The thermostat isn't working on it but because I know you need to cook for the BBQ pool party this afternoon, we will take out this oven and bring in a new oven so you won't be late."

I had a brand spanking new oven in my kitchen 20 minutes later.

How are we going to adjust to normal life again after this place???? But now it's off to the pool for some BBQ and volleyball................................... :)

Deutschland!!

This past weekend, David took a four day pass and we flew up to Germany. This satisfied my VISA requirements plus we were so excited to see our old stomping grounds in Wuerzburg and our beautiful friend Ingrid. It couldn't have been a more perfect weekend. It was just what we had hoped for: lots of time to chat with Ingrid and her friends as well as become reacquainted with our old friends knodeln, cabbage, bratwurst, cheese, and the wonderful Franconian wines. I announced after one dinner that I wasn't sure but I believed I may have eaten a pound of bread and cheese! :)

Also it rained. Ingrid felt apologetic; we thought it was a gift from God Almighty. :)

Ingrid's apartment is surrounded by vineyards on one side and an orchard on the other....here's some views from her place. Isn't it beautiful and GREEN??

















Once again, we were remiss in our picture taking....didn't get a photo of the Residenz palace, the BBQ Ingrid had for us and her other friends, hardly any from the downtown area, not even one of the three of us. These represent a small sample from our happy weekend. :) Hopefully, it won't be another 8 years before we see Ingrid and Germany again!

































































Even though we've only been in Egypt for 3 months now, we did experience a bit of a culture shock in Germany. I mean, if a country could have Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder when it comes to being orderly and clean, Germany is it. I'm not sure where Egypt would fall in the psychoanalysis dept. but let's just say it has other priorities. We instantly noticed how everyone stayed in their own distinct lanes on the autobahn even in a traffic jam and were amused at how people would stand on the street corner of a small little lane, waiting for the crosswalk light to turn, even when there was no traffic!! I don't think I've seen a crosswalk yet in Egypt. :)

Tahrir Bridge

For you readers of the Christian Science Monitor, do you remember an article about a year or so ago featuring the Tahrir bridge in Cairo?? The article described the bridge as teeming with people at night, groups of teenagers, young married couples strolling along as a romantic cheap date or engaged couples using it as a place outside the watchful eyes of parents or chaperones. Anywho, the Tahrir bridge was next to the hotel we were having dinner so we decided to go have a look.

But first, the views from the deck of the Italian restaurant we went to. Those boats are feluccas where you can book a Nile sunset cruise. In the sunset pic, you're actually looking at the Tahrir bridge over the Nile.




















After dinner, we walked over to the bridge. And although our photos don't show it, the article was right. Tons of people, great party atmosphere to walk through. We liked the lion statues too!

Wendi's appt. with the Ophthalmologist

A few weeks ago, I had a lot of swelling around my eye and it was constantly watering. I went to the PA here on our compound and he thought maybe some antibiotics were in order. I took those for about a week which helped the swelling immensely but didn't really clear up the other symptoms so he referred me to an Egyptian ophthalmologist in Cairo. Our guess was that, while the antibiotics took care of the infection, there was still something lodged in my tear duct.

SO, last week David and I found the clinic, the name was translated as the "Eye Subspecialty Clinic" and I walked up to the check-in counter. The woman spoke pretty good English and asked me to fill out a basic form and pay 80 pounds (about $15). When I brought my form back up, she pointed to the line on which I'd written my name and said "We need both your last names". Huh?? I explained that I didn't have two last names. I pointed out my first name and last name and asked whether she wanted my middle name, though that really falls within the category of first name in my book. She said "No, I need your two last names". I wasn't sure what to tell her so she talked to her colleague in very fast Arabic and then reassured me that it was OK. Later, we were talking to Tony, the bartender, and he explained that Egyptians have two last names. One last name is their father's first name and the other is their grandfather's first name. So apparently they don't have a family name??

Anyway, I was then ushered into two different rooms where they looked at my eye and asked questions. Then I was called a third time, this time, I gathered, to see the eye doctor. He wanted to know how to pronounce my name and where I was from while he was looking at my information. Then he checked my eye and asked what antibiotics I had been taking. I had only been in his office for about 3-4 minutes when he started writing out my prescription and said "I want you to take these eye drops 6 times a day and also apply the ointment 6 times a day, but wait to apply the ointment until 15 minutes after the eyedrops. There's also an ointment you should only apply before bedtime". I was a little befuddled, trying to process what he was saying....more antibiotics was not what I was expecting. I asked "What do you think the problem is?" And he looked up from his writing, looking surprised I'd ask such a question, "you have cellulitis!" Oh, of course, Cellulitis...which is???? I then asked "So there's nothing in my tear duct?" "No" "So, the discharge and eye watering I'm experiencing??" he looked up, a little exasperated, "it's from the infection in your eyelid!" My eyelid???? "I want you to come see me next Wednesday at 11" And that was that....I was quickly ushered out and immediately thought of ten more questions I wished I'd asked. (I did have to go back and ask one more essential one "Where do I pick up my prescription?") I ended up going back and googling Cellulitis and reading up on all the medications I was taking.

I bring this up not as an update on the grisly details of my eye infection but as an example of how different the doctor-patient relationship is from the West. I went to a fertility specialist for several months when we lived in Korea and it was much the same experience. I came to him with a problem, he provided an answer.....no explanation needed. I got the feeling that to ask him questions implied that I didn't trust his expertise. He would tell me what I needed to do and when he needed to see me next and I was ushered out quickly....my appointments rarely lasted more than 5 minutes and that included an ultrasound! There was none of the back-and-forth conversation we expect in Western medicine. I talked to one of the Egyptians here on the compound and she said this is very typical of their doctors. It's interesting.....I wonder if it's because the knowledge gap is larger in these countries?? Or is it that authority is just not questioned?? I think Western patients definitely expect more from their doctors...I mean, I honestly think that the eye doctor wouldn't have told me my diagnosis if I hadn't asked! I'm going back for my follow-up on Wednesday and I'll be better prepared this time. :)

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: