Day 239 – Cairo
Today we left our accommodation, City Hostel after having another massive breakfast. We decided to check out the Coptic Church Area in Cairo. We were super surprised about the amount of Christian sites in Egypt. Once again we had to go through security checks before we could visit.
There were various Churches to visit along the street, and several of them had links back to the life of Jesus. One of the Churches (The Cavern Church) was built around a cavern that the Holy Family (Jesus, Mary and Joseph) is said to have lived for 3 months. To get to this church, you walk down a small alley, that feels like you are walking down the streets of ancient Jerusalem (I have never even been to modern Jerusalem, but it’s the impression I get from TV shows)
Along the same alley way, is a relatively small Saint Geroge Shrine, which has some extremely tall doors inside the Shrine Room. And then back on the main street is the extremely large, St George Church. There are a few levels, but the actual Church building is roofed by a dome. The building is lavishly decorated and very beautiful. When we were there, a parishioner was singing, which seemed very fitting for the structure.
The Shrine The Church
The final church we visited was the Hanging Church, which is dedicated to Mary. From my understanding of the signs on the sight, it was called this, as the church was built on the ruins of two towers from the ruins of a Roman fortress in Babylon (famous for the Hanging Gardens of Babylon).
We then caught another Uber to the Cairo Citadel, also known as Salah Al Din Citadel. We were actually going to meet the girl, we met in Alexandria, who had kindly volunteered to show us around. She took us around the Citadel’s grounds, which includes some museums (which we didn’t visit as they were closing), some mosques and city view points. It was an amazing building, and having a local expert take us through it was even more amazing.
We actually got in trouble for wearing shoes in the court yard area of the Mosque, but as we had a “tour guide” she was the one who was told of. The court yard area is quite beautiful, and it was being set up for a wedding when we were there. This was the first mosque I have ever visited, and we were able to go inside without any issues. The praying area was massive, and majestically decorated.
And then that view of the city was once again incredible, especially the distant views of the Pyramids.
We then caught another Uber to the Khan el-Khalili Market area. There were hundreds of stalls and thousands of people as we were guided down the narrow bazaar and streets. We didn’t buy anything here, but there were plenty of options of souvenirs and various other items. We walked down the streets ending up at the Masjid Al Hakim Mosque Courtyard area, which was again beautifully decorated.
Khan el-Khalili Market Masjid Al Hakim Mosque
We then waited while our amazing “tour guide” ran some errands, before we went right next to the Pyramids of Giza! As we were driving towards them, excitement was building up.
We pulled into the Elhadaba Restaurant Cafe, which has a very nice roof top dinning experience, that over looks the Pyramids. As we ate a very nice dinner, we chatted and got to know each other from our vantage point of the Pyramids. If you time your visit nicely, you can watch the Light and Sound Show for free (of course you need to buy some dinner, which wasn’t cheap, but it did taste amazing). Unfortunately, the show was not running on the day we visited, but just looking at the pyramids and the sphinx this close up was a really cool experience.
After this, we dropped our friend off and Uber-ed back to our accommodation following another packed day in Cairo.