We go to visit the mosque of Mohammed
Ali. No, not that Mohammed Ali, the one who is considered the
founder of modern day Egypt.
No, you don't have to cover your head, just women have to cover their
shoulders and arms.
The central square of the mosque with the tomb of Mohammed Ali.
And behind that, the clock that France gave in exchange for the obelisk.
Atef seems quite miffed that Egypt got the short end of that trade: France
has the obelisk, and this clock has never worked right.
Inside the mosque, please take off your shoes.
I look around while Atef is giving instruction on the five basic tenets
of Islam.
From the mosque court, you can see across Cairo to the pyramids.
We go to the souk or market in Khan
el-Khalili. It is Sunday, so many of the shops are closed, but at
least 2/3 of them are open.
This coffee shop in the middle of the souk is where we had a quick lunch
of some good chicken schwarma. It is almost the only true Egyptian food
we got for the whole trip. The shop is named for Naguib
Mahfouz, who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1988.
Waiting for our sandwiches to come.
And out on the market. Even with all the shops, we had a thoroughly unsuccessful
time trying to find placemats or find sweets to bring home for presents.
The security guard for our bus attached himself to us and tried to help.
He at least got us over to the "garment district" of the souk,
but most of those shops were closed.
I know they actually read right-to-left, but it appears at first glance
that the Egyptian word for Pepsi is "swill".
Well, that's it. People have been asking us how it was and whether we
would go back. In a nutshell, it is a terrific place to visit. The history
of old Egypt and the artifacts that remain are amazing. There is also
the secondary miracles of how they have excavated and rebuilt these sites.
Contemporary Egypt did not do a lot for us, however. We highly recommend
it as a place to visit, but I don't see us going back in this lifetime.
