Day 4: Cairo, Egypt

our egyptologist guide in cairo was mrs maha. we really enjoyed her tour. she was enthusiastic and well rounded. she answered all our random questions about cairo, the ancient egyptians, islam, modern day egyptians, and status of women in the world she lives in. but she was also very curious and knowledgeable of everything from coptic cairo to japanese culture & religion. she was simply one of the best part of our travels.

we visited the citadel of salah ad-din that overlooks the city of the dead and the new technology center - smart village. within the citadel was a beautiful mosque which we got to visit.

after the visit, we went through some of the streets of a bazara that is just waking up. we had mint tea at an ahwa. chaffee got a little sick and it was a good place to stop for a while to chat with mrs maha.

we had a whirlwind tour of the egyptian museum which is impressive in breadth and collection, but so sadly displayed and represented. hopefully when the new museum is built, we will visit. connie's favorite from the collection was the narmer palette, the statues of mitui, and the water clock. of course there was the collection of tutankhamen's tomb and the mummies but the items that stood out had a beautiful subtle presence of creativity.

mrs maha next took us to old cairo, through the hanging church which was impressive in architecture as well as in intricacies of artistic details. we visited the synagogue of ben ezra, the church of st sergius, and another church. it was wonderful to see a peaceful coexistence of islamic cairo and her christian facet.