Islamic Cairo

Today Ehab is taking me to the Citadel. Its nice to have some company again. It is even nice to have someone who can speak in Arabic and help out with the translations or anything else that is needed. He brings along a friend of his who is pretty helpful with some of the historic facts of the Citadel. I didn't realise that this is actually illegal and the guy can be fined 500 EP if he is caught posing as a tourist guide for foreigners. I had no idea. So we had to invent a story explaining why we were all together. I had to be married to Ehab and his friend was Ehab's cousin who was showing us around. In the end we didn't have anyone ask us why we were all together but the fact that we had to invent these stories was ridiculous.

We arrive at the Citadel along with a lot of other tourists. The views are fabulous from the fortified enclosure that sits on a bluff that overlooks Cairo. It was fortified in Medieval times by Saladin who is the Arabic warrior made famous by the Crusades chronicles. In more modern times Mohomed Ali, a famous ruler who ruled Egypt as Pasha under the Ottoman Empire, built his palaces and a magnificent mosque in the enclosure.

After we walk around the enclosure and taking a lot of happy snaps, we move into one of the mosques. It really is beautiful. I would have to say the nicest mosque I have been in during my travels. The attention to detail, the space, and colour really comes together to reveal an amazing place of worship.

After we leave, we head down to the Islamic Cairo area again to find some door that Mohomed Ali had used to hang people who were his enemies. I am continually left in stiches because of how funny Ehab and Wael are. Ehab's humour is the typical sarcastic humour that most Aussies demonstrate but Wael is hilarious without even trying. I have to be reminded to not be so loud with my laughing because it's inappropriate, especially during the prayer time. I certainly do not mean to be disrespectful but when I have to laugh, I have to laugh.

After walking around the markets trying to find this door that Wael keeps raving about, we finally stumble across it. By now we are all pretty tired, but I need to get a couple of things from the market. So we go shopping for a shisha and some other souveners. After shopping till I drop, I finally get home in time to have a shower and some dinner.