Cairo, Egypt

I woke up with my cold feeling much better (although Heather might be coming down with it now). We had an early breakfast at the hotel, then walked out to the street and grabbed a local (metered) taxi to Khan Al Khalili, the historical Islamic Cairo area.

It was only 9am and still a bit early for the markets, so we wandered around and looked at the old architecture.

Visited the Mosque of Al Ghouri and climbed to the top of the minaret (for a fee). A lot of the rooftops have construction waste laying about; overall, the view wasn’t as picturesque as I had hoped.

Walked past the gold and silver markets and onto Al Muizz. There we purchased a multi-site ticket to the Madrassa and Mausoleum of Qalaun. The ticket gets you access to about six sites in the complex, although they’re not all clearly marked. We flashed our tickets and walked around the street and inside the sites; helpful locals motioned us in the right direction, just like in the movies. The sites were really cool, with no other tourists (maybe because of the early hour). We hardly saw any other tourists for the half day we spent in Islamic Cairo.

Retraced our steps back to the gold and silver markets. The stores were now open, spilling onto the old streets and making them even more narrow.

Ducked into the side alleys to see the spice market. The vendors were very low key, there’s not a lot of tourists that visit here. Spice dust filled the air. We walked down a back alley where the spices were being ground in barrel sized quantities. Our eyes were watering and we were starting to sneeze so headed back out to the main alley.

Looked around for a falafel spot for lunch (the falafel sandwiches we’ve had the last few days have been excellent). After lunch, we tried to grab a sit down coffee. Our request, however, got lost in translation, and we ended up with an equally satisfying Egyptian tea, served with a large bunch of mint that would cost $15 at Loblaws back home in Toronto.

Finally, we visited a couple more mosques. First off was the Al Azhar mosque, which is open to visitors. Heather was provided a scarf to cover her hair and a skirt to wear over her pants. We carried our shoes. It was very peaceful inside, and the white marble flooring was brilliant in the sun.

We also saw the Mosque of Sayyidna Al Hussein, but just from the outside.

Grabbed a metered taxi back to the hotel and called it a day. Relaxed in the lounge, had a few small bites, then packed up for our flight back to Istanbul the following morning.

Overall, the Egypt leg of our trip was very enjoyable. It would make a good standalone two or three week trip. Highlights included the Valley of Kings and Valley of Queens, Islamic Cairo, the many ruins (all equally impressive), the boat ride on the Nile, the National Museum in Cairo, the Luxor Museum, and the Nubia Museum in Aswan.