Day 4: Cairo Tour

French clock tower

Today we toured the city of Cairo. We were again driven around by our personal driver. While he was driving, he would teach us Arabic words. Our first stop for the day was the Muhammad Ali Mosque. Again, we didn't have a tour guide, but I'm pretty sure that it wasn't named after the boxer. There were lots of tour buses and with them, tour guides, so we tried sneaking into to some tours. We didn't exactly blend in because everyone else was from Europe and wore much nicer clothing than all of us. But it didn't matter anyway, because most tours were not in English. However, I did overhear one English speaking tour guide mention that a clock tour in the courtyard was donated by the French. Her next remark was "It never worked." Good job, France.

Bombs at Military museum

Connected to the mosque was the Egyptian Military museum.  It was an outdoor exhibit full of war vehicles. Some of them were from other countries, including a "cuptured American tank." Another sign read something along the lines of "this tank was used in tank battles." Very descriptive. Along one of the museum walls was a row full of assorted bombs and such.

Our next stop was the Coptic area of Cairo. The entire area was walled in, and security guards manned the entrance, a sign that tension against the Christians still existed. Near the entrance was a cemetery full of elaborate gravestones depicting Jesus, angels, and saints. There were also buildings that contained the remains of entire families. At one side of the cemetery entrance, a nativity scene was set up inside of a small mud-brick hut.  The entire area was quite and peaceful; a world apart from the busy streets right outside the Coptic area walls.

Coptic cemetery

From the cemetery, we walked into a church nearby. The church was much more elaborate than any Roman Catholic church I have seen. The most noticeable difference between Coptic and Roman churches was the icons all along the church walls. The icons were paintings, most accented with gold left, of prominent religious figures. As Coptic Christians walked by an icon, they would kiss their fingers, then place their fingers on the icon.

After the church, we toured the Coptic museum, which contains the largest collection of Egyptian Christian artifacts in the world. It housed everything from artwork, to early copies of the New Testament, to royal crowns, furniture, and a foot-long metal key that had extremely elaborate decorations. Most of the artifacts were very well preserved. While we were touring the museum, Fly Dubai tried calling us again. They explained that we could get a full refund or book an earlier flight.

Apparently the Holy Family stayed in a church in Coptic Cairo while they were hiding from King Herod.  We tried to find it but instead wound up at the Hanging Church. As the name mentions, the church literally overhangs over top a passageway of the Babylon Fortress. Both have amazing architecture, I'll let the pictures do the talking:

Hanging Church

Babylon Fortress

Leaving the Coptic area, we went to the Egyptian museum, which is actually a short walk from our hostel. A line of people waited before a security checkpoint before entering the museum courtyard. There was no messing around at this place. I think I went through 4 or 5 metal detectors and was patted down at each one. Waiting in line at the first metal detector, Allie turned to me and said, "Did you just see that?" I hadn't, so she added, "the security guard just kneed some guy (green shirt) in the back of the legs!" I looked up at the security guard. He looked really upset. By this time, there were only a couple of people in front of us. The security guard began yelling at an Egyptian woman who seemed to be associated with green shirt. The woman, either frightened or angry, left and passed by us. Still angry, the guard paced about. Suddenly, he started shouting and pulled out his gun. He placed it above his head and hurled it down on top of the table. The gun landed, pointed directly at us and other tourists. Thankfully it didn't go off. Concerned, another guard came over and immediately pulled the magazine out of the chamber. Just when we thought it was over, green shirt came walking quickly out from within the courtyard. He passed out of the security area, picked up a bag, and ran back in. Immediately, a guard the size of a wall apprehended him. Green shirt began arguing in Arabic, and they forcefully patted him down. By this point, I was the first one in line. I awkwardly placed my items on the table and stood there waiting for their quarrel to end. Finally, they let him go and I walked through without incident.

Nativity scene in Coptic cemetery

The journey of the Holy Family

After buying our tickets, an elderly man with a slight limp approached us and asked if we would like a tour. At first we were skeptical that he was not associated with the museum, but he seemed sincere. We agreed. It was a great decision. The museum was full of half a million artifacts, and very few were labeled. Without the guide, we would have had no idea what we were looking at. Our guide knew his stuff too. He told us the story of King Tut and explained the meaning of Egyptian symbols and customs. There is an entire room full of gold items found in King Tut's tomb including an entirely gold coffin which weighs over 240lbs.

Once the tour was done, our guide showed us to a papyrus store nearby. He explained that most papyrus sold in the markets is fake, and is made from banana leaves that dry out. Real papyrus can last for lifetimes, and many papyrus paintings survived from ancient Egyptian times. This store was "government certified" with real papyrus. We watched the owner explain how papyrus was made, afterwards he gave us a tour through his store showcasing his paintings. The owner offered us tea, which he explained was "a gesture of Egyptian hospitality" (we encountered this everywhere, and while tea is customary it is also offered to keep possible buyers from leaving as quickly). Each painting had its own story, which he explained to us. The paintings were really interesting, and even though we knew we were getting ripped off, each one of us bought one. I figure I might as well pay extra for a painting that will outlive me.

Male Belly Dancer with "tree skirt"

The last part of our day was a Nile dinner cruise featuring belly dancers. The first belly dancer came out, to my surprise it was a man. Luckily he kept his clothing on. He was actually really talented and spun in place for at least a half hour while spinning something that resembled a Christmas tree skirt above his head like a pizza. Walking around to all of the tables, he greeted each guest. When he approached our table, he saw me surrounded by three girls and said something along the lines of "You are lucky, my friend." The best part of his  act was, while spinning, he took a wooden tray, an empty glass, and a water bottle. Because he was spinning the glass stuck to the tray without him holding it. He opened the water and poured it into the glass without spilling or dropping any of it.  Then the woman belly dancer came out. As bad as this sounds, she seemed kind of trashy. She was scantily clad and had a pair of hands drawn on her bra. The food arrived, and thankfully our table was the first allowed to go up to the buffet. We hadn't eaten anything since breakfast and by this time it was 9 or 10 at night. Overall the entire night was pretty fun.

Group with our driver