Welcome to Cairo, Egypt's eclectic capital! In early 2020, after roaming around the sub-continent for almost two months, I made an exodus out of India and a flight into Egypt. This was my first time in Africa and the Middle East - and hopefully not my last! Anyway, here were some of the things I checked out... Tahrir Square Hurrah. My first morning in Cairo and I was standing in Tahrir Square, heart of the 2011 Egyptian revolution. Except it currently seems to be under renovation? Something to do with a controversial decision to plonk some pharaonic antiquities in the middle of it. Rather odd symbolism given the forward-looking vision this place represented not that long ago. Egypt’s current political quagmire is something I don’t know enough about. But like the good political science major that I am, just give me some cheap local coffee, a shisha pipe, and a stack of old Economist magazines and I’ll claim to have figured it out in no time! Khan el-Khalili A photo of the most Instagrammable spot in Khan el-Khalili, a famous open-air bazaar in the middle of Islamic Cairo. Not that I’d fall for its wily, hashtaggy, picture-perfect charms or anything. Whoops. I also whittled away the hours with fellow world travellers at El Fishawy, quite possibly the most famous coffeehouse in all of Egypt. Crammed into a narrow thoroughfare in the bazaar, this place is quite the frenzied experience. Street vendors hassle you every minute. Clumsy shoppers threaten to knock over your hookah. The cafe staff seem to be juggling too many tasks at once. And yet, despite the pandemonium, there’s music and laughter and a theatrical, smoke-drunk energy to it all that makes this place unforgettable. Coptic Cairo Coptic Cairo is a hushed and compact corner of Egypt's capital unlike anywhere else in this mad city. As a visitor, it would be remiss to only notice the country's mosques and pyramids — this country also has a very distinctive Coptic Christian minority, making up around 10 per cent of the population. To be honest, I don’t know much about Coptic Christianity or any form of Christianity east of Rome that uses big, scary words like ‘patriarchate’, ‘autocephalous’, and ‘non-Chalcedonian’. What I do know is that Coptic Christians are the largest Christian community in the Middle East. That they follow their own calendar. That they have their own pope. And that, unfortunately, persecution and discrimination against them is a painful, ongoing problem in Egypt. All the more reason for travellers to remember that they even exist. Photos include the famous Hanging Church, the Saints Sergius and Bacchus Church, and the beautiful Church of St. George (which is actually a Greek Orthodox church). The Citadel of Cairo This is a medieval fortification built by none other than the legendary Crusader-stomping, warrior-gentleman Saladin. Although the citadel itself is not particularly thrilling (it’s a bunch of stone walls on a hill), it provides an excellent view of bustling, dusty Cairo and houses the beautiful Mohamed Ali Mosque. This magnificent mosque, commissioned in the mid-1800s by Muhammad Ali Pasha, the founder of modern Egypt, happily rivals many grand European churches. I mean, just look at that incredible ceiling! Undoubtedly a masjid for the ages. The Mosque of Ibn Tulun Commissioned by the founder of the Tulunid dynasty, this is a handsomely austere 9th-century mosque. Sun-starked and shadow-cut, it looks like the parched and lonely background of a Giorgio de Chirico painting. You can also climb its minaret and view Cairo’s cityscape in its dense, concrete glory. A meadow of satellite dishes punctured by the occasional stiletto-sharp muezzin tower. And even more of Islamic Cairo Fragmented, sideways snaps of the Mosque-Madrassa of Sultan Hassan and the Al-Rifa'i Mosque. Two huge, skyward-yearning mosques standing right against each other at the foot of Cairo Citadel. It’s almost impossible to suggest their volumes and textures through photographs: the gloominess of the lofty ceilings, the rich gravity of the wall patterns, the siesta-like drowsiness of an expansive courtyard... Photos are doomed to failure in places like this. Egyptian food Traditional Egyptian food? Yalla! Let’s talk about it:
And to conclude, assorted views of Cairo and its urban surrounds Many people dislike the relentless, messy hustle of Egypt’s capital (preferring, instead, to blitz through it on their way to the Pyramids and calmer, saner domains). But I took my time with this city and was ultimately won over by its eccentricities. From its languid riverfront to its maddening markets, from its lawless traffic to its unkempt Parisian-style boulevards, from its feral cat hordes to its chain-smoking denizens, from its booming calls to prayer to its slothful shisha joints — oh, I’m genuinely going to miss this place. So farewell Cairo. Au revoir and bshoof-ak ba’deen! Time for me to finally head off to quieter, saner domains.
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AuthorMing is an economist, traveller, and creative writer from Melbourne, Australia. He’s a nebulous collection of particles on the lookout for a good corner to sit with a book and a cup of coffee. Archives
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