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Cairo Highlights
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In the morning we returned to the Egyptian Museum with Hamid for another glimpse into this fascinating Egyptian treasure trove. Hamid made certain that we saw some of the most important pieces in the museum such as the Narmer Palette which depicts Pharaoh Namar or Menes uniting Upper and Lower Egypt under one ruler; the wonderful statues of Rohotep and Nofret; the Amarna Room and the Royal Mummy Room. This requires a separate payment and your guide is not allowed to enter with you but you do have the opportunity to gaze on the actual mummies of some of the ancient rulers of Egypt. We were pleased to have had two mornings in the museum, although once again we went away knowing that there was so much we had not seen.
After a typical buffet lunch at a restaurant filled with other tourists, our tour continued to the Citadel. A landmark on the skyline of Cairo, the Citadel was erected for protection against the attacks of Crusaders and to provide a safe place for a royal residence during the reign of Saladin in the 12th century. Mohammed Ali, an officer of the Ottoman Empire, overthrew the appointed Ottoman governor in 1805 and became viceroy of Egypt himself. The Ottoman sultan, busy in Constantinople with domestic problems and war with Russian, had little choice but to recognize Mohammed Ali's coup. This was a turning point in Egypt's history as the new ruler was determined to modernize the country.
Mohammed Ali had the old buildings in the Citadel pulled down and a mosque built following Ottoman design. The mosque took 18 years to build, although the domes had to be rebuilt afterwards. The building was entirely covered with alabaster, from which comes its alternate name "The Alabaster Mosque." Today, however, only the lower portion of the mosque is still covered with this beautiful material. With its location, its imposing size and its elaborate decorative scheme, this mosque was an architectural symbol of Mohammed Ali's power and authority as well as a religious landmark. The building is a square with the south and east corners featuring turrets and the north and west corners minarets.
The courtyard has a centrally located structure composed of an octagonal arcade of columns supporting a dome and containing a large ablution tank, for purification before prayers. In Islam mandatory prayers are performed five times a day at dawn, noon, in the afternoon, at sunset and at night. Prayer requires ritual cleanliness and is preceded by ablution. The salat (prayer) is preceded by a call to prayer announced by a muezzin. The person performing the salat faces Mecca.
The interior of the mosque is lavishly decorated with marble, Persian rugs and hundreds of hanging lamps. The lotus capitals of the columns are of Egyptian inspiration. To the right is a detail of the beautiful marble.
Hamid excused himself to go pray. We observed that people were sitting calmly on the carpets, talking and perhaps waiting for friends to finish their prayers. Tourists discreetly circled the interior of the mosque. As we waited, we too sat down. It was a moment for contemplation of everything going on around us. Suddenly a man and his sons approached Dave saying something I could not at first understand. My initial thought was that we were being reprimanded for sitting inside the mosque. However, this was not the case. The gentleman was asking where Dave was from. Although there was some difficulty explaining where Chile is, eventually they understood. They seemed delighted to learn that he was traveling in Egypt with his mother. All of them welcomed us to Egypt. Again the language barrier prevented further conversation but it was a special moment.
Hamid soon arrived and we continued our tour of the Citadel and then went to the Mosque of Sultan Hassan. Located at the foot of the Citadel, the Mosque of Sultan Hassan, on the left, is a magnificent building considered to be one of the masterpieces of Islamic architecture and was a symbol of the architecture of the Mamelukes. It was built between 1356 and 1363 by Sultan Hassan, who came to the throne at the age of 13, was deposed, reinstated three times, and then assassinated before it was completed. From the outside it is austere and bare, echoing the look of the Citadel. On the right is the mosque of El Refaey.
Sultan Hassan used his enormous wealth to build this magnificent mosque which was to also be his tomb. Marble, of many different shades, was used throughout the mosque, many times in intricate inlaid designs. The black and white stripes showed the influence of Muslim Spain. The doors flanking the prayer niche were inlaid with gold and silver. The entrance to the mosque is dark and recessed and one enters the courtyard through a passage that resembles a fortress tunnel.
The mosque was never completely finished and the sultan was never buried inside it. Intrigue in the city caused the downfall of Sultan Hassan who was hunted down, captured, put to death and buried elsewhere. However, his mosque is considered one of the most beautiful in the world.
At some point during the day we visited a perfume shop. Our reluctance to buy was evident to Hamid and he did not think that we wanted to go to the jewelry shop, but this was one place we did want to visit. There we purchased a cartouche with David written in hieroglyphics and an ankh. Hamid was thrilled (a commission at last). As a treat for our good behaviour he took us to the Kahn-el-Khalili where he bought us tea. I was fascinated by the twisting lanes and little shops. Some beautiful scarves caught my eye. I asked if there were other colors. This resulted in a trip through the alleys, up several flights of narrow stairs, finally ending in a small shop high above the Khan, filled with scarves of every color imaginable. I felt safe with Hamid and David following on my heels. I was quite happy with my purchase of three scarves and afterwards wished I had gotten more. (This wish was fulfilled some months later when I found the same scarves at a street stall in Santiago.)
As we were taking the night sleeper train, we returned to the hotel to pick up our bags and then on to Hamis Travel Services, where the kind staff allowed us to wait in their office. When the staff started to leave and close the offices we realized that we would have to finish our wait in the train station itself. Dave put this time to good use by learning the Arabic number system. At last we could board our train and were soon on our way to the next step in our adventure - Aswan
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