Islamic Cairo revisited

Today was International Day, so my classes after noon were canceled. I had one before noon but I opted not to go, which is actually the first time I've ever willingly missed a class in college.

Instead I decided to visit a few sites in Islamic Cairo that I hadn't yet seen. Islamic Cairo perhaps the most interesting part of the city that even if I continued to go back, I would still find new things. The problem is that it's hard to get to. I took the subway to from Doqqi to Saida Zeinab and took the long route along Bur Said Street.

I visited the Mosque of Ibn Tulun, which is the largest mosque in Cairo, and among the oldest, having been built in the ninth century. It's a popular tourist spot, so there were a few tourist groups inside. Unlike other mosques which make you take off your shoes before you enter, they gave me burlaps to put over my shoes, which you can see in the pictures.

Courtyard of Mosque of Ibn Tulun







A few blocks away from the mosque is Midan al-Qalaa (Citadel Circle) and the Mosque of Sultan Hassan. You can see Sultan Hassan from the Citadel, as in my pictures from my previous visit to the Citadel. This time, I decided to go in, and it was incredible. It's not as much of a tourist location as Ibn Tulun, so I only saw a couple other people visiting.

The interior of the Mosque of Sultan Hassan





Sultan Hassan is buried here; these are from his tomb.





The exterior. Notice the Mosque of Mohammad Ali in the background.



From Mosque of Sultan Hassan looking out onto al-Qalaa Street


I noticed in my visits to Islamic Cairo that some of the streets have stores which sell only one good. For example, the upper part of Bur Said Street sells toilets and plumbing supplies, Qalaa Street sells couches and chairs, and the upper part of Muhammad Ali Street sells handmade musical instruments. I ended up walking back from Islamic Cairo to Nagib metro station.

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Today I also had my first (and probably only) experience banking in Egypt. I had to send someone money via Western Union in order to pay the fee for my race on Friday. After going to a Western Union on the fifth floor of some building near Talaat Harb in Downtown, I found out that some places only let you receive money, not send it. [As an aside, I can't imagine how they afford to employ someone to sit there all day just to dispense cash, especially seeing as it looked like I was the only person he'd seen today.] I had to go to the main branch of the Arab African International Bank to send money. All the banks in Cairo have guards posted outside and inside. You have to get a ticket from the guard, like you would in a deli. When I went in, I initiated my transaction in Arabic, even though I could tell the banker knew fluent English. Since I was sending US dollars, I had to go to an exchange office nearby to get my money. I asked for a very specific dollar amount, so I got some strange looks, understandably. When I went back to the bank, I was rerouted to a teller, and then back to the banker, before finishing my transaction. I had to have a few sentences translated for me, but other than that I completed the transaction in Arabic, which was gratifying.

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Last night I went to a restaurant in Zamalek with a friend, called Goal's. It bills itself as an Italian restaurant, but in reality it's just a nice Egyptian establishment. The food was good, and the location was great, just north of the 26th July bridge right along the Nile. Though despite the fact that Zamalek is extremely clean and picturesque, it's not a place I'd like to live. Essentially every other person that walked by was either an AUC student or a British or French tourist. All the others were very American-looking, stylish young Egyptians. In other words, it does not feel like the rest of Cairo.