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.

Third Weekend

Over the weekend Nate brought me to Mohandeseen to hang out with some ex-pats. There seems to be a thriving community among the ex-pats (American and European), driven by house parties. They weren't how I like to spend a weekend, but I got to see more of Mohandeseen and meet a few people along the way.

For Sunday Mass I went to St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church in Zamalek, which is on Ahmed Sabri Street, a few blocks above the Gezira Sporting Club. Zamalek is a large island in the Nile between Mohandeesen and Downtown. It is also known as the wealthiest and most foreigner-friendly part of Cairo. A lot of study abroad students from AUC live in dorms that are in Zamalek. Prior to yesterday I had never been to Zamalek, so I decided to walk there to see as much of it as I could.

The Gezira Sporting Club takes up a little under half of the island, and is essentially a giant private park and sports facility. I have heard that it's only a few pounds to visit for the day, so I plan on going there soon to see what it's like. As I rounded the upper section of Gezira, I got to see what Zamalek was like, and it was not at all like what I expected. I had heard that it had a very Western feel, but it had striking resemblences to Manhattan. On one side of the street was the green fields of the Gezira club, on the right side very wealthy houses, on a street that had light traffic and lots of shady trees. This is almost what 5th Avenue in New York is like - Central Park on one side, brownstones on the other, quiet traffic with lots of trees on the street. I passed a lot of embassies along this route. My first impression of Zamalek was that it did not feel like Cairo.

St. Joseph's Church was on a quiet street in a residential neighborhood. There was a school affiliated with it, and possibly a convent because there were many nuns at the Mass. The church was full, with a very diverse congregation. The priest was Japanese, and there appeared to be a lot of Japanese people in the congregation. Many of the people there looked rather wealthy, and I speculate that some of them were ambassadors or consulate officials, given the context.

St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church in Zamalek



Since it had taken me about fifty minutes to walk from my apartment to the church, I decided to take a cab back to my apartment. I was able to give the driver directions entirely in Arabic (and there was mutual understanding), which was very encouraging. Apparently, cab drivers don't have a set price for trips. When I asked him how much, he said khalaas, meaning "that's it" or "whatever." So, I gave him 15 LE (about $2.65), though Nate said that was probably too generous.

Both of the churches I've been to had two police officers posted immediately outside the gates. I have heard the two synagogues in the city have even more security.

I found a mural painted a few blocks from my apartment. It seems to suggest that Christians and Muslims get along well in Cairo. Perhaps it's just me, but the scene looks a bit tense.

Mural along Haruun Street, Doqqi, near the Pakistani Embassy


At AUC they've begun protesting for the release of a student named Philip Rizk. Apparently he is an Egyptian-German graduate student who has also been involved in activism for Gaza. This past weekend, he was attending a rally for Gaza in Cairo when he was allegedly arrested by the Egyptian security police. Details on his arrest have not been made available, so no one is even sure where he is.

I'm not usually involved in overt political activism, but I'm going to make sure I don't participate in it while I'm in Egypt.

So far my classes are pretty easy. The professors don't seem to be in a rush to arrive to class or get down to business. There seems to be a mix of attitudes among the Egyptian students, where some of them are really interested in doing well in school, and others don't care at all. My Calculus professor explains things very well, and my Arabic professor is extremely helpful. However my Quantum Mechanics professor has given variations of the same lecture for the past 3 classes and has ended class early each time. He keeps telling us what we are going to learn in this class, but we haven't begun the actual learning.

The weather the past two days has been tremendous. It is sunny, eighty degrees Fahrenheit during the day with a slight breeze. At night it has gone down to 65 degrees with a cool breeze. I have been leaving the glass doors to the balcony open all the time, as there is no reason to shut them. x

I may be going to Alexandria this weekend with some other study abroad kids from AUC. I'm not sure the details.