| 9/23/1999 | |
| The first felucca back to Cairo | |
| This morning we packed our bags for the return trip to Cairo. The frog contingent was ever-present again, those surrendering bastards. Anyway, another white-knuckle landing and we were back where we started, Cairo airport. Once on the ground, our group split. Most of us took the old city tour. Those that didn't went straight to the hotel. The old city tour started at the citadel, and the alabaster mosque (aka the Mosque of Mohammed Ali). They made us loose our shoes at the door (how comfy). Chris had to cover up the arms and legs (heh heh heh). Then we entered the mosque. Talk about a nice room, like, omigod. The room consisted of four of circular formations, one at each "corner" of a larger circle. They all lead, vertically, to huge domed ceilings. The domes were very ornate. Suspended from them, were scads of lanterns, dangling from chains. It was awe inspiring. Nothing like a church for an impressive room eh? Outside was a large terrace area with the most incredible view of the city. I snapped about 100 pictures and I still didn't get it all. We returned to the bus to continue the tour. Our next stop was the Mosque of Sultan Hasan. Very similar in structure to the Alabaster Mosque (they are, after all, both mosques), it is the oldest mosque in Egypt. It lacks the scale and grandeur of the alabaster mosque, but it was a gorgeous structure. The one guide dude came into the sanctuary area while we were in there, and began chanting. The sound resounded of the domed ceilings and filled the room. It was, well, I'm speechless. The tour continued with the Hanging Church. This was the first Christian church built in Cairo. To me, this was pretty boring. I've seen many old churches, most of which were much more impressive than this. Of course, the place was all ripped apart because they were in the process of restoring it. At any rate, I came to Egypt to see Pharonic sites and relics; Christians bore me, but I digress. We also saw the first synagogue built in Egypt. This site was just restored, last year I think. It was more impressive than it's Coptic counterpart, but I was still snoozing. I was much more interested in the old old narrow streets and alleys we were walking through to get around. They were very biblical. Fittingly enough, we took an unscheduled stop at one of the sites where the "holy family" lived while they were in hiding from King Harod. Ooh, I'm impressed. They wouldn't allow us to take pictures inside. I wasn't particularly interested in doing so, but I was wondering why. As we were wandering around, we happened upon a store. This was only the second place on the tour that I would really call a store. There, was what Jim had been looking for, a sarcophagus. I guess he needed it to go with the King Tut head he had purchased some time before. Anyway, the place was filled with statues of stone, alabaster, brass, and wood. There were also various trinkets of ivory. So much for that world-wide moratorium. Most of the group was back at the bus. Jim was getting his sarcophagus. When he came out, he went the wrong way. We tailed him in the bus honking the horn to get his attention. Of course, in Cairo, a horn gets no attention unless it is right next to your head. We finally caught up with him and he climbed aboard. By this time, it was getting pretty late in the afternoon. We were starving to death. Instead of taking the promised pit-stop at McDougals, we went straight to the Kahn El Kahlili bazaar. Needless to say we were not happy, especially after wandering around in the heat, seeing the most pointless sites of the tour, with the promise of lunch just around the corner. Anyway, we headed to the "world famous" Kahn El Kahlili bazaar. Personally I don't consider anything world famous unless I've heard of it, but that's what they've tagged it. It was more interesting than the other bazaars to which we had been. It had a tourist flavor, but there was a lot more of a native feel. After all, how many eGYPTIANS (damn caps lock) feel the need to buy cheesy alabaster cats? Right before leaving, we haggled our last few gifts and souvenirs, then it was off to the hotel. When we got there, the people that had skipped the old city tour were sitting there, still waiting for their rooms. Boy, that must have sucked. They must have been sitting there for three hours. Bleagh. We got our room assignments, and went outside to tag our luggage. Since this was the last time we were going to be all together, we said our good-byes. It was a sad moment, as the reality of the end of the trip was really setting in. We went upstairs. The hotel was a tall tower in the center of Cairo. We were on the 20th floor, facing the river. What an incredible view. The room was easily the nicest we had been in this trip; possibly the nicest ever. Totally modern facilities, every amenity. We even had little slippers and a robe. It's a shame we weren't going to get to stay there even one night. We went to our last dinner with Mike and Alicia. Weirdly, Chris and I ordered the same thing, as did Mike and Alicia. They carried Sakara beer, so I got the chance to get a souvenir bottle. During dinner we discussed when we would get together again. Since Alicia has never been to Philly, we decided that would be a good choice. We plan to get together some time next spring. After dinner, we said our good-byes, with hugs and kisses, and, for me anyway, a sense of despair. Chris and I went up to prepare our luggage for the trip home. We were mostly ready, but some final preparations were required. In order to burn off some of the excess film so we could stow the roll in our lead bag, I snapped some dramatic nightime pics of the city. |
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