Coptic Cairo Tours

Saturday:

Wake up…Breakfast at the Hotel, excellent as usual. Head over to Cinnabon for a “crash course” in Arabic. We learned how to say our names, introduce ourselves and ask for where the bathroom is. A good hour session, and then we were ready to get out of there…We load up the vans and head off for our tour of Coptic Cairo, an ancient religious area of Cairo. We arrive to a beautiful area of town with palm trees along the roads, and shops along the sidewalks. Although I soon notice that the area we are about to enter, in order to see the churches, temples and synagogues, is guarded by about 5 guards with automatic weapons and a metal detector…one area about the size of 5 square blocks, contains a Mosques, Christian churches, and a Synagogues… So I began to think…hmmmmm…well at least there isn’t too much history of religious conflict in the middle east…oh wait?…So I was just hoping that the metal detector was working today, and that the armed guards knew how to shoot…I now remember Dr. Denis telling us about how Egyptians do not like Jews, and how there were probably only 50 practicing Jews in all of Cairo out of over 1 million people, which made me feel even better about seeing these holy places…(sarcastic if you couldn’t tell)

Any ways, we walk through and begin the tour. First we enter the Hanging Church, a beautiful Christian orthodox church. A history lesson from our guide, and some picture taking and we head off to the nunnery of St. George. We arrive at the church and it was very moving. We had a quick history lesson and then were allowed to enter the shrine where there were people praying. Some were putting on the chains that supposedly St. George wore back when he was chained for converting his faith…very powerful to watch…after this, we then went to the supposed Crypt of the Holy Family. It was in the back of another church in the same area as the Church of St. George. The story goes as that the holy family, Jesus Mary and Joseph stayed in this crypt for a few weeks around the time of his birth. All we could see was a flight of concrete stairs heading down the basement of the church, but it was incredible to think that Christ may have been right below me at one time. I am not the most religious person, but I definitely felt something when I was there, and it was amazing…Next up we move off to the Jewish Synagogue, also known as the Syrian Temple. Which was the first Synagogue in all of Africa (yes I am in Africa right now, and no I can’t believe it either)…A history lesson, no cameras allowed, and we were off to the oldest mosque in Cairo. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but when we arrived and entered, I suddenly felt very relaxed. Inside the mosque it was so quiet and peaceful. The middle of the mosque was open air, and the outer area was covered. Under the covered area there were Muslim people lying down, praying, and reading, very peaceful. The “gazebo” like structure in the middle was stunning as well. Draped with these purple tapestries, and the sunlight right overhead it looked like a painting…A history lesson while sitting on the floor of the mosque was very enlightening as well. Afterwards we had about 15 minutes to just take it in, take some pictures etc etc. I took a few pictures, but then I just sat down quietly with Matt and Joyce and enjoyed the peacefulness. I thought how nice it would be to have an open air place back home where I could just go to just to relax and think about things. Maybe I will go to a mosque somewhere when I get home…

Back to the vans, back to the Hotel. Quick bite and off for the sunset Falukah sailboat ride on the Nile. Mom and Dad you would have loved this…A perfect night, 75 degrees with the city lights of Cairo during sunset, I couldn’t have asked for much more. Afterwards we decided to walk all the way back to the Hotel, which was about 2 miles I would guess. Almost as nice as the sailboat ride. The whole way we had an escort (from the Egyptian secret service I presume) packing an automatic weapon who walked with us the whole way…Pretty cool to know that Egypt cares a lot about its tourists, but pretty weird to walk 2 miles in a group of 30 plus people with an armed escort…Back to the hotel, freshen up, out for some dinner…finally some good food and a few beers at Pub 28. Definitely going back there, good American style food, for dirt cheap, and I know I wont get sick from it because its already the next morning, and I’m writing this blog without exploding. After dinner we met up with a bunch of other people at the Versailles Palace. There was Hookah, I tried it, didn’t enjoy it…I’d rather have a cigar…Hung out for a bit, back to the Hotel, cards in Matt and Rod’s room, back to my room to pass out…more tomorrow.

Peace

-Al