Tour de Force

The Citadel of Saladin

We arrived back in Cairo by sleeper train very early and we get to our first site before it is even open. We start the day at the Citadel of Saladin high above Cairo. The citadel was built in 1176 to defend Egypt from its enemies. And for centuries it did just that. The fortress was destroyed by Napoleon’s armies. The Ottoman king Muhammad Ali restored the fortress and built the mosque for himself. Unfortunately the stones for the mosque came from the pyramids of Giza. The alabaster for the outer casing came from a nearby alabaster quarry and is sometimes referred to as the “alabaster mosque”. It carries the same design as the blue mosque in turkey. There are actually several mosques on top of the fortress. 

The Citadel of Saleh-Al-din

The mosque features a large open court with a clock tower. Doors lead from the open court to the prayer room. The prayer room is built to acoustically amplify the voice of the iman so everyone could hear him and follow along. 

Beautiful detail on the ceiling in the prayer room

The tomb of Muhammad Ali 

Our next site is the Hanging Church. The name of the church is St. Mary’s and it was originally  built in the 4th century AD, but most of it was destroyed. It was rebuilt in the 17th and 18th centuries. It is located in the area known as Coptic Cairo.  Coptic is simply an  Egyptian Christian. It doesn’t refer to a particular denomination of Christianity. It’s called the hanging church because it was built over one of the round towers of an old Roman fort. 

Entrance to St. Mary’s Church

There were twelve towers in the old Roman fort 

St. George’s Church was also built over one of the Roman towers 

Egyptian museum 

The original Egyptian National Museum was located in one of the old palaces of Muhammad Ali. But geographically it was not in a good place. When the first big flood came, most of the artifacts were submerged by the waters, and many were stolen. The government then gave the money for the construction of this museum. The museum opened in 1901. The new museum is being constructed next to the Giza plateau  and will be the largest one in the world when it opens. 

We finish the day at an Egyptian bazaar that is teeming with humanity and vendors offering wares too numerous to mention. It is a cacophony of sights and sounds. Here we have lunch before we indulge in some shopping. The market is seemingly endless, stretching on for blocks in every direction.  It would be SO easy to get lost here! Next it was back to the Oasis Pyramids hotel, which is where we started this journey eight days ago. In a few short hours we will all be going our separate ways. This was my first travel experience of this type and it has been amazing. The people I traveled with were so friendly, interesting, and engaging. I’m ready for my next tour.