There's a nasty, carcinogenic, ozone-filled smog swirling around Cairo. I'm off to Dahab for fresh sea air and sunshine.

A Tourist in Egypt

A previous post alluded to plans for an odyssey of exploration through Egypt’s fascinating and profuse historic monuments and artefacts. My sister joined us for the Cairo leg before returning to her east-end dwarves and we went on to Luxor for a cruise down to Aswan. I thought it would be interesting just to list some of the places and things we visited and a factoid or two.


Khan al-Khalili – A bazaar made more famous in recent times by Naguib Mahfouz’s writings originates from 1328 and was historically dominated by the foreign merchant classes of Jewish, Armenian, Persian and non Egyptian Arabs . Now a tourist trap extraordinaire but quite good fun if you start haggling with a good-natured trader. While I am quite a good haggler, I hate shopping so I left the ladies to go shopping by themselves and ended up just shaking my head at the prices they paid. But I’m amazed at the prices that some of the real tourist end up paying for pointless nick naks.

Opposite Khan al-Khalil is the Al-Azhar mosque. Originally a university, one of the first in the world, this is an impressive example of Islamic architecture. Thousands of students from all around the world still come to study at Al-Azhar university which is now based near us in Madinat Nasser and is one of the premier places for Islamic learning and knowledge. You can still see some classes being taught in circles within annexes to the mosque as has been the case for over a millennia. We prayed Jumma prayers there before going on to Cairo Tower.

A visit to the Cairo Tower is normally remembered for its unrivalled view of the city including the pyramids of Giza in the distance and mediocre dinner in a revolving restaurant. Unfortunately we will remember if for the horrific beating of an alleged thief by police and under cover agents on the grounds. The man was literally beaten unconscious by about four or five policemen and whilst the camcorder was rolling at the time it was turned off and there is no Rodney King style evidence of this event. It’s a reminder of the precarious balance of a police state.

Pyramids of Giza truly are impressive structures and serve as reminders of the rise and fall of bygone empires. The genius, vision, complexity and sheer scale of effort of building the pyramids themselves really have to be seen to be believed. The huge blocks of chiselled granite were transported hundreds of miles from quarries in Aswan from Upper Egypt. Of course the best thing about a visit to the pyramids is the obligatory ride on camels and gallop on a horse on the edge of the Sahara. My horse unfortunately was a little on the small size and it just looked a little silly. The other unfortunate thing is that Mrs C is very very very allergic to horses and suffered the most horrendous reaction and it took a couple of day for her eyes to go back to normal.

The Egyptian Museum is one of those places that just have to be seen. As well as housing the infamous Tutankhamen collection, mummies (human and animals), statutes, models and hieroglyphics the layout is to say the least confusing and the labelling atrocious. You definitely need a guide and the touts outside must make a fortune. One of the mummies is alleged to be Mernetepah (son of Ramses) who was the Pharoh of the Biblical Exodus and is recorded in the Quran as being preserved as a sign for future generations (10.90- 92). To this day, no-one is sure of the mummification process which keeps the bodies so well preserved.

The Citadel and the Mosque of Mohammed Ali is one of the more dramatic and dominant features of the Cairo skyline. The Citadel or fortress was founded by the famous Salah al-Din Ayyubi in 1176 and was the centre of governance and rule for nearly every leader since till 1874. Mohammed Ali’s mosque built in 1833 acknowledges and defies the Ottoman Empire in style and scale. The gingerbread clock from Louis Philipe of France in exchange for the obelisk removed from Luxor Palace and now in Place de la Concorde in Paris has famously never worked except perhaps for the journey to Egypt. This place is definitely worth a visit for the views of the city alone.

That’s it for tourist Cairo although there are other things to see and do. I’ll put up pictures and write about the Nile cruise another time.

Cartoon Crisis

Some links to articles commenting on this:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/cartoonprotests/story/0,,1703496,00.html

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1707922,00.html

http://al-miftah.blogspot.com/2006/02/something-rotten-in-state-of-denmark.html

http://www.zaytuna.org/articleDetails.asp?articleID=92

Don't necessarily agree 100% with everything written but with little time to write in detail about this, it covers most of my views!

Update

We were invited to the opening of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office sponsored photo exhibition a few of days ago. I say invited, but sadly this wasn’t an exclusive embassy event with mounds of Ferror Roche being passed around on silver platters. As part of our government’s ‘hearts and mind’ offensive in the Muslim world the British Council has been putting on a week of events in Egypt to portray how positive relations are in the UK between muslims and the rest of society. It was introduced by HM Ambassador who spoke in Arabic, which despite being in a stilted English accent was quite impressive.

‘The Art of Integration; Islam In Britain’s Green and Pleasant Land’ was the title of the new photo exhibition undertaken by Peter Sanders. Putting aside the differences in opinion about human representation in art, this was an interesting set of snaps which captured a certain aspect of Muslim life in the UK today. It was surprising that I recognised quite a few of the subjects, which perhaps shows how small the pool of positive subjects there is within a certain circle. Despite the extremely positive images of muslims in the UK (i.e. Mosques built out of local stone, Muslims working in the community as doctors, politicians, businessmen, teachers, lots of playing kids etc etc) its quite clear that some of the journalists present were not suddenly converted from their preconceived opinions. For example one journalist I chatted to asked me about discrimination and racism, riots in Bradford, poor education and increasing curbs on civil rights (the last one is a bit much coming from an Egyptian!). A week of exhibitions, films and workshops aren’t going to sway minds.

Talking about human representation, the furore over the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is making waves here as well and has well and truly put a dent in any positive EU charm offensive. After Jummah prayers leaflets were being handed out urging us to ban Danish products including an old favourite Lego. Quite clearly depiction and republication of the cartoons demonstrates at least wanton insensitivity and at worst calculated provocation and insult to nearly all Muslims. I hear that it was the Egyptian foreign minister who kept the pressure on the Danish government urging them to make a public statement which they refused to until recently and far too late after the initial event. Muslim’s are reacting (perhaps over reacting) but the hurt and insult caused on so many levels is real and palpable. The love and respect for held for the Prophet (pbuh) is something that is not fully understood by many but perhaps this is the proverbial silver lining and calmer minds can start explaining this (although really incumbent on all Muslims). Sadly many people have died already, and there are rumours (stress rumours – I don’t want to start one) of retaliatory Quran burnings to the Danish flag burning. It’s easy to become depressed at these events and the world really is in a turmoil but as an optimist I believe that there are better times ahead. And to the guy who wore a ‘suicide vest’ in London in protest – just three words – ‘What A Plonker’.

Lessons are ongoing and am feeling a little saturated and exhausted. We’ll be taking a well deserved break and doing a few touristy things next week once Mrs C Senior and Teacher C arrive in Cairo.

Egypt has just won the African Cup without Mido their star player in a penalty shoot out! Judging by the cheers and car horns outside, we’re not going to get much sleep tonight. As we can’t beat them we’re off to join them and take in some of the atmosphere.