I had been to Coptic Cairo once before with Jason, Luke, and the Simons. Because Luke got worn out early that day, we went home without seeing much. Here's our post from that day. The most notable thing we learned about Coptic Cairo that day was that it was so different from other parts of Cairo, in that it was very clean, quiet, and calm compared to everywhere else.
With Mom and Kari, I was excited to see the other sites I'd missed before. We went to the museum first. They don't allow cameras in the museum, so we have no pictures inside. Just these from outside the garden gates:
The museum houses a lot of architectural elements that reflect the Greco-Roman influence in Egypt as well as a huge collection of Coptic art. There are also pieces that show Egyptian gods and goddesses, as well as ancient textiles and texts. It was interesting, and the architecture of the building itself inside was as beautiful as the exhibits themselves.
Just outside the museum is one of the towers from the Babylon Fortress.
Opposite this tower sits the Greek Orthodox Church of St. George, which actually was built on top of another tower from the fortress. Here I am reading about the church, in all my dorkiness, on the steps of St. George.
St. George slaying the dragon - on the outside walls of the church.
The story goes that St. George was tortured using a wheel of swords. There is a model of this wheel inside the church.
This picture is kinda hard to see, but there's a little cave-like hallway you go down inside the church, down some steps, and into this little room, where there's a picture of Jesus in a cave. Underneath the picture is a little niche where people have left prayers on pieces of paper.
After St. George, we went to the Hanging Church. It's really pretty. It's called the Hanging Church because it sits above the gatehouse of the Babylon fortress, and its nave is suspended over a passageway.
This map shows the travels of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph in Egypt.
"Maadi" (where we live) means "the crossing," and is so named because it's where the Holy Family supposedly crossed the Nile. This mosaic depicts that, and it's found in the garden outside the Hanging Church.
Inside the church:
After the Hanging Church, we decided to try to find the church of St. Sergius, which is built above a cave where Mary, Joseph, and Jesus supposedly stayed while they were in Maadi. It was a little disappointing, because you can't get down to see the cave. The water table has risen and flooded it, so you can only see steps leading down to it and a picture of what it used to look like before it was under water. Still, amazing to be standing in a place where Jesus may have stood.
Another site to see in Coptic Cairo is the Ben Ezra Synagogue, which is supposedly located on the site where Moses was drawn from the Nile. Here's the well which is supposed to mark the spot. You can't get up close to it.
This is a sweet little Egyptian Jewish man who told us about the synagogue. He was so proud of his heritage and of his children, who are studying at Cambridge and Columbia.
After Coptic Cairo, we had a quick lunch and then headed home for naps. That night, we took Mom and Kari to one of our favorite restaurants in Maadi, called Cuba Cubana. It's got a variety of food and you can sit outside or inside. We started outside, but eventually moved inside because a lady sat down at the table next to ours and began smoking shisha. The wind drove the smoke right into our faces. Inside was much more pleasant! Here are some pictures we took before the smoking lady came to eat:
Update: I forgot to add the pictures of what we did after dinner in my original post! We took Mom and Kari through part of Maadi we call the PDC. Here's the background. We call our area of Maadi "Donkey Cart" Maadi, because you see a large number of donkey carts in our neighborhood compared to other parts of Maadi. It's a much more "Egyptian" neighborhood than Degla, our first neighborhood. Just over the bridge from our house, and not far from Cuba Cubana, there is an area we call "Prehistoric Donkey Cart." That's because you see even more donkey carts there, and parts of the neighborhood probably look the same as they did hundreds of years ago. It's pretty primitive in some cases. Jason is always excited to take visitors through this part of Maadi. I would never walk through there without Jason, especially at night, because we definitely stand out. However, we had a good time showing Mom and Kari around. Here are some pictures.
This is a typical scene at night in any part of Cairo - men sitting around smoking shisha (flavored tobacco in a water pipe) and drinking tea together. These guys let us take their picture after some persuading. Once they found out we were Americans, they said, "Bush - bad, Obama, kwayyis!" (Obama = good!) I replied, "President Obama, Hamdulillah!" (Thanks be to God!) I told Mom and Kari that no matter what you might really think, it is always a good thing in Egypt to act like you love Obama.
My favorite part of the PDC is the market area. Tiny little shops selling all kinds of food line one of the narrow streets. The fruit and vegetable stands always have pretty displays, like this one:
The spices are pretty, too:
And, should you have a hankerin' for some hossenfeffer, you can always choose a nice fluffy one from this shop:
I don't think the cat was for sale. :)
