Egypt Day 8 and 9
12/20/2009 09:16:00 pm
Yes, I'm procrastinating abit because it's the last day! We were back in Cairo and back to where we started from the first day. Checked into Cataract Hotel again and head out after a nice warm shower and quick lunch at KFC down the road. The weather was slightly more chilly (about 18 deg) than Luxor.
Coptic Church
First place we went to is the Coptic Church. This was situated through the older streets of Cairo and is dub 'floating' church as it was build on top of a Roman buidling. Coptic is a name given to the Christian Egyptians and was derived back in the times when the Egyptians in general were called Coptics by the Greek Romans. When Egypt was conquered by the Arabs and slowly converted into a muslim country, this word was then only used towards those that remained christian.
Oldest Mosque in Egypt
We were meant to go to the Mosque of Muhammad Ali but it was under maintenance so Zizo organised for another mosque instead. We had to wait for 10 minutes as there was a funeral happening so he told all of us to throw him all our questions and curiousities no matter how silly they are on the topic Muslim. He is such an absolute sweetheart. He admits that he doesn't pray everyday unlike some who does so he is rather laidback. And after going through that session, it seems like every religion are about the same.
We headed in but the ladies had to dress in robes, and we had to take our shoes off. I was quite excited as this was my first time heading in to a mosque. We sat down and discussed further about this religion. Apparently there are 5 things you have to do to reach the point of pure muslim. One being to pray 5 times a day, and then the ladies have to cover their hair and I forgot the rest hehe.
Cairo Street Stalls
It was then off to the Cairo Markets! We had lunch at the place Zizo does since we were too intimidated going on our own. Gosh, the haggling is crazy! The moment you gaze your eyes over something, in a split second someone yells or comes towards you almost immediately. In fact, even before you look at a shop, you'll be pounded with 4 or 5 people offering you things.
Egyptian Museum
No cameras were allowed here but it was just amazing to marvel at the tombs and jewellery. Apparently it takes 2 months to actually finish the museum (that's if you look and understand an item) so Zizo told us the rooms to go to in that 45 minutes.
One thing that intrigues me was the the findings from the Tomb of Tutankhamun. He died at a really young age of 19 but he's tombs and items that were left behind were all very intact. His tomb was in another tomb, in which as in a box and that box is in another box and I think there were about 7 layers covering this tomb. The one thing I can remember is that each box has a door but the door doesn't actually fit the box inside, so they must have assemble the box and the door up together.
Not forgetting we saw his mask, that is made out of 10kg worth of gold that was on display so I did stood by that display for a good 5 minutes ;)
We were back at the Hotel where we pretty much gathered together to have our final dinner before all of us went separate ways the next day. As our flight was in the evening, we did manage to get a bit of the sun (despite it being quite chilly) before heading to the airport. It was quite a mayhem at the airport and a full flight back so the trip wasn't as comfortable as when we went down but hey ho, it was a great trip throughout!
Click here for the rest of my pictures
Coptic Church
First place we went to is the Coptic Church. This was situated through the older streets of Cairo and is dub 'floating' church as it was build on top of a Roman buidling. Coptic is a name given to the Christian Egyptians and was derived back in the times when the Egyptians in general were called Coptics by the Greek Romans. When Egypt was conquered by the Arabs and slowly converted into a muslim country, this word was then only used towards those that remained christian.
Amazed at the detailed carvings
Oldest Mosque in Egypt
We were meant to go to the Mosque of Muhammad Ali but it was under maintenance so Zizo organised for another mosque instead. We had to wait for 10 minutes as there was a funeral happening so he told all of us to throw him all our questions and curiousities no matter how silly they are on the topic Muslim. He is such an absolute sweetheart. He admits that he doesn't pray everyday unlike some who does so he is rather laidback. And after going through that session, it seems like every religion are about the same.
We headed in but the ladies had to dress in robes, and we had to take our shoes off. I was quite excited as this was my first time heading in to a mosque. We sat down and discussed further about this religion. Apparently there are 5 things you have to do to reach the point of pure muslim. One being to pray 5 times a day, and then the ladies have to cover their hair and I forgot the rest hehe.
I feel like an alien
Cairo Street Stalls
It was then off to the Cairo Markets! We had lunch at the place Zizo does since we were too intimidated going on our own. Gosh, the haggling is crazy! The moment you gaze your eyes over something, in a split second someone yells or comes towards you almost immediately. In fact, even before you look at a shop, you'll be pounded with 4 or 5 people offering you things.
Yumm, falafel in pita bread with humus sauce...so simple yet so fulfilling
Shisha anyone?
Egyptian Museum
No cameras were allowed here but it was just amazing to marvel at the tombs and jewellery. Apparently it takes 2 months to actually finish the museum (that's if you look and understand an item) so Zizo told us the rooms to go to in that 45 minutes.
One thing that intrigues me was the the findings from the Tomb of Tutankhamun. He died at a really young age of 19 but he's tombs and items that were left behind were all very intact. His tomb was in another tomb, in which as in a box and that box is in another box and I think there were about 7 layers covering this tomb. The one thing I can remember is that each box has a door but the door doesn't actually fit the box inside, so they must have assemble the box and the door up together.
Not forgetting we saw his mask, that is made out of 10kg worth of gold that was on display so I did stood by that display for a good 5 minutes ;)
We were back at the Hotel where we pretty much gathered together to have our final dinner before all of us went separate ways the next day. As our flight was in the evening, we did manage to get a bit of the sun (despite it being quite chilly) before heading to the airport. It was quite a mayhem at the airport and a full flight back so the trip wasn't as comfortable as when we went down but hey ho, it was a great trip throughout!
Click here for the rest of my pictures
