On Thursday we decided to see Cairo itself. We begun our day with an extensive stint at the Egyptian Museum. The Museum was the first throng of tourists we'd encountered (but would later become accustomed to at Luxor), but that was okay. The building itself is very cool and seems like it hasn't changed since the British colonials built it. The collection inside is also absolutely mind-boggling. After Florence and Athens, this makes weekend number three that I'm basically living my introductory art history class. I saw the classical Egyptian pieces like the Narmer Palette that up until now I'd only seen a in textbook. Unfortunately, the museum has entirely too many pieces for the space inside. Artifacts that any other museum in the world would kill for are shoved up onto a shelf in the Egyptian museum, almost out of sight completely. Most of the pieces don't even have labels. And, I read today in the paper that the Egyptian Minister of Antiquities weaseled another 25,000 artifacts out of the British Museum. I have no idea where they're going to put all that stuff; they're already bubbling at the seams with their existing collection.
We stumbled around the Egyptian Museum neighborhood to find a cheap place to eat, and then we headed across town to the old Citadel. It was built by Salah-al-din (or Saladin, to us Westeners) in the middle 1100s to fortify the city against any Christian crusader attacks. After the Christians took the fortress of Ascalon on the Sinai Peninsula, Cairo immediately became a target, and Saladin's expertise ensured the city's survival.
He later marched on to take Jerusalem in 1187, so I guess he knew what he was doing. At the top of the citadel is the Muhammmed Ali (the Egyptian ruler, not the boxer) mosque. We respectfully took our shoes and hats off and walked inside and just admired the building while people were all around praying. Since icons and imagery of holy people is forbidden under Islam, Muslim holy sites are all decorated with natural motives like leaves, ivy, or geometric patterns. It makes for a very beautiful decor scheme. The architecture of the Muhammed Ali mosque is modeled after the Hagia Sofia church-turned-mosque in Constantinople-turned-Istanbul. The patio outside offered some pretty good views of downtown Cairo, but unfortunately the smog and pollution made any picture-taking pretty much worthless.
After the Citadel, as opposed to trying to fit in another neighborhood of Old Cairo like the Coptic area, we opted to go back to the Mayfair hotel and have tea on the rooftop terrace before heading to the train station. Since it is spring break, after all, it felt nice to just relax with a few glasses of tea as the sun set. Then, it was off to Ramses station for our 10 hour night train to Luxor.
On Thursday we decided to see Cairo itself. We begun our day with an extensive stint at the Egyptian Museum. The Museum was the first throng of tourists we'd encountered (but would later become accustomed to at Luxor), but that was okay. The building itself is very cool and seems like it hasn't changed since the British colonials built it. The collection inside is also absolutely mind-boggling. After Florence and Athens, this makes weekend number three that I'm basically living my introductory art history class. I saw the classical Egyptian pieces like the Narmer Palette that up until now I'd only seen a in textbook. Unfortunately, the museum has entirely too many pieces for the space inside. Artifacts that any other museum in the world would kill for are shoved up onto a shelf in the Egyptian museum, almost out of sight completely. Most of the pieces don't even have labels. And, I read today in the paper that the Egyptian Minister of Antiquities weaseled another 25,000 artifacts out of the British Museum. I have no idea where they're going to put all that stuff; they're already bubbling at the seams with their existing collection. 
We stumbled around the Egyptian Museum neighborhood to find a cheap place to eat, and then we headed across town to the old Citadel. It was built by Salah-al-din (or Saladin, to us Westeners) in the middle 1100s to fortify the city against any Christian crusader attacks. After the Christians took the fortress of Ascalon on the Sinai Peninsula, Cairo immediately became a target, and Saladin's expertise ensured the city's survival. 
He later marched on to take Jerusalem in 1187, so I guess he knew what he was doing. At the top of the citadel is the Muhammmed Ali (the Egyptian ruler, not the boxer) mosque. We respectfully took our shoes and hats off and walked inside and just admired the building while people were all around praying. Since icons and imagery of holy people is forbidden under Islam, Muslim holy sites are all decorated with natural motives like leaves, ivy, or geometric patterns. It makes for a very beautiful decor scheme. The architecture of the Muhammed Ali mosque is modeled after the Hagia Sofia church-turned-mosque in Constantinople-turned-Istanbul. The patio outside offered some pretty good views of downtown Cairo, but unfortunately the smog and pollution made any picture-taking pretty much worthless. 
After the Citadel, as opposed to trying to fit in another neighborhood of Old Cairo like the Coptic area, we opted to go back to the Mayfair hotel and have tea on the rooftop terrace before heading to the train station. Since it is spring break, after all, it felt nice to just relax with a few glasses of tea as the sun set. Then, it was off to Ramses station for our 10 hour night train to Luxor.
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