More great sights of Cairo

Today has been more leisurely as we started off at 8.15 and arrived back at the hotel before 4pm….and it wasn’t hard walking - in fact my Apple Watch will be most upset at the lack of it, as am now very much enjoying downtime feet up on the bed!

Our first stop was the citadel - which is high up on a hill with a great view over the city, and where there is the Muhammad Ali mosque - a beautiful mosque build by Saladin and a copy of the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, though I think I heard is a bit smaller. Then we were taken to the market area, where our guide said has junky souvenirs made in China so to be aware! It was not the market area I had remembered with the Islamic gate and architecture, and I hope Omnia and Amr can maybe take us to that part when we get back to Cairo after the tour. So while we had free time there Amr suggested we visit another mosque nearby, and he and Omnia talked to the man on the entrance…this was not a tourist show mosque, and we women had to go in a separate entrance, and we found we were in a little women’s section, separated with a trellis from the main body of the mosque, and there were many women sitting on the floor, with children or quietly chatting with friends, reading or praying….I think it is a place to escape from the men! Anyway, we did look a bit odd coming in, but we quietly took a place in a corner (Omnia did not come in as she wanted to do some shopping!) and Louise and I sat on the floor. The women were sweet and friendly and made eye contact and we even had a sort of conversation with a girl who was playing with a small child…she showed us photos of different relatives and ended up taking a selfie with Louise and me! A very different experience.

Then lunch at a nearby very nice restaurant (where you could have light meals) and that was leisurely and relaxing. Then we went off to the Egyptian museum - the new grand museum is still not opening till maybe next year, so this is the one in the city that we have been to before, which still has many exhibits despite many treasures already being moved…it still feels full of stuff! So our guide took us on a tour of highlights which was fabulous- as if you stopped at every showcase you’d be exhausted trying to take it all in. Ended seeing the jewellery of Tutankhamen and also the 2 innermost coffins - amazing stuff, and we arrived back not too overwhelmed, just right! Another great day…BUT tomorrow we will get a wake up call at 3am to leave at 4am to go to the airport for our flight to Aswan!! So an early night tonight, and more adventures tomorrow.もっと詳しく