Saturday 17th – Old Town of Cairo

I had booked two days of places to go to, one being Coptic Cairo (Old Town of Cairo), a protected area. We stopped next to the Roman wall, the foundations of which were several metres down. The Church of St. George next to it is a Greek Orthodox church within the Babylon Fortress in Coptic Cairo. It is part of the Holy Patriarchal Monastery of St George under the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and all Africa. The church dates back to the 10th century (or earlier)

A short distance away is the Hanging Church, 1690; restorations have continued in recent years by Pope Alexandria, 41st Pope of Alexandria and Patrick of the See of Saint Mark. It is the most famous Coptic church in Cairo, named because the nave is suspended over a passage connected to the gatehouse of a Roman building constructed and 525 It is the present seat of the Coptic Orthodox Pope of Alexandria which moved to Cairo and 1047. It has a collection of 110 painted icons mostly from the 1800s some back to the eighth. A service was in progress, the priests doing their thing at the front and 50 odd people praying and watching; sad to see them praying to the icons.

Next was the Abu Serga Church also known as the cavern church a bit further down the road which seems to be part of the Church of St George. To get to it we went past the main part of St George, down a narrow passageway with a bookstore lining it, and into the darkness of the cavern church, not a lot different to what we had already seen. We are in different to these churches with all the incense and the hanging lanterns and the incense and the icons so I think we’re done with them.
We stopped at an upmarket jewellery shop as the many insistent vendors pushing ‘just 1 dollar’ are dodgy. Very nice and interesting.

Next was the Khan El Khalili Bazaar which reminded me a lot of the markets we saw in China though the goods are slightly different. Narrow dirty alleyway cats and rubbish everywhere, little shops, cafes, and all sorts of goods of metal and material. Picturesque. The guide had planned a cafe stop for a drink in the market, which we did, though I was concerned about Hillary out on the road. We had 10 minutes there – the hibiscus tea really pleasant.
The day ended with lunch at the same place we were at Wednesday night, Abu Shakra overlooking the Giza pyramids. On the way back we stopped at a fruit shop; they are not as frequent here as in China.

Too tired to go for dinner and full from lunch we had a light meal brought to us in the room – the food here is very good.

Not the best day; in particular I had requested we see the vast Cave Church of Zabbaleen. The other couple with us felt the same. Apparently it is a 4-5 hr trip but Memphis avoiding telling us.