CAIRO - April 21


After a good night's sleep in a single bed (and lots of jokes about college dorms) we felt ready to take on Cairo. Reflecting now, we covered a lot of ground today.

We quickly acquainted ourselves with the Metro, and for about 20 cents headed to Coptic Cairo to start our day. The open windows provided little relief from the eau-de-gentlemen that filled the subway car and Jillian was almost tempted to ride in one of the 'women only' cars.

Once in Coptic Cairo, we navigated a maze of ancient alleyways weaving between churches and nunneries and even an old synagogue. Ahmed Ibrahim, a shopkeeper in the alley for forty years, was delighted to provide us with information about the Ben Ezra Synagogue. He showed us the article about him in the NY Times, kvelled about his son studying at Columbia, and sold us a kippah (are we really halfway around the world?) The synagogue was built in the 9th century, and the Geniza, where holy documents are buried, was discovered by Solomon Schechter just 100 years ago. Over 100,000 pages were well preserved and provided invaluable information on Jewish life in Africa during the 11th-13th centuries. Rambam (Moses Maimonedes) attended and led the congregation while he served as personal physician to the sultan of Egypt. Ari isn't the first good Jewish doctor to make his way through Cairo!

St. George's basilica and nunnery were really spectacular as well. A coptic saint, he slayed a dragon and was put to death by the Romans for being Christian. The church contains the chains by which he was tortured, and we watched as devotees placed the same shackles that he bore over their necks in rapt worship. We wandered in and out of several other churches all bearing relics of coptic saints and boasting original wood carvings and artwork dating back as early as the 9th century.

From here, we headed to the Egyptian Museum, an immense collection of Pharaonic monuments, artwork, and sculpture. There is no possible way to begin to describe the enormity of this museum, nor is it possible to soak it all up in one, or one thousand, visits. The old display cases were chalk full of Egyptian tools, mummies, jewelry, statues, funerary objects, and even board games. Rumor has it that the basement is so full of items that are not on display that archaeologists will have to excavate the museum itself when it moves to a more modern building in a few years. The sheer weight of the objects has caused them to sink into the soft sand below the museum. If you are in Boston, the MFA has a fantastic taste of this for you right now.

From the museum, we headed back to Islamic Cairo and the Khan al Khalili to get our daily dose of shawarma and falafel. We walked further into the market than yesterday, and found the schlocky tourist shops, replete with stuffed camels, sheesha pipes, brass lanterns, and small rugs. Having gone a whole half day without any tea, we found a nook in the marketplace serving up Cairo's finest mint tea.

Wholly refreshed, we caught a cab to Zamalek, an upscale neighborhood bursting with embassies, art and music academies, galleries and boutiques. We shmied down the tree lined blocks as night fell. The small but burgeoning contemporary art scene really had its own Cairene flavor and some of the work was extremely impressive.

Back in the downtown area, we dined on koshary, a local dish made with macaroni, lentils, chickpeas, fried garlic, and a spicy tomato sauce. It's sort of a fast food meal, which we definitely plan to adopt when we get back to the States.

Stuffed to the gills (again!) we were lured into the night fruit market. The plumpest dates you have ever seen were certainly not going to be passed over. And then there were the pastries... all of them.

We rounded out the night with some sweet apple sheesha, a tall glass of Lipton, and the pure enjoyment of just being together.

Lots of love,
Jillian + Ari



We will try to get up more pictures next time-- finicky internet connection today.