Day 3 Cairo

7-Sep

Today was an early start and will be a long day. First visit was the one of the oldest churches in Egypt, the Hanging Church which dates to the third century. It belongs to the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, it’s called the Hanging Church because it’s built on top of a Roman fortress, with its nave suspended over the original ground level. Getting to the entry f the church was interesting, we had to go down to the old city level, about 6 meters and walk through long open corridors. Those corridors were lined with books, it was a books tore several hundred meters long. The main attraction in the Hanging Church is that a cave beneath the Church where supposedly Jesus and Maria stayed for 3 months when he was a baby. However, while Jesus’ family did stay in the area that is now Coptic Cairo, they stayed at the Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus (Abu Serga), not the Hanging Church. Tradition holds that Joseph, Mary, and baby Jesus sheltered in a cave beneath the Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus. But still, the tradition stil holds.

Next stop was the Egyptian Museum, formally known as The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, and houses the largest collection of Egyptian antiquities in the world. It houses over 120,000 items, with a representative amount on display. It is impossible to see all the artifacts in a day, and according to our guide, not even in 3 days. The main attraction here is off coarse, Tutankhamun, famous because his nearly intact tomb, discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter, provided a unique, unlooted glimpse into ancient Egyptian royal burials and the world of a boy king. The tomb’s astounding wealth of gold and artifacts, including his famous solid-gold death mask weighing 11 Kg, captured the world’s imagination, creating a sensation and bringing this pharaoh, otherwise a relatively minor historical figure, to lasting global fame. Interesting details that I never knew was that although Howard Carter claimed fame for the find, it was actually a kid that found the tomb. He was tasked with bringing water to the workmen who were doing excavations. One day, about 300 meter from the digging site, his donkey slipped in a hole and spilt all the water it was carrying. The water washed away a layer of sand and exposed a stone step. When the boy alerted Carter he dug further and found the tomb. As a reward Carter hung one of the necklaces he found around the boys neck and took a few photos. They hang next to the exhibition chamber where Tutt’s mask and golden coffin are on display. Taken pictures inside the room is not allowed, I never saw the sign and was reprimanded by a guard, he had to look at all the images on my camera but missed the best one 😉

Next stop was Mohammed Ali mosque, It was commissioned by Muhammad Ali Pasha and built between 1832 and 1857. Situated in the Cairo Citadel in a position overlooking the city, it is one of the most visible mosques and landmarks in the skyline of Cairo. It looked a lot like the Blue Mosque Jen and I visited in October last year in Istanbul. This one is made mostly out of alabaster.

Next to the mosque was a recently reopened military museum, and as we had time available we all spent some time in there.

After very hot day with lots of walking we jumped on the bus to get to the airport, we will fly to Luxor where tomorrow the Nile cruise will start.