Day 5

Breakfast as usual a good start to the day. Khaled was taking us to some of the more modern “religious” sites. We started with a Muslim mosque in central Cairo. Here lies the tombs of several “royals” among them King Farouk and some of his wives and the Shah of Iran. Khaled instructed us on the finer aspects of Muslim worship, he himself being a member of the Suni Sect.



Upon entering the mosque we were required to take our shoes off and enter, however the internal finishes were run down and lacked any continuing maintenance regime and in my mind, I thought if this is such a sacred building then why not maintain it to a good standard, perhaps that is a show of their humility? I think its that they spend the money in other areas.





One thing that struck me about Khaled was that he had a good knowledge of most things and seemed “connected” with most of the people in Cairo. He seemed to be able to get us into places that might usually be off limits to others. Its been great to have him take care of us.

Our next stop was to visit the Greek Coptic church of St George. Its complex contained 2 chapels. The older one seemed to have a special significance in regards to the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus. Khaled was saying that the Egyptian Coptics don’t mention Joseph the carpenter as being with Mary and Jesus, but that they were “protected” by Michael The Archangel. When we entered the major chapel Khaled had mentioned that he had “felt” something in this building the first time he entered it. I on the other hand thought it was depressing as the internal finishes were dark and sombre. I guess each to his own. Speaking of depressing most of us had to use the bathrooms and the state of them was “gagging” to say the least.

Khaled then took us on a shopping spree at a centre on Road 9, where we bought trinkets and Galibos (long Arab style dress for men). He also drove us past the LDS chapel which was a previous residential stand alone building, typical of chapels in small branch countries.

To top off our “religious” day out, we were entertained by the “Sufi Dancers” (Whirling Dervishes – I think they are a type of religion?). These guys (all men) play instruments typical of Arab cultures, sing in typical Arab tones and whaling and dance in spinning circles. It was very hypnotic, so hypnotic that I dozed off and when I awoke and looked around I saw that my fellow travellers, Ian, Linda, Grant and Anne had also slipped into never never land. The most amazing thing about these “dancers” is that they would twirl in circles to a rhythmic beat for up to 30 minutes and when they stopped they would be still and not be dizzy from inertia. They seem to get into some trance. This was the only tourist attraction that didn’t seem to come with the typical hand out for money that all other places come with.

At the finish of our day we bid Khaled and his driver a fond farewell as he dropped us off at our hotel for the night.