Friday, April 15, 2011

Long Day

Long day today. Took Metro from Sadat station, near Tahir square, to Giza station about 6 stops away on the same line. Ended up just getting on the female only car as its an option not offeed in NYC, and why not. Met Dina there who is the niece of my sister's neighbor in Virginia. I posted a picture of her below in her lovely pink scarf. She was most gracious to meet me at 10 am, and took a day off of work to do it I found out later, with flowers and an itinerary for the whole day! We took a cab to Giza where we saw all 9 pyramids, as well as the Spinx, mainly by walking then a horse and buggy ride at the very end for the smaller pyramids that are a bit of longer walk to get to. By this time it was noon and getting HOT and the covered buggy was a nice relief from the harsh sun. Had a super wide brim hat on plus SPF 70 but still got sun on my neck, what can you do? Its Egypt! Encountered the "scam" I had read about in several guide books, when after bargaining on a price they insist it was British pounds. So my 1/2 hourse and buggy driver wanted 20 quid which is over 30 dollars, which is Central Park prices! Thank God for Dina who did alot of the bargaining and helped me to navigate through the vendors who were constantly trying to sell me King Tut lighters or a dancing stuffed camel (which I might get for the baby). After Giza we ended up going to the Saladin Citadel, also referred to as Mohamed Ali Citadel, in Old Cairo built back in 1184 to protect it from the crusaders. Today its home to several famous Mosques, including Mosque of Muhammad Ali, Al Nasir Muhammad Qala 'un Mosque and from the early Bahri Mamluk period the Mosque of Suleyman Pasha, first of the Citadel's Ottoman styl mosques. In addition to mosques, inside the Citadels walls are the Egyptian Miltary Museum, Police Museum, Al-Gawhara Museum and Carrigae Musuem! That's alot! After walking through most of it, we then jumped in a cab to a lovely park close by, Al-Azhar where we found a lakefront cafe with lovely vews of Muhamad Ali Mosque. After a quick snack of stuffed grape leaves and beef stuffed turnovers we headed off to Kahn a Kalhi the market of all markets. But leaving we stumbled upon a concert in the park given by famous Eyptipan singer Said El Shazar (see pics and video below - sorry audio not avail ) The market, was well the market. Chinatown on uber steroids, but I was soooo tired by then I only bought some dates. Maybe something later. We ended up having dinner near the market and since the menu was only in Arabic, I had Dina order what I she thought was best. She did a fantastic job of double hummus order, kofta and shish kabob. No pigeon tonight, maybe in Luxor. I also had 2 real cokes so I am on sugar high no less. Tomorrow is packed day of Egyptian Museum, maybe a felluca (sailboat) on the Nile and some sheesha! ~Leyla Saida (Good Night)

1 comment:

  1. Wow! Now, that's what I call a FULL day of sightseeing. I'm impressed.

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