FIGJAM'S Epic Adventure: Coptic Cairo and The Museum! Two Days of Hectic-ness

29/8/09

1112 (local time)

What a massive 2 days I've had! So I arrived to Cairo on the 27^th, put down my bags had a quick sneaky shower and then headed off with a bloke called Greg from Argentina to the Olympus camera dude to get my camera sorted out. After I argued with the camera guy, and eventually scored a camera that I can borrow until mine gets sorted out, we then hopped on the train and headed down to Old Cairo!

We got off the train and went into the museum called Coptic Cairo Museum! The tickets were 50 LE each! But there was no way, I was paying that. So using my wittyness I convinced the ticket bloke that myself and Greg (aged 30) were both students and that we left our card at home. So we were able to get in for 25 LE each! HAPPY DAYS!

The museum was pretty interesting with artist drawings dated back hundreds of years ago of Jesus and his merry men! There was also stone carvings of the great Aphrodite (God of Love). I also saw a book that dated back to the 4^th Century! Pretty cool stuff!

We saw lots of Bronze and Gold pieces of work, which were all amazing. After spending hours in the museum we thought we should mix it up in the in on the street, so we went for a walk to look for some food. We got a bite to eat, and we both decided that we should head home as we were stuffed.

The next day I didn’t want to sit at the hostel all day, so I decided that I would go to The Castle of Saladin. The Castle of Saladin (The Citadel of Saladin) was started by King Saladin 11^th Century and then was continued by his brother King El-Addel.

The castle is absolutely amazing, it overlooks entire Cairo, and when you stand on the edge of it, overlooking the city during prayer time all you can hear is a wave of praying and noise! Its quite a strange feeling. If you look off into the horizon you can see 2 of the 3 pyramids, which is a pretty amazing site.

I then walked around the police museum looking at all the different weapons the police used and also looking at all the counter fitting that went on! Pretty amazing!

After this it was about 1pm, so prayer time was over so the public were able to go inside the mosque to see what’s inside. I was asked to take off my shoes, and I was then allowed in. Its a pretty special place! So beautiful inside! Pretty surreal experience.

After the mosque experience, I had a bit of a walk around, ate my lunch for the day which was biskets and sultanas, and then went on over to another mosque with a green top and joked around with the local Egyptians working there and then headed off to the National War Museum!

This was an amazing museum, with a real chariot dating back to the Pharonic Age. I walked around the museum for about 1 hour until they all of a sudden tell me that its closing time (due to Ramadan) so unfortunately I missed out on a bit of the museum, but it was still amazing, to get an understanding of the Egyptian side of the war, fighting with the British.

By this time, it was getting late, and I was absolutely stuffed, so I caught a taxi (who was a pain in the ass, we wanted to charge me heaps more than what I paid, then got me lost... not impressed), back to my hostel and just relaxed for the rest of the night.

Today ill be going to The Old Market "Khan El-Khalili" to check out some bargins!

Wish me luck!

PS: ENJOY THE PHOTOS OF THE PAST TWO DAYS!

DAY 1: Old Cairo!