Small moments in the big city

So, Cairo used to be this huge, overwhelming, chaotic city. It is still huge, but after spending the rest of Easter there, it seems less overwhelming and chaotic - I might even feel that I know it a little bit. I went to Cairo with my friend Linda who goes to ACL with me in Alex. She is half-Egyptian and half-Swedish, and is spending the year in Alex in order to learn more about the language and culture of her father. We were confusing people all our stay by holding conversations where she spoke in Swedish and I in Norwegian - how could it be possible for us to speak together in two different languages? In the beginning it felt weird walking around that very foreign city speaking that most familiar language again, but it quickly became natural, and after returning to Alex I have constantly been addressing my flatmates in Norwegian. Yey for language confusion!

The main purpose of our stay was to attend an intensive course in Egyptian colloquial at International Language Institute (ILI), as we both wanted to improve our spoken language. The course was good, but I guess our background was a bit unusual as we are both used to speaking but have big gaps in our grammar and vocabulary, so neither of us fit neatly into any of the 10 levels at the institute. For this reason, we maybe didn't benefit as much as the other students, but I still learnt quite a lot, and it was a good experience. The teachers were very professional, the classes structured, and the atmosphere relaxed and welcoming.

Even though we were in Cairo in order to study, we managed to fit many other activities into our days. In the weekend, for instance, we went on a half-day trip to the camel market in Birqash a little bit outside of Cairo, which was an interesting experience. Note that camels run quite fast even with one leg tied up.

After looking at camels in the middle of nowhere in the countryside, it was absurd being back in the big, bustling city, squeezing into the crammed metro. It was therefore a relief to reach Coptic Cairo, a haven of calm and quiet, with a very different atmosphere from anywhere else I've seen in Cairo. We went to the Coptic Museum containing lots of beautiful Coptic art, visited some churches and a truly stunning synagogue situated within an old fortress, and we also paid a visit to the mosque of Amr ibn al-As, the first mosque built in Cairo (though nothing of the original mosque remains), where we were served tea and watched a film about Muslim achievements.

The Coptic Museum

The fortress many of Coptic Cairo's churches are enclosed within

Linda in one of the narrow streets inside the fortress

Me inside the fortress

The Hanging Church in Coptic Cairo

The courtyard of the Hanging Church

Inside the church

Linda in Mosque of Amr ibn al-As

We spent rather a lot of time in what is popularly called Islamic Cairo, which also has its own particular feel. In this busy area which evokes a medieval atmosphere, we saw parts of the old city wall and climbed the tower of one of the ancient gates called Bab Zuweila, we walked through a tent market where colourful tents for weddings and other events are sold, visited several mosques, among them al-Azhar - the religious centre of Egypt -, visited a sabil - a building where water was provided for the poor -, admired the intricate artwork at the Museum of Islamic Art, fought our way through the touristy parts and got lost in the maze-like really not touristic parts of the old market Khan al-Khalili, and finally tried to relax in the atmospheric café Fishawi's, which proved a rather futile excercise as we were constantly approached by sellers from the market. It is a charming, historic, and very, very overwhelming part of the city.

Bab Zuweila - one of the gates in the old city wall

Looking through Bab Zuweila

Me and Linda climbing Bab Zuweila

View of Islamic Cairo from Bab Zuweila

Linda at the tent market

The sabil of Muhammed Ali Pasha

Inside the sabil

Legendary al-Azhar

Of other Islamic monuments we visited the Citadel, built by Saladin in the 1100s, which contains several nice mosques, among them the extravagant mosque of Mohammed Ali. It offers great views of the city, and is a green and pleasant space. We also visited the two mosques of Sultan Hassan and ar-Rifai which lie next to each other right below the citadel. The latter contains the graves of many notable people, among them King Farouk and the last shah of Iran. Of all the mosques we visited, these mosques had the most beautiful interior in my opinion - they were very nicely decorated. Visiting so many mosques and churches and synagogues, I think we definitely fulfilled the religious quota of our trip.

The Citadel

Mosque of Mohammed Ali at the Citadel

Linda and I in front of the mosque

Inside the courtyard of the mosque

Inside the mosque

View from the Citadel

Minaret

"The army and the people - one hand" - lovely army propaganda at the Citadel

The mosques of Sultan Hassan and ar-Rifai seen from the Citadel

The mihrab, prayer niche of the Sultan Hassan Mosque

The grave of the last shah of Iran (I think) in the mosque of ar-Rifai

The grave of King Farouk

Another must-see in Cairo is of course the Egyptian Museum. I said that the mosque of Mohammed Ali was extravagant, but nothing really seems extravagant anymore after seeing how Tutankhamun was buried: his splendid golden death mask was placed on his mummy, which was put inside a beautiful sarcophagus of pure gold, which was put inside a gilded sarcophagus, which was put inside yet another sarcophagus, which was put inside not one, not two, not three, but four golden shrines which were put inside a tomb filled with treasures in the Valley of the Kings. The Pharaohs sure knew how to show off. Most of the treasures from Tutankhamon's tomb are in the Egyptian Museum, and no matter how prepared you are to be impressed, you will be even more impressed than expected, I promise. This is no disappointing Mona Lisa: when you see these treasures there will be no doubt in your mind as to why they are world famous. While I'm already doing the Louvre analogy (or disanalogy, rather): I have heard so many times that the Egyptian Museum is extremely overwhelming and disorganised, but if you have ever been to Louvre it will seem like the tidiest place in the world in comparison. I mean, there is even space between the different items. I therefore found the Egyptian Museum surprisingly manageable, and we saw most of what there was to see at the museum. It's interesting how you can see the style of the Pharaonic art changing over the milennia - some of it is quite far from the style we associate with Ancient Egypt.

The Egyptian Museum

Graffiti close to the Egyptian Museum shows what the area has been through the last few years

"Fall [of the regime]...not reform"

Gika, one of the most famous martyrs of the revolution

While we were in Cairo, my former flatmate Rachel got married to her fiancé Ahmed, and we and many other people from ACL went to their wedding. It was a fun and lively event with lots of dancing, and the bride and groom looked so happy and beautiful. It was a very enjoyable night, but due to the constant stream of paparazzis and eager models wanting to take pictures with them, I failed in my mission to get a good picture of Rachel and Ahmed on their own. You'll have to make do with these ones.

Another notable event was that Linda turned 20! Gee, it was such a relief for me not having to babysit a Swedish teenager anymore! Such a hard lot to deal with! The day was celebrated with some other friends from Alex with good dinner and dancing and a trip on the Nile in a felucca which was decorated in a style reminiscent of gaudy Christmas decorations and which was blasting very local music. In spite of my initial scepticism of this less-than-classy and certainly not very peaceful vessel, it was a whole lot of fun. Actually, I guess I have to admit that it was the best part of the night. There's no party like a felucca party!

The birthday girl and her crew on the felucca!

One should think that with all this, our schedule wouldn't allow for any more, but somehow we managed to squeeze in a whole lot of time hanging out in cafés spending time with friends and making some new ones, relaxing and studying on the rooftop of our hotel, and I even played football for the first time since I came to Egypt with some of our new friends! We watched a few football matches as well. We learnt that there is sufficient time for everything in Cairo, except sleep.

Finally playing football again!

Linda on the rooftop of our hotel

I think what I like most about Cairo is that it has so many areas with completely different atmospheres, from the medieval bustle of Islamic Cairo to the serenity of Coptic Cairo, to the hip world of Zamalek where we went to cafés a lot and where no one looks at you twice despite being blond, to the super modern and super flashy megamall City Stars (ok, I actually don't like City Stars), to the more in-between areas where people sometimes look at you and sometimes don't, where delicious juice bars (the juice being delicious, not the bars) line the streets and where people sit smoking shisha in cafés which are neither grubby nor fancy. No matter how busy you are, there is always time to sit in a café. I guess that's the main reason I fell in love with Cairo: it's surprisingly chill for a crazy, crazy city.

 I knew I would miss it from the first day we got there.