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Our first stop in Cairo was a visit to Old Cairo. Suzanne Saleh took us to see a Medieval Coptic Church. |
The interior had many design motifs one would expect to see on Muslim architecture. |
After visiting the Coptic Church we went to see the Coptic Museum. |
Another stop in Old Cairo was the Ben Ezra Synagogue. It's the oldest Synagogue in the city. |
In the Ben Ezra Ganiza (old book repository) some of the oldest copies of Hebrew literature were discovered. |
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This is my photo of the exterior of the Synagogue. The previous two pictures are from a brochure. Flash photography is not permitted inside. |
Yup, this neat old door. I thought it was worth a photograph. |
Also worth a photograph is the entry plaza of the Cairo Marriot. It was once on of King Farouk's palaces. |
This is a section of the lobby of the Marriot. Why was I there? There's an ATM in the lobby. |
That evening we explored the Cairo Market or Bazaar. We saw an amazing variety of goods. |
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This shop sells various herbal blends. |
There were many people in the market that evening. |
Mohamed took us to a restaurant to have Egyptian tarts. Afterwards we saw a man smoking a hookah while we had tea. |
The next day we headed out to Saqqara and Giza. We saw this donkey cart on the way. |
Cairo traffic seems to be legend. The city has 16 million people and over a million automobiles. Speed limits? Traffic rules? Beats me. |
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Our first stop was Saqqara. This is our first glimpse of the step pyramid of Djoser. |
The Pharaoh Djoser (c.2630-2611 BC) of the 3rd dynasty, chose to be buried at Saqqara. |
His architect, Imhotep, designed the first funerary monument built entirely of stone. Above: Jason, our guide Haamdi, Estelle and Deborah walk toward the entrance to the complex. |
A columned hall provides entry into this huge walled complex. The buildings on the interior are designed for the king's afterlife. They are comprised |
of dummy buildings on a series of courtyards. Above is a photo of a reconstruction of the original ceiling motif. |
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Our first view of the Great Court of the complex. This is the Southern end of the court.-
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In the center of the complex is the Step Pyramid. Some of the original granite casing is visible around the base. |
I have included here a plan of the complex, to give a better idea of its size and scope. |
On our way to the tomb area of King Unas, we got a photo of members of the Antiquities Police riding camels. |
This wall carving is beside a walkway leading to the tomb of Unas (c.2637-2613 BC). |
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Haamdi took us into this mastaba tomb called the Tomb of the two brothers. |
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In the Tomb of the Butchers we saw this beautiful depiction of boats. Our next stop is Giza. |
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