More in Cairo

Happy 45th Anniversary to us!! I’m pretty sure that this is one that we won’t quickly forget. We seem to be getting earlier every morning and by 7:30 this morning we were on our way. Today’s objective was to cover more of the highlights of Cairo before we head south tomorrow.

Once we got to the heart of old Cairo we started our visits to, interestingly enough,Christian churches.The first of these was the church of the Virgin Mary. Since Sunday for Christians is still a religious day, of course there were masses going on. For the rest of Muslim Cairo this is a work day.

Then we visited the Cavern Church or Abu Sarga, dedicated to two martyred soldiers.

Next we visited the Ben Ezra Synagogue.

Since we have been in Egypt we have noticed there’s a huge police presence and they are all very heavily armed with automatic weapons and in the employ of the Egyptian Government.

Next we visited the citadel of Cairo. This began as a defensive position, but in time 3 mosques were added, the largest of which was the Alabaster Mosque. This was our opportunity to learn about the Muslim religion and the function of the mosque.

For lunch we went to the island of Zomalic, located between fingers of the Nile at. Alsaraya. Today we had buffet style and it was fairly western in content. And once again the dessert was not a highlight.

Afternoon was spent in the Egyptian Museum. This museum has almost reached its expiration date. The new museum, located close to the pyramids, the GEM or Great Egyptian Museum, is opening this fall and will feature the gems of the Egyptian. The two highlights at the Egyptian museum continue to be the Royal mummies and the artifacts found in the tomb of Tutankhamen.

The death mask of Tutankhamen is still a highlight, but we were not allowed to take photos in that area. These are some artifacts from Tutankhamen‘s tomb that we could photograph.

Dinner was back at the hotel tonight and of course we had to take some time to pack for our flight tomorrow to Luxor. We leave the hotel at 5 o’clock tomorrow morning - argh.

There is a good chance that this might be the last post for 4 or 5 days if our river boat is devoid of internet. If that is the case the next post will be a big one! So..I thought I was finished posting for today and then we walked into the bar. Sounds like I might be starting a joke right? But no. Talking to the bartender Mohamed, we asked if he had a dry Egyptian champagne/bubbly and he came back with this.

So we sat in bar sipping our bubbly and we started some conversations about wine and Omar Khayyam, a red wine that they have now and also served in 1978 when we were here last. Well it turned out that we mentioned our anniversary and wondered where Egyptian wine was produced and who was this Omar Khayyam anyway? They didn’t have a hot clue so I googled it. As it turns out he was a Persian scholar to put it simply born in 1048 who clearly left a lasting impression.

It was now time for dinner so the bartender delivered our bucket of bubbly to the dining room and we had dinner. As we finished dinner we were requested to return to the bar and we obediently did so. And then out from the bar comes this.

Needless to say, we were blown away! Then everyone who was anyone at the hotel showed for a photo op.

Hilton certainly must be as good a place to work as the ratings indicate and these were the kindest gentlest people we’ve encountered in the service industry. What a night to remember!! Cheers!