December 6 -- Islamic (Old) Cairo (by Lou)

Heads up: some descriptions included might come across sounding like pejoratives.  Such is not the case!  In fact, the trip could end tomorrow and this one day would have been worth the whole round trip travel, lol, really!  

So, the goal today was to explore Islamic architecture and on that score, we barely scratched the surface.  In fact, we've yet to see the most important mosque in the Middle East.  At first we couldn't find it but then became absorbed in what we did find.  If the historic architecture in Istanbul left an impression of being like a patchwork quilt, Cairo's is densely multilayered.  It is so dense with one fabulous historic building built upon, around, and over one another down warrens of narrow roads, streets, and alleys, occasionally intersected by a Medieval gate or ancient iron studded citadel arched doorway.  Many buildings include fragments of earlier ones.  Most structures block the most incredible bits of things like mosque stalactite niches, intricate carved paneling, overhanging balcony screens, or crenelated rooftop ornamentation until you turn a corner and gaze up or casually look down an alley and wham, your breath is taken away.  Some bits are restored, most are not.  All of it is gorgeous, in some cases heartbreakingly so.

Even the more modern structures lining the wide boulevards that lead to the district we spent most of the day in are in a gentle state of decrepitude, just on a bigger scale.  Our pension is flanked by structures that look right out of the movie Blade Runner, sans spaceships.  A layer of dust covers anything that doesn't move but that leaves out a lot as this is a city in motion.  Major roads are clogged with traffic.  If there are four lanes to a road, there are six lanes of cars, moving in fits and starts, their door grips nearly touching and when there is the occasional space between cars, scooters weave in and out and pedestrians dodge their way across the lanes.  The Blade Runner effect is furthered by curved overpasses and their off ramps that dump more traffic into the boulevards which are wide enough in some places to accommodate a small park monument but mostly, the vistas are tight and tough to photograph, even when Roger stood in the middle of the street focusing his camera while cars honked and scooted around him.  Only a few came closer than six inches.  The sidewalks are crowded as well with women in burkas or fashionable western garb, and men doing business, haggling, shouting, calling out in Arabic, adding to the cacophony of street noise already laced with honking cars and racing scooters.  Sidewalk vendors add to the noise soup by using megaphones.  That isn't to say that there was no peace or rest such as that provided by a tea shop where we enjoyed fresh mint tea but, as crazy as it is, the street is where it's at.  In spite of sidewalks and curbs that don't match up and have occasional holes, you still want to brace the street-n-crush to see things like shoulder to shoulder shoppers haggling in the spice district.  And that brings to mind the smells.....scents.....olfactory stimulates, whatever the right word is, it is simply wonderful!  Right off the plane I was impressed with the air, slightly smoky but not in an acrid way, more like smoked paprika, with a note of sandalwood.  Even on the congested streets, exhaust isn't the predominant smell as you might expect from all the traffic but more like a bit of spice or a waft of grilled beef.  Then comes nightfall and everything changed.

Walking back to the hotel after losing the light to photograph by, we experienced all the above, just exponentially.  We wove our way through massive crowds, thronging multitudes of street vendors that weren't there earlier, with everything louder and crazier than before.  The wildest  day at Brimfield is nothing compared to the street scene of Cairo.  The calling, screaming, shouting, honking, clanging, banging sounds accompanied men stacking boxes of stuff 8' high on carts and wagons, boxes on their shoulders, boxes on their backs, running with traffic like bulls in Pamplona.  Street lights were out or mostly on, shops were either open and dark or mostly open and lit with glaring light. Dented cars with no headlights wound their way with those that did.  It was totally crazy and totally totally wonderful!  So much happened this first day and I've barely scratched the surface but I've got to give you folks a break..........but first, one more thing.

If the touts in Istanbul were painfully persistent, shopkeepers in the old central district where we explored today were so friendly and genuine.  All the folks we encountered were just wonderful.  The cops giving directions, the staff at lunch.......and what a lunch!  The folks here at the hotel, the taxi driver yesterday, the character who watched out for our shoes at the mosque, the antiques merchant who was like a character from a vintage time, everyone was either very friendly or downright gracious.  Okay, except for the merchant from whom I bought an antique tin boat.  He was just nice.  I'm just blown away by all we encountered today and if I thought I could get away with describing more, I would.  Instead I'll drop a few pictures which, I regret, don't go far enough in showing off how fabulous this city is, and how rich an experience this day was.