All posts tagged Cairo

AL-MU’IZZ STREET – CAIRO’S GRAND STREET II

By | June 16, 2012 | Egypt, History, Travel + Leisure, Walking Tours | 4 Comments

By Islam El Shazly

The Grand Street of Historic Islamic Cairo, the heart of the once capital of the Fatimid Empire; as old as Cairo, it saw its fair share of kings and vagabonds. Walking through it amidst the ancient villas and the architectural marvels left behind by four dynasties, is like being transported into the world of the Prince of Persia – without all the of the sand demons.

Taking a turn into one of the little alleys that spring out throughout the length of the street on a quiet day, stop for a moment and close your eyes, you can almost feel the ghosts of all the people who walked through here over the ages. There are shadows here. The time of the Fatimid also gave rise to their cousins, the Assassins. They lurked in the shadows.

But there is light here too, the whole length of the street is full of Masajid (Mosques), Madrasas (Schools), Bimaristans (Hospitals), Baths, and Sabeel/Kuttabs. Knowledge was available for all, and trade flourished here. It still does. Going inside one of the Kuttabs you can almost hear the walls still echoing the thousands of children who came to learn Quran. Read more…

AL-MU’IZZ STREET – CAIRO’S GRAND STREET

By | December 18, 2010 | Egypt, History, Travel + Leisure, Walking Tours | 1 Comment

A long time ago in Cairo, with the pyramids in the distance, farm lands and the aqueduct. From the book "The Grand Street".

By Islam El shazly

The Grand Street of Historic Islamic Cairo, the heart of the once capital of the Fatimid Empire; as old as Cairo, it saw its fair share of kings and vagabonds. Walking through it amidst the ancient villas and the architectural marvels left behind by four dynasties, is like being transported into the world of the Prince of Persia – without all of the sand demons.

Taking a turn into one of the little alleys that spring out throughout the length of the street on a quiet day, stop for a moment and close your eyes, you can almost feel the ghosts of all the people who walked through here over the ages. There are shadows here. The time of the Fatimid also gave rise to their cousins, the Assassins. They lurked in the shadows. Read more…

WADI RISCH-RASCH

By | May 1, 2010 | Egypt, Off the Beaten Path, Travel + Leisure | 1 Comment

Dovecote.

A little desert trip labelled: “Following the footsteps of the last king of Egypt; King Farouk.”

by Naeem Mayet and Saaleha Bamjee
Photographs by Naeem Mayet

Sometimes, Cairo, with all of its rich fullness and grainy texture, displaces the mind’s quiet.

As both vanquisher and subduer, Al-Qahira fills the spaces between thoughts with its Life and Living.

You would imagine that in order to reclaim some of yourself, it would take a great many hours to escape the city’s penetrating charm.

Read more…

AL MOWLED: THE BEGINING

By | February 21, 2010 | Egypt, History, Travel + Leisure | 2 Comments

by Islam El Shazly

Since we are in the early days of the month of Rabie’ Al Awwal, the third month of the Islamic Hijri Calendar, I thought it might be appropriate to write about the celebration of the Prophet’s (صلى الله عليه و سلم) birthday or Al Mowled Al Nabawi.

In every travel book that I read there’s a mention of Al Mowled, not just the Prophet’s (صلى الله عليه و سلم) but also for every so called “Saint” in Egypt. We have no sainthood in Islam, but that is a topic for another time insha’Allah.

Whirling Dirwish.

A very intoxicated-looking whirling dirwish.

Read more…

CITY OF A THOUSAND MINARETS

By | February 11, 2010 | Egypt, History, Travel + Leisure | 5 Comments

by Islam El Shazly

It has been a while since the last post; I’m still getting used to blogging, that, and been working on several articles and the guides pages at the same time.

Cairo; the city of a thousand minarets, that is what Cairo has been referred to in the past, and from time to time, it gets called by that name again, even though Cairo has way more than a 1000 minarets now.

In the older parts of Cairo there a lot of mosques that were build during the time of the Mamluks, they were not one dynasty, rather a sultan after the next. Mamluk literally means ‘owned’, i.e., slave.  The Mamluks were an amalgam of Turks, Uzbeks, Caucuses, Circassians, and Chechnians, among others. The trend of purchasing them as young boys and train them in the arts of war started during the Abassid’s dynasty, and reached a peak at the time of Salah El-Deen, the Mamluks that ruled the Muslim world after the death of the last Ayubid Sultan are the ones who eventually built most of the Islamic monuments that one would see in old Cairo.

Colonnades inside ibn Tulun mosque.

Read more…

BUMPER CARS, OR GOING WITH THE FLOW.

By | January 20, 2010 | Egypt, Travel + Leisure | 2 Comments

by Islam El Shazly

Driving in Egypt, it’s certainly an experience. It goes hand in hand with ‘crossing the streets in Egypt’ experience. You cannot have one without the other.

It’s the most advanced game of cat and mouse; Need for Speed and all those racing games combined don’t even come close to this. Here’s how it works, you get in the car, start it, if it’s an older car you need to warm it up for a while, then go. The rules are simple, if you are the driver you have to think on your toes, literally, you have to keep an eye on the road while manoeuvring pedestrians, other cars, trucks, motorcycles, mopeds, the odd dog or cat that bolts across the street all of a sudden, children not higher than a car’s bumper also need to be avoided, and every driver that chooses the perfect blind spot in your mirrors to come at you from behind. Phew.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sklender/114692158/

Normal everyday Cairo traffic. By sklender, Flickr.

Read more…

WHEN IN ROME…

By | January 7, 2010 | Egypt, Travel + Leisure | 2 Comments

by Islam El Shazly

When in Rome do as the Romans do. I was told by a group of drunk foreigners, when I was travelling once, that since I’m in the west at the moment then I should behave like them, and since they were drunk, they wanted me to drink as well. They claimed that when they go to a Muslim country like Egypt or Morocco, they follow the rules of the country.

Read more…