Citadel and Egyptian Museum

I’m seated in one of the Marriott restaurants, “Roy’s Country Kitchen,” trying to get caught up on some badly neglected notes before taking out early this evening for the Light Show at the Pyramids. I’ve also just enjoyed one of the most incredible beef fajitas ever, one that put the US versions to shame. It looks as if by the time this trip is over, I will again have the pleasure of needing to lose again all that weight I was so proud of shedding this last year…argh.

On more relevant matters, the day started at 8:30 with a tour of the city. I should explain, first off, that due to the security concerns caused by recent events, I am the ONLY person on the Cairo portion of the tour with Insight Vacations. Tomorrow I will fly south to Luxor to join the cruise which will undoubtedly have others, but for this portion I have a private tour, with a guide and driver all to myself. A bit strange, especially that I don’t feel unsafe, but nonetheless this is undivided attention.

We first drove by the old Islamic center and into the City of the Dead, a very large expanse of graves with “caretaker squatters” who live on site, caring for the tomb and receiving reasonable donations from touring relatives who drop in. The guide explained one of the cartakers woud make, perhaps, $100 USD per day, a good amount by Egyptian standards, especially given that they live rent free.

We next went to the Citadel of Salah Al-Din, an ancient fortress (with a beautiful mosque built by Mohammed Ali in the 1800’s). Unlike most mosques, which by definition are plain, this one contained ornate architecture, including stained glass, to make the Coptic Christians feel at home.

The guide also covered the story of Saladin, voted by Time as one of the “Men of the Century" during his 100 year century.

Our next stop was at the Egyptian Museum. The guide had warned me that depending on the protest situation that museum might be closed, but as it turns out that was not an issue. Tahrir Square, literally across the street from the museum, had but a handful of protesters, all very peaceful and quiet. I knew ahead of time that the museum was next door to Tahrir Square, but what I did not realize was that it was also adjacent to the burnt-out National Democratic Party Majority Office, meaning it is sandwiched between two of the most violent areas during this last year’s protests.

The one and only replica that museum hosts is of the Rosetta Stone, which ironically Melba and I had seen the original of just three days earlier in the British Museum. We had a discussion at the time on the tradeoff of housing artifacts such as that in a foreign albeit safe land versus at home; at the time I could see both sides of the argument, but after this morning I have a more concrete opinion---more on that thought in the ensuing post.

Overall, the museum had more of a feeling of a warehouse than of a museum, especially given what we had just seen in the UK. In Egypt, the descriptive signs were tacky, typed on (honestly!) a typewriter—and that’s if there was anything to explain what you were looking at.