Saturday 8th January 2011

After the late night I slept late this morning, getting up not long before Seif departed. Everyone was very sad to see him go – and not surprisingly, given his position at the centre of Cairo’s social scene. His father collected him and whisked him off to the airport; Yasmine almost immediately complained how quiet the house was.

Shortly afterwards, Ahmad picked Jennifer and me up on the pretence of visiting Old Cairo. Whilst we did eventually make it there – with very little time to spare – our journey took us via another abandoned building (for the benefit of Christian, who was with us) and other points of architectural interest in Downtown, some amazingly well-kept vintage cars in someone’s private garage (for my benefit), and a traditional Egyptian working-class meal (for the benefit of us all). Called “Koshary”, the dish consisted of various sources of carbohydrates (pasta, potato, noodles, rice) and chick peas with a tomato-based sauce to spoon over. It was delicious, even after I discovered the red-hot chilli sauce which no one else (especially, ominously, Ahmad) dared to try. My belly was on fire.

• An abandoned palace in Cairo
• An abandoned palace in Cairo
• Eating Koshary. Yum yum!

The drive to Old Cairo took us through some narrow, winding, and none-the-less crowded back-streets. Initially I was confused, as Ahmad had brought us to the opposite end of the Khan el Khalili – a vast and eclectic maze of streets and stalls – to our previous evening’s visit. This was the tourist end of the bazar. Thankfully my two words of Arabic (“no” and “thank you”) came in very useful as we were attacked on all sides by merchants peddling their wares. A few bargains were had, and photographs taken, but we quickly realised that there was insufficient time to explore the beautiful mosques that I had seen illuminated at night. If the exterior of the buildings certainly benefited from dusky conditions – and the illuminations, it has to be said, were gorgeous – the interiors took one’s breath away with the addition of sunlight. There was one exception to this, and that was the Shi'ite mosque at the very end of the street, which looked a little tatty by daylight today, whereas it had appeared rather elegant by night with green uplighting.

• The back gate to the Khan El Khalili
• Beautiful patterns embossed in metal in Old Cairo
• It's grate in Old Cairo
• Old Cairo
• Old Cairo
• CAPTION_TEXT
• Old Cairo
• The Shi'ite mosque in Old Cairo
• A stall selling minarette spires in the Khan El Khalili

Ahmad was worried about our punctuality, so we rushed back to the car and sped (as fast as one can speed in rush-hour traffic) back to the house. Fortunately Mamdouh was also running late – he doesn’t like to be kept waiting! He and May took us on a shopping trip for gifts, to some lovely boutique stores, but I was so hungry (the fire in my belly had subsided by this point) that procurements were not necessarily up to my usual standards. Nonetheless, gifts were bought and will hopefully be appreciated in due course. Despite protests from May about our impending tardiness, we continued shopping long after a sensible departure time and were almost too late to attend the long-anticipated Whirling Dervishes.

• Driving back to Zamalek (across the Nile)
• The Whirling Dervishes
• The Whirling Dervishes

The Whirling Dervishes are a band of performers who, as the name implies, whirl rather a lot. Very a lot. I became dizzy just watching. Unfortunately the jolly music was punctuated by the wailing intonement of an exceptionally loud funeral service in the nearby street. Eventually we left for the joys of a late dinner at Felfela. Mamdouh seemed less than happy to see Ahmad, but we enjoyed their banter (which Ahmad took far less seriously than his jousting partner) and ate until no one else was remaining in the restaurant.

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Cairo Diary: Excitement, Adventure, and Protests
Friday 7th January 2011

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Cairo Diary: Farewell
Sunday 9th January 2011