Mosques

Boston Time: 10:39 AM 25 May
Damascus Time: 5:39 PM 25 May

The oldest standing mosque in Africa, the Mosque of Ahmed Ibn Tulun, was built around 876 CE on the same site where Noah’s Ark purportedly landed after a long ordeal with a famous flood. It was a large walled fortress also used as a center for commerce, health care and education as well as prayer and Friday gatherings. Today it is no longer an active mosque though people still venture here to pray, or soak in its magnificent history and architecture. The minaret at Ibn Tulun, with its stairs circling around the outside, is a vestige of Baghdadi style.

Canvas foot bags.

Minaret of the Mosque of Ahmed Ibn Tulun

The ablution fountain at Ibn Tulun.

While all beautiful, the different mosques we have seen so far have reflected different eras and cultures. The Mosque of Mohammad Ali stands above the city of Cairo and took between 20 and 30 years to build in the 1800s. Its grand silver domes reflect an Ottoman design and lifts its style off of Istanbul’s Blue Mosque.

The silver domes of the Mosque of Muhammad Ali.

Inside the Mosque of Muhammad Ali.

The Umayyad Mosque of Old Damascus, built in 70 CE has to have been my favorite so far. The mosque served as a house of worship for many generations of different creeds and for a time was used as both an Islamic mosque and Christian church. “It is unique in its engineering, architecture & decoration…[and] considered a school in building and architecture for the world mosques.” Also, it claims to be Islam’s most famous mosque, although I have always assumed that title to belong to the mosque holding the Kabba in Mecca. The mosque has three minarets, including the Jesus Minaret, which has a rare square shape and pencil-like top of the mosque’s Ottoman style.

Very beautiful, the Umayyad Mosque was my favorite not for the actual structure and décor of the mosque, courtyard and sanctuary, but for what I witnessed there. One way in which the mosque was unique was the call to prayer; instead of one man, the call was performed by a “band” of men (no instruments). The midday call was lead by one individual with his a cappella accompaniment chiming in intermittently, adding a different sense sincerity and community to the already enchanting call. In a way, it reminded me of a choir. During the prayer, the women remained in the back of the sanctuary as the men faced Mecca along the front wall. As observers, we were not asked to leave during this time and I stood quietly near the women, watching the room prostrate itself and perform the sallah.

Osama said, Jerusalem is the cradle of Jesus but Syria is the cradle of the church so we also visited the St. Ananias Church in Old Damascus. To get there, we wandered through the old Christian community of small alleyways, flowered canopies and Straight Street, the oldest street in the world, dated back to 1 AD. St. Paul walked down this same street to St. Ananias where he was baptized. The small stone church is essentially underground because of all the years of ground and soil that have accumulated around it, either naturally or due to conquering nations building up the city. The building was quaint, but not nearly as moving as Umayyad.

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!!

Boston Time: 1:43 PM 10 May
Cairo Time: 8:43 PM 10 May

Dear Mom,

I am so happy I brought my lonely planet guidebook. I used to think the guides were cumbersome and more hassle than they’re worth—most likely because you like to acquire several (note: 12) and read them aloud in the back seat of the car like on our recent trip to San Francisco. But Mom, I love to read my guidebook and sometimes I even read it out loud.

Everywhere we go and each attraction we see, I make sure to find the corresponding blurb within the 572 pages of information that travels with me constantly, always in my bag and by my side. Most of the time I have tried to remember to circle or highlight every blurb. This way, I can check them off my list and you can go through later and see where I have been and what I have explored while you were missing me all this time. ☺

This weekend we went to Luxor in the Nile Valley via sleeper train, but I didn’t sleep (most likely because it was bumpy.) Luxor is a small city and different from Cairo for sure. Our tour guide, Nermeen, told us that the Egyptian government is trying to turn the city into what is essentially an open-air museum. It would be full of ancient temples, monuments and tourist attractions. Tourism is a very large part, if not the largest fraction, of the country’s economic livelihood.

This is evident in the way the locals treat and approach tourists, especially Americans. They cater to us and make sure we are happy so that we will “go home and tell your friends how great Egypt was.” On the other hand, they are also extremely forward and upfront about offering their services and wanting our money. It can be incredibly annoying, scary and very sad.

Yesterday, Christina, John and I gave into the proposal of one of the drivers of the many horse drawn carriages. The drivers are relentless to the point of harassment in getting us and other tourists to pay them for rides. Christina and John wanted to interview the driver for an article they are writing so that is why we decided to actually say “yes.” But our driver told us of how the tourism season has been very bad lately and they are making no money and he needs a second job but there aren’t any available. While we were on the carriage, two very small children, four and six years old at most, held onto it’s sides and ran along side us. They kept grabbing at our feet and putting their hands to their mouths, begging for food and asking for money.

lonely planet warns of the constant approaches of merchants and peddlers, and comments on the slowly collapsing economy and the “abysmally low” living standards, but that in no way prepares one for what goes on when walking the sidewalks in Luxor. The guidebook also warns of the swarms of foreign tourists that flock to Egypt, but they just aren’t here in the usual masses. Blame the US or world economy and terrorist attacks—they just aren’t here, and Carlene says they were definitely not here in January when she was previewing our trip, when it should have been even more busy than it would normally be now. It is definitely the developing 3rd world.

Walking like an Egyptian at the Temple of Hatshepsut.

Moving onto a lighter note, I am also experiencing the remains of the amazingly rich ancient Pharaonic Egypt and “the underworld” and am witnessing the death and rebirth of the sun everyday. The ancient Egyptian peoples’ concept of resurrection was greatly influenced by the sun god, Raa. They worshipped the sun, which was (still is!) born in the East and died in the West every single day. Because of this, they built their temples on the East Bank of the Nile, and dug the final resting places of their Pharaohs, tombs, on the West Bank. While in Luxor, we got to see to both.

There is so much to tell you and I hope I remember all the details to bore you with when I return home on June 19th. There are a few though that I will share with you now because it is Mother’s Day and I thought you would appreciate them. Specifically, we saw the obelisk of Hatshepsut, the queen who ruled as Pharaoh, at Amun Temple on the East Bank. The next day, we went to the dazzling Memorial Temple of Hatshepsut, which sits direcly behind the Valley of the Kings on the other side of the mountain, which holds the Kings’ tombs (and hers.) Hatshepsut wore the classic men’s Pharaonic dress and false beard and ruled for 15 yrs of peace. Her stepson, Tuthmosis III, really didn’t like her though so when she died and he became Pharaoh, he erased her name and face whenever possible.

Sitting in the sand dam of Hatshepsut's Obelisk

The tombs at the Valley of the Kings were very intense. We got lucky with the weather and it wasn’t that hot, but it was still really hot and sweaty and stale after walking up rickety stairs and then 1290235 (not literally) steps down inside the desert mountains. I saw King Tut’s nasty old mummified toes and head—very cool and worth the extra 50 LE.

The Luxor and Karnak temples were also really special. I wasn’t feeling well but when we got there I perked right up. It’s just amazing and hard to describe how big and OLD these stones are and how hard it must have been to build them. I took lots of pictures and everyone is sharing their pictures as well, so don’t worry I will have more to tell and show you later!

I don’t even know what to say and I am also getting a little tired of typing, but I will be online soon and maybe you will be too. I get homesick online but then I make sure to talk with friends after wards to get myself back in happy Egypt-mode. Everyone here is super nice and I’m still glad I came.

Let’s see if the pictures work now…

I love you! Happy Mother’s Day from Cairo!

<3 Nor

Notes of a Would-Be Post

Boston Time: 3:52 PM 8 May
Luxor Time: 10:52 PM 8 May

Arrived in Luxor this morning….

Slept

Went to NASTY Sinbad, prayer time, attacked by buggy drivers, vegetable curry/hot and spicy

Temples, Karnak and Luxor

Metropolitan Restaurant, yellow cushions, pasta arabiata, cat under table, back, talked, laundry, slept

Saturday the Ninth

Up, breakfast, valley of the kings, tombs, 4, bus to hetsepsut, ramses Haru (Sp?) temple, Agamemnon, hotel lunch, market