More People Not Places II

Some folks that I miss and folks that I have now. Also: a juice bar with mangos discussed earlier, and the photo with Barbara and Eman, my architectural tour posse, both whom are off to farther places.

People Not Places I

A little tribute to my people, not the places (as many photos I can get posted at a time--four seems to be the limit). More to come: there are so many of you to show off~

Cool Weather Inspires Walking Tour

One afternoon I went for a walk to the Citadel, the compound built on a high limestone shelf overlooking the city. Over the past century, through the various rulers of Cairo and the empire, palaces and mosques, including the soaring 19th century Mosque of Mohommed Ali, have been added within the compound walls. Quite famous for being beautiful and overrun by bus-loads of tourists, I have yet to visit the interior grounds. My walk included only the mosques that dot the area outside the walls, through the busy neighborhood streets.

To find all of these things, you can discard your map and follow your nose. I was given good directions to a place from where you can curiously follow the minarets as they appear before you, behind buildings or around the corner. It was too late in the afternoon to go inside, but I was lucky enough to walk past a mosque under restoration. The doors stood wide open; a sandpit spilled down into it, and I left the traffic on the street behind. The scaffolding and dusty rubble didn't dissuade me from shooting pictures of the calligraphy on the ceilings, the molding, the stainglass windows. Enthralled, I hovered near the entrance, a little bit of trespassing into a place that later I could not find listed on the map in my guidebook.

I ended up at two more well-known mosques at the base of the Citadel walls where three nice young teenage girls picked up me and my camera. Kids here are super friendly with strangers and love to have their picture taken, a service I am more than happy to provide in the world of instant digital gratification. After a brief photo session, we spoke in broken languages, and it came clear that they wanted to take me into the mosque, Ar-Rifai (featured in the background of the photo with them). Closed to visitors, the gate keeper took us instead to view the tombs of royals from the 19th and early 20th century.

A nice little tour on a not so hot afternoon! Next time I will have to go during open hours and get a nice somebody to take me to the top of a minaret. In'shallah, they say.

Library at the Sea

[Note: To my great frustration, I cannot get all the photos posted just yet, so here's the text alone.] For me, I can understand why one of the most beautiful harbors in the world (as declared by yours truely and, to name a few icons of world fame, Alexander the Great and Cleopatra) also has one of the most beautiful modern libraries in the world. The harbor I mention is the eastern harbor of Alexandria, the one with two arms that hook in to form a semi-complete hug around the bay. This harbor you see in TV programs which attempt to recreate one of the 7 Ancient Wonders of the World, the gigantic welcome statue called Pharos from the time of ancient Greece. The photo attached here is the view from our balcony at sunset where we arrived, fortunately, with two beers in hand. This view even stunned my friend, Kate, who is no stranger to this harbor.

Kate and I decided to go to Alexandria (Eskendrya, in Arabic) for a night this past weekend--it being only 3 hours by train from Cairo. Even before the train departed the station, Kate declared she was taking Sunday off of work and I declared my interest in going to Port Said, being that it is a short bus trip from Alex. Thus our 3 day weekend begins. Alexandria is a popular summer town for many Cairenes; the city was bustling, though there still exists a calmness maintained by the proximity of the water. For dinner we wandered back into a residential neighborhood off the harbor to a seafood restaurant of note. With the Lebanese salads and a variety of grilled and fried seafood that we picked off the ice-packed display, our lives were complete. 'Mmmm,' she said, all the way home.

And the library, the recently opened Bibliotheca! Once again, Egypt has succeeded in appropriately folding the historic into the present. How else? Through architecture and books. I have provided a link to the Bibliotheca (on the right of this page), and if you scroll down that website, you will find the photo gallery. Check out the photos of the odd yet fascinating exterior as well as the beautiful, quite, cool and peaceful interior of the library.

One of the best parts of the library is the Rare Books and Manuscripts collection. On display are some of the oldest texts from Medeival Islam~gorgeous specimines of the Koran and Arabic calligraphy, written in perfectly justified text blocks or with additional notes going up the margin of the page. Some terrorized by bookworms, some restored, the collection, for lack of a better description, rocked my world. For practically a thousand years--roughly 200 years after the death of the prophet Mohammed to the 19th century--Islamic society copied all of their books by hand. There are many reasons for this, but mainly because of a common distrust in a written text not associated with a hand of holy-royal lineage, and because written Arabic did not conform well to the block letters of the printing press until the 19th century. Not just texts with religious significance, but treaties on mathematics, astronomy, architecture, medicine and geography--they wrote the book, so to speak.

The Bibliotheca also has a very simple but rich Antiquities museum that displays Ancient Egyptian, Greco-Roman, Byzantine and Islamic art and artifacts--together. One can just begin to comprehend how this edge of the Middle East (also known to some as the northeast corner of Africa--shhh, don't tell anyone), remains, to this day, an active part of the history of some of the most well-known empires and civilizations. Here one must take into account the whole, not just the history of the East, to find the links between humanity, today and yesterday. Whatever you want to call it: a crossroads, overlap, nerve center, link, junction. Take your pick. I venture to say, knowing full well this reveals my ultimate goal of writing the corniest metaphors ever written, that this region provides a mantlepiece for civilization above the fireplace of history. (Thank goodness for weblogs--you can publish anything!).

Onward to Port Said from where I said I would send many a post card but failed in that plan. I have crossed the Suez Canal in two places, and now seen where the Mediterranean meets the Canal. I couldn't actually see the locks of the Canal at work, but plenty of tankers went by. Attached you'll find a picture of the famous Suez Canal House and the famous Kate. Our friend in the photo is our adopted Port Said-ie brother who graciously helped us find our hotel at 2am, toured us around town in an airconditioned car, fed us fine grilled fish at his restaurant, and would not accept a dime in return. Unbelievable hosts these folks around here. Port Said is smaller than Alex--cars drive slower and though you can get lost, you are never far from where you want to be. Just as well, some of the late 19th century buildings give the city a French Quarter feel. The attached picture (lifted from another website) can give you an idea.

More to come later from my walk-about during the brief spell of cool weather we had last week. My best to everyone and hope you can beat the August heat! xoj

One more pic...

Just another shot, straight up the pyramid's skirt!

More visual aids!

Some more photos! The view from my apartment (the building in the center is the AUC dorm I used to live in). The kitties I live with now, the fully one is Pasha (Sir, or a title of respect) and the abyssinian is El Monhandes (the Engineer). A picture of the moulid, the saint's birthday festival described in a previous entry. And a shot of us dancing at the Palmyra, the seedy club of bellydancing fame. Enjoy!
~jen

Visual Aids

A haphazard post--I got two more uploaded. Click on the pyramids to see in full view. Descriptions in previous entry. Enjoy! ~jen

Photos ~(but only 2)~ And stories!

Adventures continue in Cairo! Unfortunately, I am stuck on a dial-up connection in my apartment, and I have yet to transfer photos onto a faster computer. SO, all you have here are 2 lovely shots of Al-Ahzar mosque. The interior photo is the madrasa, known as the oldest university in the world. Beautiful, all around. But that was last week! In a city that has defined many ages in the recorded history of our planet, I have been doing a lot of catch up. The archival manuscript part of my work takes me into Cairo between the wars and into World War II; the other half introduces me to photographs of Islamic architecture that may not exist anymore or provides a glimpse of a building as it existed before the country began national restoration projects. This is quite an amazing way to learn of a city in the modern age because I have to research all aspects of the historic--from religion to politics to art and architecture--to understand what I am reading and looking at. Laying down these tracks of history next to what I already know, I do believe the English speaking world (of Western persuasion) does not fold perspectives on this region and its relationship to the development of the 'world' into history at any level worthy of praise.

And now, back to the touring log: recently, I was on the Nile in a felucca, a one-mast boat with the famous whistful sail that reaches high and gracefully curves in from the bow. There may not be a more appropriate thing to do than take an evening sail with wine, mezzes and friends after work on the last day of the work week. Felucca rides are common for anyone, locals and tourists alike, any day of the week, even for birthdays and weddings. I am kicking myself for passing my first month here before I boarded a felucca. The Hudson River could use some of these.

And finally, she went to the Giza Pyramids! I cannot wait to post the wonderous photos of the Pyramids with Cairo in the background. No matter how you slice it, there is no separating the past from the present. Though we could have taken a taxi, we took the Metro to Giza, which is really just another neighborhood, practically its own borough, of Cairo. After hitching a ride on a minibus, we ended up at the camel depot, bargained for a good rate, and hopped on the lanky beasts for our final approach to the Giza plateau. Sneaking in through the back fence of the pyramid grounds on a camel that I am sharing with my 10 year old guide is like, uh, hmm, climbing up the Great Wall of China without paying the entrance fee? Well, ok, not that physically challenging.

It being August, there is no way to avoid the heat. Likewise, being the desert, there is hardly a way to avoid the sun. I was surprised, however, at the light breeze coming across the sands, making the dry, hot air pleasantly, well, albeight, arid. A welcome respite from the clamorous, muggy city. I didn't go into the pyramids, but we view the Solar boat, a huge (huge!) wooden boat built for transport into the afterlife. It was found in the ground next to the main pyramid, excavated and reassembled in a building which mimicks the shape. The planks and oars of this thing are immense--to be on the Nile in that thing after work one day!

Saturday me and a couple mates entertained ourselves at the Egyptian Museum. Some things of note: the Tutankhamen display and Royal mummy room. (Mom, some of the pieces from Tutankhamen are on loan for the US tour you saw. The necklaces and breatplates are really something). So many pieces of Ancient Egypt are housed at this museum it is really hard to take it all in, especially because it is crowded and un-airconditioned. I saw cuneiform tablets--the first known diplomatic records kept in the earliest known written language. A real pilgrimage in my professional world. Seeing these was one of the greatest, geekiest things I have done yet.

Though my life seems to be operating on automatic pilot these days, none of this would have been possible without all of the great folks on the ground level, those that speak Arabic (and are teaching me the colloquial way), who know this city either because they were raised here or have lived from 5 months to 5 years in the city. My love for you continues like the sun! And to everyone back home who supported me with words and generosity. Thanks a million ~ Alf Shokran.