Day 4: Cairo - Exploding

The big bazaar in Cairo.

Cairo in one word -- stressful. I imagine this is the way foreigners feel when they go to New York. There's just so much sensation it's almost impossible to just relax your muscles and take it in. Once you do you'll probably get hit by a car or ripped off or something.

This morning I went to Old Cairo, aka Coptic Cairo, aka the Cairo that existed before Islam. It was actually really cool. There were a lot of early-Christian style churches all contained within what I imagine were the first walls of the city. 

Here's a church.

After Coptic Cairo, I went to the Khalili bazaar. Actually, no. I tried to go to the Khalili bazaar. What actually happened was that my taxi driver got stuck in traffic. Twice. Getting stuck in traffic is both expected and nonsensical in Cairo. It's expected because it's a big city. It's nonsensical because cars squirm around each other like snakes mating. So you can imagine the level of terror I was experiencing when a bajillion cars were stuck all trying to nudge each other out of the way. It took about an hour to go about 1.5 miles. I don't even care how much that driver ripped me off. I wanted out of that car.

Of course, then I found myself in the middle of a human traffic jam. Think rich housewives on Black Friday in front of Nordstrom's. Then add an element of developing world desperation. Then add a lot of haggling. Then add a lot of touts. Then add whatever scares you the most. Then multiply that by a big number. Ahh!!! Asking girls to dance in junior high was less stressful than shopping at that bazaar. 

After shopping, I went here and smoked sheesha and drank tea for like 38 hours.

On a brighter note. Mosques are now my new favorite thing. They were incredibly peaceful compared to everything else, almost didn't hound me for money, and were very cool inside.

Here's a mosque.

Here's the inside.

I noticed that mosques use space as an aesthetic element much more so than churches. They were not nearly as ornate (though I'm sure I'll change my mind once I see the ones in Turkey) and had much sharper lines and angles. They were very simple and minimalist and very effective. I am definitely sold on mosques.

Tonight I will board a midnight train for Dahab, a city on the Red Sea coast of the Sinai peninsula. Less stress, here I come! Oh, now that I'm moving from place to place, the "Map" page at the top is in service, as opposed to just giving you a map of Cairo.