Cairo

Cairo is an amazing city. It's alive, bustling, dirty, hot, and very real. After studying the Arab Spring and all the social movements that took place there last January, I was excited to visit, despite the fact that none of my Israeli friends thought it was a wise idea to go. The first thing I saw there was graffiti:

Graffiti around Tahrir Square, like in many parts of Israel, was very political. Most of it was related to the Arab Spring of 2011 that drove President Husni Mubarak to step down. Recent Egyptian elections of 2012 saw over 50% of the people voting for Muslim Brotherhood candidates.

High-heels & a burka--spraying political graffiti. That's women's liberation Egyptian style.

Typically, graffiti of people with wings depict martyrs who died during protests or clashes with police.

This is a dentist who lost an eye in the Revolution back in Jan 2011. He has since lost the other one in subsequent clashes with police & has become a symbol of the revolution.

In many sections of town, security forces barricaded roads to stop the advance of protestors. This one inspired an artistic response from the protesters. Evidence of these barricades is still strewn along the streets surrounding Tahrir Square.

The driving is really no big deal--once you make up your mind that you will probably die crossing the street. People meander in front of traffic like they are in a real-life game of Frogger. It's crazy.

 Tahir Square-this is where it all went down. It's the heart of Cairo. Behind the building to the right is the American Embassy. This place gets flooded with protesters...just not while I was there.

View to Tahrir at night

Above is the Entrance to the Hanging Church in Coptic Cairo, which houses a cellar said to have been used by Joseph, Mary & Jesus when they fled to Egypt (Matthew 2:13-23)

The Mosque of Muhammad Ali

Sara & Dede in the mosque

View from the Egyptian Military History Museum 

This is the tail-fin of an Israeli fighter that was shot down during the war of 1973. Interestingly, while the museum celebrated the 'victory' of 1973 war against Israel, there was absolutely no mention of the 6-Day War of 1967, when Israelis destroyed the entire Egyptian Air Force on the ground in 4 hours. Hmmm....

Walking around the markets of Islamic Cairo was fascinating. We were the only white-skinned folks there. Tourism has suffered heavily since the revolution, and we saw more than a few closed shops. 

The pictures below are from a section of Cairo inhabited by Coptic Christians. There are over 80,000 of them, and they are one of the largest populations of Christians in the Middle East.

 

We visited this huge church and caught the end of a baptism service.

This Church is only about 20 years old, and it seats over 15,000. It is literally carved out of the mountain. It's reminded me of a Greek Orthodox-meets-Evangelical-meets-Red Rocks in Colorado feel.

None of the women there had their heads covered. The view across from the church was this:

Mokattam--a city on a dump. This is home to Coptic Christians who literally live on a garbage dump, Cairo's trash is their livelihood. They sort and recycle it, and they have been doing this for decades. They are known as Zabbaleen, and they are generally looked down on by most Egyptians. I had heard that people live like this, but seeing it firsthand was still a bit shocking.

                                             

Many thanks to my Olmsted homies Sara Pulliam (OSC 2009, Cairo) & Jamil Musa & fam (OSC 2011, Rabat) for making this an incredible and unforgettable weekend. Not only did I see pyramids, eat fuul, try pigeon, smoke a hooka (grape tobacco--nothing weird), sail on the Nile, see King Tut's gold treasures, & get to visit almost every possible corner of Cairo in 4 days, I also managed to get out of there just in time...

 

I flew back to Tel Aviv on a white, unmarked 737 the day before protests that erupted at the American Embassy following the amateurish film disrespecting the Prophet Muhammad (which ironically, was produced by a Coptic Christian). I've never been so glad to be back in Israel. It actually felt a little like coming home. This was proof once again that the situation around here can literally turn on a dime. Such is life in the Middle East...

Shalom Yall,

Stew 

PS- For more pics from this amazing trip check out Jamil & Dede's blog: http://ohnormalday.blogspot.co.il/