Cairo 2

So we're currently sitting in the Cairo airport waiting for our flight to Istanbul and I think I'll summarize the last couple days taking advantage of the awesome internet connection we have here by uploading a ton of pictures!  Our Wednesday began with an okay breakfast at the hotel.  We left kind of hungry so we wandered next door to a bakery we had been eyeing for the past couple days.

A variety of great little savory pastries (a little less than $2) and we were on our way.  Many had smoked dried meat inside (a lot like beef jerky), my favorite was the bottom left, a tart, salty cheese in puff pastry with red peppers.  After a trip to the embassy to pick up our passport, both now twice the thickness with pages, we headed to the famous Khan El-Khalili market.  

At least there's some love for old Peugeots somewhere in the world -Elliot

The market

The spices aisles were my favorite

Haven't seen these guys since Vietnam!

A beautiful mosque inside the market

Countless minarets dotting the view of Islamic Cairo

Among the large amounts of clothing and souvenirs in the market, there was a surprising amount of taxidermy for sale...

Too many cats in Cairo

After exploring the massive market for a couple hours, winding around all the sides streets, we found a restaurant that we've wanted to try called Naguib Mahfouz Cafe.  Although a little touristy, it was recommended to us by a lot of people, including locals, for their authentic and delicious take on many Egyptian staples.

Elliot's awesome mint tea set

As usual we ordered too much food.  We started out with an order of incredible rich and creamy hummus with sesame pita and kobeibah, ground meat mixed with wheat and fried into little fritters, which were nice.  The main dish was koshari, a local staple, which was a mix of pasta, lentils, rice, chickpeas, and fried crispy onions, and is served with a garlic tomato sauce, and at this cafe, a spicy chili sauce.  While this sounded like an odd mix of too many different types of starch to me, it was oddly satisfying, and a great mix of textures and flavors.  We enjoyed our dinner, then headed back out into the bustle of the market.

Lots of fireworks for sale-- Elliot resisted buying some of the "homemade" ceramic  ones pictured on the bottom

It's hard to see in the picture, but this guy was selling veal (primarily heads) out of the sidecar of his motorcycle.  We tried to take another picture but he cryptically shook his head slowly and put a finger up to his lips to mime us to keep his secret.  Creeeeeepy...

 My favorite days traveling have been those unplanned that just involved walking around the city, without a destination or map.  It was a good one of those days.

Our next day, and sadly last day, in Cairo started in a similar way with a trip to the bakery next door.  This time we went sweet, sampling a couple cookies and some amazing baklava.

With all these little amazing bakeries around the city living in Cairo would be seriously dangerous to our health... 

 We grabbed a cab and headed to the citadel, where some of the most beautiful architecture in the city can be found.  We spent the afternoon exploring the mosques, primarily the large mosque of Muhammad Ali, and enjoying the amazing view overlooking the city.

Mosque of Muhammad Ali

Inside the mosque

The inner ceiling of the mosque

One of the most beautiful rooms either of us have ever seen

We spent much of the day exploring all the structures on the compound though some were closed (as we found a lot of things close around 4pm in Cairo).

Another mosque in the area

The detail inside the structures and how well maintained they were was really incredible, and it was great to just take our time exploring.  Inside the same area was the Egyptian National Military Museum, so we went in to take a look.

Outside the museum

The murals and room sized dioramas were huge and pretty amazing in detail

Both of us were stunned at the amount of decorative painting and embellishments were put throughout the museum-- it was definitely one of the most ornate museums (and buildings) we've been in this whole trip.

The man behind the mosque

We headed back to the city after the museum, and after a dinner of our favorite shwarma sandwiches, we packed our bags.  A fantastic couple days in Cairo, we are definitely sad to be leaving so soon-- 5 days was not enough.  But it's almost time to board our flight to Turkey, so Istanbul here we come!