Cairo: Coptic Quarter (10/25/2023)

Wednesday, October 25, 2023
Today we disembarked the ship Viking Aton to fly from Luxor back to Cairo.

Domestic Terminal of the Old Cairo International Airport/
Terminal 1 (1957-1963, renovated 2003)

Former (?) air traffic control tower at Terminal 1

Terminal 1

Our transfer from the airport to the W Hotel was by motor coach.

Al Malik Faysal Bin Abd al ‘Azīz Mosque on Airport Road

McDonald's, with a PlayPlace!

Citystars Mall

Hotel InterContinental Citystars

Before the motor coaches could enter the
Hotel InterContinental driveway, a dog
had to sniff around each bus

Our hotel room

Hotel bathroom

Hotel bathroom

View from our hotel room (the mall is on the left)

Hotel InterContinental lobby

After lunch on our own, our afternoon optional excursion was by motor coach to "Coptic Cairo." The Copts are an ethnoreligious group indigenous to Egypt and Sudan. Coptic Oriental Orthodox Christians are the largest Christian denomination in Egypt.

Passing the Armed Forces Mosque

Unknown Soldier Monument (1974-1975, by
Sami Rafi) honors the Egyptians and Arabs who lost
their lives in the 1973 October War

Passing the Citadel with the Mosque of Muhammed Ali,
which we visited on our first full day in Cairo

Northern Cemetery of Al Qarafa/City of the Dead
is a vast ancient necropolis that especially during the
Mamluk era (13-15C) saw the building of elaborate
mausoleums; however with time there has been
deterioration and some have taken to "squatting" in
ancients tombs, even to having electricity and satellite TV

The National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (2017),
where 22 royal mummies were transferred from
the Egyptian Museum in 2021

We arrived next to the former Roman Fortress of Babylon (c 30 BCE), the oldest original structure in the city of Cairo.

Fortress of Babylon wall, behind which are domes
of Greek Orthodox mausoleums in St George Cemetery

To reach "Coptic Cairo" we went down a set of stairs
to a level about one story below the street,
and followed an alley of book stalls

A modern relief let's us know we are in
an area visited by Mary & Joseph with
baby Jesus during their flight to Egypt

But first we stopped in Ben Ezra Synagogue
(on the site of a synagogue destroyed in
1013 by Fatimid Caliph al-Hakim, rebuilt
multiple times up to 1889-1892,
finally renovated and opened in 2023),
which is believed to be the site where the
king's daughter found baby Moses in the reeds

No photographs were allowed, but at the end we were told we could take one photo! Okay, we gave a donation!

This map claims to depict the Flight to
Egypt by the Holy Family, and someday
there may be an official pilgrimage trail

These lattice wooden oriel windows
were everywhere in Coptic Cairo

In the narthex of the Church of St Sergius & Bacchus
(4-5C or maybe 8C, burned and restored several times)
was the Epiphany tub in the floor, where Christians
celebrated the Feast of Epiphany at a time when they
were banned from public religious rites as they used to
mark the baptism of Christ at the Nile River

Interior of the Church of St Sergius & Bacchus,
with an iconostasis before the sanctuary

Steps to the cave below the sanctuary,
said to be where the Holy Family stayed

Stone flooring blessed by having baby
Jesus setting foot here

Back in the nave were many icons (this
is St John the Baptist) with slots for offerings

Intricate inlaid design on the iconostasis

Greek Orthodox Church of St George
(c 10C, rebuilt 1909 after 1904 fire)
was constructed on top of one of the
 round towers of the Fortress of Babylon

The other round tower of the
Fortress remains in ruins

Another view up at the Church of St George

Next: Coptic Museum.