This is an interesting time to be in Cairo. This past week, Ramadan has been in full swing. Ramadan is a holiday widely celebrated throughout Egypt. The locals participate by fasting from food and water from sunrise to sunset. Fasting is seen as a way to practice self control and get closer to God. Because such a large percentage of people are fasting for Ramadan, many of the local food shops are closed during the day. It’s pretty easy to find open grocery stores and perhaps get cereal and some mangoes. But if you want falafel or a nice chicken shawerma, you’re out of luck. This is unfortunate because I came really excited about tasting some Egyptian cuisine, but have been limited oftentimes to Pizza Hut, KFC or Hardees. However, allofthis changes after Iftar. Iftar is the term for the evening meal that the Muslims here eat to break their fast. Businesses are closed during this time because the owners are busy enjoying their meal with family and friends. However, after Iftar the city really livens up. You can find open clothing/jewelry shops, phone store, and a litany of delicious smells flowing through the streets.
The place to be in Cairo at night time is Downtown. One of the most beautiful places downtown, in my humble opinion, is the Nile. The Nile is a hub of cultural and entertainment events. On a trip I went on we rode sailboats called feluccas up the Nile. We went around 9pm, so we avoided the blazing Cairo sun and enjoyed a cool, relaxing breeze as we drifted down the river. They even provided us with some traditional Egyptian desserts; most of which were small bite-size delicacies. But they were delicious nonetheless. While enjoying the food, I also took in the beautiful scenery. The river is lines with tall, beautiful hotels. One of which has a revolving restaurant on top. From looking at the Hilton, Hyatt, etc you might think you were in any western city.
Everything is lit up on the Nile. There are dozens of boats, from small feluccas to large ferries, all decorated with festive strings of lights. There’s even a floating stage complete with amps and lights. Performers play music from the stage while people gather on the river bank and dance. When we left the Nile , around 1AM the river banks were still teeming with people. It’s a fun time. It’s an opportunity to enjoy a beautiful natural wonder while hearing great Arabic music artists for free. It’s a great part of Cairo to check out and I recommend it to anyone who visits.

Being in a country like Egypt is exciting. It’s one of the places that I’ve read about in books and dreamed of visiting for a long time. I mean, how often do you get to visit places that are the subject of National Geographic programs? It’s pretty awesome, to say the least.
So far, I’ve been getting acclimated to the environment. I’m staying in a dorm in a place called Zamalek. It’s a little island near Cairo. If you travel just over the bridge, you’re right in the heart of downtown Cairo. I love living here because it’s slightly separated from the hustle and bustle of Cairo (one of the world’s most densely populated cities in the world) but close enough to explore when I want to.
Cairo is an overlap of the Middle East and the western world. You can find anything from shopping malls selling Nike to donkeys pulling carts of fruit through an open air market. Cairo is interesting because you can find both the historic and the modern. For this particular post, I’ll focus on the historic.
This week I went on a tour of “Old Cairo”. This is a place, although slightly “touristy” holds a great deal of cultural value. Old Cairo has very rich religious significance, as it is home to mosques, churches and synagogues from thousands of years BC. I’m usually not a history fan, but it was amazing to step foot into a building that has been standing for so long. You just don’t get that opportunity in America. We got to visit, Amr Ibn el-Aas Mosque, the oldest mosque in Africa. This is particularly significant during this time of year, as most people in Egypt are celebrating Ramadan. The conservative side of the culture was in full affect when we went to visit. The women and men aren’t permitted to come into the mosque through the same entrance. The women filed in through our respective entrance and had to wear hooded capes (provided by the mosque) to cover our arms and hair. This was to avoid offending any of the parishioners who were praying and fasting in the mosque. Not only did we visit the oldest mosque, but we also visited one of the country’s oldest churches: St Virgin Mary’s Coptic Orthodox Church, also dubbed “The Hanging Church”. It’s called the hanging church because it has been suspended almost 6meters in the air since it was built in the 3rd Century. It was really cool to look through the glass panels on the floor and see how high up we were. Being among the incredible architecture and history of all of the sites we visited in Old Cairo was absolutely breath taking. I’m so glad that I had the experience.