Cairo - Last tour day

Cairo Alabaster Mosque - on a beautiful day
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This morning our first stop was the 12^th Century Citadel and its Alabaster Mosque. First Assem takes us into a smaller mosque which is made from marble and has a beautiful fountain in the middle. Luckily a layer of carpet is laid down around the outside to protect our feet from the cold. It is very quiet in here, and Assem invites us to sit down so he can give us a run down on the Islam faith. This includes a pep talk that muslims are gentle people, not the radicals that the press/media make them out to be.

View across Cairo to the Pyramids from the high Citadel
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We are then walked over to the impressive Alabaster Mosque, with its many domes and minarets. It is crowded in here with tourists looking at the carved domed ceilings and decorative walls. It is hard not to be impressed.

Are there any good belly dancers in Egypt???

We then walk around to take in the panoramic view of Cairo from the Citadel. The buildings seem to go on forever which is not surprising given population size. It is also hard to see for all the smog and dust – but if you peer into the distance you can see the three pyramids of Giza sitting closely behind the modern city. From up here they seem much smaller,  dwarfed by the high apartment buildings which are in front of them.

Inside a smaller Mosque at the Citadel
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It is then back on the bus and back into the bustling metropolis for our visit to the Egyptian Museum. Once inside (cameras not permitted), we are guided by Assem to important displays, including statues of the pyramid builders and kings, the many hundreds of sarcophagus, and two mummies. There is also a featured display of mummies of the kings which we opt not to see. The museum is crammed full of objects, including much jewellery, everyday item like pots and plates, and also chariots – both celebratory and fighting versions.

Inside the Alabaster Mosque
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The highlight of the visit though is to see the Tutankhamen treasures. Assem tells us that in reality he was an insignificant king – only ruling for 9 years, and as such his tomb was very small. What has made this king so well known is the discovery of his tomb intact – the only one to date not decimated by tomb robbers. In this display, we see the famous solid gold burial mask which adorned the mummy (which is back in the Valley of the Kings). We also are told that this was one layer of 10 layers of protection for the mummy. Three embedded sarcophagus, the first solid gold, the second one with more than an inch of gold over wood and the last one gilded wood. These were in-turn encased in a granite sarcophagus, then this was encased within four successively larger outer wooden cases, each heavily gilded. Impressive.

The ceiling of the Alabaster Mosque
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We walked around the jewellery exhibit and see the items of huge chest adorning necklaces arm covering bracelets, heavy earrings which required nearly a 1cm hole. Gold sandals and toe and finger coverings – covering his reign from small as a 9 year old, then each set as her grew into adulthood. The list just goes on. It makes you wonder what the tombs of the longer serving kings would have been like if found intact.

This visit ended at 12.30pm and we head back to the hotel. The tour is now officially over for our tour guide Assem. It is sad to say goodbye, and unfortunate that he will not be joining us for the final optional dinner cruise tonight. Our group dissipates off the bus and before we know it, we have missed saying goodbye to some of the others who opted not to attend the dinner. It is the first time we have been on a tour where the last night has not included a dinner for all to attend to say your goodbyes to everyone. A bit disappointing really.

Dinner cruise belly dancer
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We decide to grab some lunch at the hotel bakery, enjoying baguettes and coffee. Joe wants to take another visit to the Vodafone shop in one last attempt to get the phone SIM’s working for data on our iPhones. We finally find out that they will not work for data in the iPhone unless we sign up to a post-pay plan and pay $2000EP. Not happening. Oh well-we tried.

It is straight to bed for me then as I have picked up Joe’s head cold and my sinuses are in overdrive. This gives me a couple of hours of rest before we meet up with the 9 others going to dinner. The boat is conveniently located around the corner and across the road from the hotel – so no scary bus ride – just scary road crossing.

The dinner is nice but disappointing as it is all western food – we had been hoping, or expecting a buffet of local food. After the main meal is served the boat heads out for its river cruise. We are then once again treated to one of the spinning displays, but cannot see very well as our seats are away from the action. Next us was the belly dancing display, and the only thing that seemed to be on display was the size of the woman’s boobs. OMG. The young guys on the boat were very impressed with the display, but generally we all agreed we had hoped to see a good belly dancing display, not a jiggling booby display. With the music up ultra high and the cover band not that great, Joe and I exited the dining area and went upstairs to see what we could see outside. There was really nowhere to get outside, so we stood inside the glassed area and peered out at very basic lights. Nothing very impressive to look at at night-time. Before long we were back at dock, and after playing chicken with the traffic, said our final goodbyes to our fellow tour mates. We all agreed that this optional dinner cruise was something that could have been missed.

Overall we have really enjoyed the tour and would encourage others to make the trip over to see these amazing structures.