by Shirley Elmokadem

Created on: March 05, 2007   Last Updated: April 17, 2007

Cairo, Mother of The World and City of A Thousand Minarets.

He who hath not seen Cairo hath not seen the world.' ( From The Tale of the Jewish Physician-Thousand and one Arabian nights).

Cairo is Africa's largest city with over eighteen million inhabitants and it spreads along the bank of the River Nile for some forty kilometres.
It can be an overwhelming experience visiting Cairo for the first time with it's constant drone of traffic and blaring of horns, broken every now and then by the muezzin's call to prayer five times a day.

A friend of mine who had never been to Egypt before recently went to see The Pyramids and Sphinx at Giza and then spent the rest of day in Cairo. She was awestruck by The Pyramids but said she didn't like Cairo, it was too noisy and dusty. As the Lonely Planet Guide says Cairo is not a gentle city and its intensity will either seduce or appeal'. For me it is very much the latter. It may be noisy and dusty-it only has 2.5 cms of rainfall a year- but it's also a place full of wonder and intrigue and there is so much more to Cairo than the Pyramids if you look.
There are, for example, numerous other historic buildings to discover that reflect the many civilisations that have helped shape this city; Arab, Roman, Greek, Turkish, British and French.
Coptic Cairo is the oldest part and it has been inhabited for more than two thousand years. It is the centre of the Coptic Christian community and where you'll find most of Egypt's churches. Here is the Church of St Sergius built on the site, where legend has it, the Holy Family rested on flight from Herod.
A bit further on is the Ben Ezra Synagogue', (Egypt's oldest synagogue).
But Cairo is predominantly a Muslim city and the old Islamic quarter is studded with hundreds of fine examples of Islamic Architecture like the Ibn Tulun' mosque built in 879AD. Ibn Tulun was a Turkish general from Mesopotamia who became ruler of Egypt at that time. It is one of the largest mosques in the world. The Al Azhar university is here too, it is the second oldest university in the world, ( 970AD), and is connected to the beautiful Al Azhar mosque.
I love to wander the warren like streets here in the Islamic quarter. My favourite place is the Khan al Khalili' bazaar. I enjoy sitting in the oldest coffee house in Egypt, Al Fishawi', sipping my mint tea whilst absorbing the exciting sights and spicy smells around me.
This is Naguib Mahfouz territory, the famous Egyptian writer who won the 1988 Nobel Prize for literature. He set many of his books in and around this area. He published thirty four novels, three hundred and fifty short stories and dozens of play scripts. Seems I have a way to go then!
Mahfouz died last year, ( August 2006), and was accorded a full state funeral.

Cairo is indeed a real melting pot of ideas, cultures and traditions and provides lots of inspiration for writers. A journey through Cairo is a journey through time and it awakens your soul. If you haven't seen Cairo then you haven't seen one of the most amazing cities of the world.

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