Egypt – My Travelogue :~)

Society Travel & Tourism
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Phewww!! God knows I wasn't able to sleep that night properly .. saari raat wo kambakhat belly dancer mere khuwab main aakar mujh sey belly dance karwati rahi *smack neways I woke up at around 8:00am on my fifth day in Egypt :~) btw, when I say fifth it means fifth day of travel .. otherwise it was my 2nd day in Cairo .. cuz teen din to mujhey Cairo pohanchney main hi lag gaye they *smack

Neways !! this is what I did to my room :~)

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For today my plan was to visit Islamic Cairo .. like .. Citadel, Egyptian National Military Museum, Mosque Mohammed Ali , Mosque An-Nasir Mohammed, Mosque Ar Rifai, Mosque & Madrassa of Sultan Hassan, Mosque of Sultan Qaitbey and Islamic Museum .. and finally in the night I planned to spent sometime at Ramsees Nightclub to experience the real belly dance as recommended by some locals ;~)

OK lets start with Citadel :~)

one of Cairos most popular tourist attractions is the Citadel .. located on a spur of limestone that had been detached from its parent Moqattam Hills by quarrying ... the Citadel is one of the worlds greatest monuments to medieval warfare … as well as a highly visible landmark on Cairos eastern skyline .. :~)

I took this picture from the north of Citadel standing at the door of Mosque Ar-Rifai :~)

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The area where the Citadel is now located began its life not as a great military base of operations.. but as the "Dome of the Wind" .. a pavilion created in 810 by Hatim Ibn-e-Hartama .. who was then governor ... Indeed this area was well known for its cool breeze .. these early governors .. not realizing its strategic importance .. simply used the pavilion for its view of Cairo :~)

but between 1176 and 1183 .. Sultan Salah-ud-Din Ayyubi fortified the area to protect it against attacks by the Crusaders .. and since then, it has never been without a military garrison .. originally it served as both a fortress and a royal city :~)
This picture was taken by me from the Minaar of Mosque Sultan Qaitbey :~)

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The climate at Citadel was amazing .. I was feeling the freshness of air same like the legendary Sultan Salah-ud-Din Ayyubi felt when he conquered Egypt :~) Legend has it that .. Sultan Salah-ud-Din Ayyubi chose the site for its healthy air ... The story goes like .. he hung pieces of meat up all around Cairo ... everywhere the meat spoilt within a day .. with the exception of the Citadel area where it remained fresh for several days ... but in reality this location provides a strategic advantage both to dominate Cairo and to defend outside attackers ... Salah-ud-Din had come from Syria where each town had some sort of fortress to act as a stronghold for the local ruler so it was only natural that he would carry this custom to Egypt :~)

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When the Mumluks finally overthrew the Ayyubi rulers in 1250 .. their sultan Baybars al-Bunduqdari moved into this historic place .. and laters "An-Nasir Muhammad" .. an interesting Sultan of this era who ruled during three separate periods 1294-1295 .. 1299-1309 and 1310-1341 tore down most of the earlier buildings and replaced them with considerably grander structures ... unfortunately!! the only remaining facility built by him is the An-Nasir Mohammed Mosque which is very close to the entrance of Citadel :~)

You can see the entrance of Citadel here .. and the door of An-Nasir Mohammed Mosque is just a 100 feet away on the Left :~)

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This is the Door of An-Nasir Mohammed Mosque :~)

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This mosque was begun in 1318 and finished in 1355 ..

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Below you can see two pictures of the place for Imam in this Mosque :~)

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My next destination in Citadel was Mohammad Ali's Mosque :~)

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Mohammed Ali was one of the greatest governors of Egypt in the modern age.. when he came to power in the 19th century .. he saw that it was necessary to build a big mosque in The Citadel to be a place for prayer and other tasks .. with its two high minarets and huge dome .. you can easily see it from many places in Cairo and it dazzle eyes from everywhere :~)

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The structure of this mosque was very familiar to me :~) you know why ?? Because it was designed by the same famous Turkish engineer .. Yousof Boshtaq :~) That's why it came as a mix of Al-Sultan Ahmads Mosque and Aya Sofias Mosque I saw in Turkey :~)

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If Pyramids are the mark of Ancient Egypt .. and if Al-Azhar Mosque is the mark of Islamic Egypt than Mohammad Ali's Mosque is certainly the mark of Modern Egypt :~)

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The mosque consists of two parts .. the covered space (The place of prayer) .. and the open courtyard ... lets explore the covered space first :~)

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its about 41x41 meters in total :~)

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This was the place for Imam Masjid :~)

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This is how it looks from the left side :~)

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Now lets go to the center .. between the four huge columns ..This is a big dome from inside .. It extends up 52 meters and is 21 meters in diameter .. It is surrounded by four half domes .. with the same diameter .. but less in height :~)

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It was really difficult to take the above shot .. after me this half bald guy also started struggling for the same shot :~)
Before few minutes I was standing at same place in the middle of the mosque :~)

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Inside mosque .. you'll see some ppl moving around in green gowns .. don't think like they are religious .. they were just wearing shots or some revealing cloths .. that's why the security asked them to cover their self in these gowns :~)

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Now lets go out through the main door in the back wall .. to see the open courtyard .. which is about 53x54 meters .. yes!! Its larger then the mosque :~)

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The thing in the center of the court is a fountain .. which was used for wuzu before prayers :~)

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I came out of the Mosque and walked thru this area to reach the huge balcony from where the legendary governors and conquerors use to see the whole Cairo :~)

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I took some nice shots of Old Cairo from this place :~)

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It was soo cloudy out there .. even at just 11:30am :~)

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These were my next destinations .. Sultan Hassan and Ar-Rifai's Mosques :~)

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Apni jhaankney ki adaat sey majboor!! main is gallery sey eik Egyptian ghar ko dekh raha tha .. and I see .. the life was so still for them .. these old Egyptian women were sitting there from hours enjoying chatting abt their domestic problems and gossips :~)

Wese eik baat to sachi hey .. either it was a dhoobi's house or .. yaan phir Egyptian kaprey bohot gandey kartey hain ;~)

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this is just a closer look of Cairo :~)

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On the other side .. I was able to capture the great Pyramids of GIZA :~)

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Then I saw a young Egyptian guy fighting with his girlfriend :~) or bechari larki chup chaap sun rahi thi :~) main ney shukar ada kiya ke is larkey ka pala kisi Pakistani larki sey nahi para .. warna aaj main kuch or hi scene dekh raha hota :~)

Wese in dono love birds ko dekh kar mujhey apney akeley honay par bohot roona aa raha tha *crying

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neways miti pao *smack

This photo is showing you the huge rocky mountains saving the Citadel from the outer attacks in the old times :~)

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This is just another closer look of Sultan Hassan and Ar-Rifai's Mosque :~)

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Now I am heading towards the Egyptian National Military Museum :~)

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When I was going inside the museum .. there was soo many Egyptian collage girls walking in front of me :~) being a pakistani mujhey darr lag raha tha ..ke abhi koi murey gi or mujh par peecha karney ka ilzaam paga kar chittar marna shuru hojaye gi :~)

but it never happened .. seems like Egyptian girls are not very khush-feham like Pakistani girls :~) blakey they gave me a nice smile when I was taking their pictures :~)

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Here you can see a Life size statue of Suleiman Pasha in the Center of the museum's courtyard :~)

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On the right wall of the Museum .. you can see these amazing portraits of different ages passed by Egypt :~)

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Now some of the Picture I took inside the Museum :~)

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Statue of a warrior :~)

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This was an amazing sculpture of Suleiman Pasha showing the Citadel in the background :~)

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Now some Old Egyptian artillery :~)

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Signs of an old Victoria :~)

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portraying the war planning here :~)

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Outside the museum they are displaying some old fighter planes and tanks :~)

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There I saw an Egyptian guy wearing their old traditional dress to take out some photos .. without wasting time I took a shot too :~)

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This is what I saw when I came out of the Military Museum :~)

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phewww!!! By now I was already tired of walking .. so I decided to have some Turkish Coffee at the museum’s Café .. while enjoying the Turkish coffee .. I also enjoyed chatting with these two lovely Egyptian girls :~)
after all!! they were my host at the café ;~)

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Ok!! this is enough for now :~)

Grrrrrr!!!

to be Continued … :smash:

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beautiful pics…especially the mosque ones…:k:

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Very interesting…Thanks :k:

well done Sir.

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i dont like history but did manage to read cuz i think i’ll hve to read it after abt 6 months:(
the pics are splendid itniii khubsoorat masjid and the interior jus lovely
the masjid looks like the one in turkey..
jus curious did they mke u wear tht green gown aswell:D

lol in the last pic i read egyptian as european so.. ab main baar baar pic dekh rahi thi aur soch rahi thi keh yeh kahaan se european lagta hai:bummer:
aur yeh egyptian girls ko dekh kar pakistani larkion ko diss karna kion shuru kardiya:smash:
aur aur haan logon ke ghar main jhaankna kitnii buri baat hai agar woh aapki aankh hi phor detey phir kia hota:D
btw ghar dhobi ka hi lagta hai

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I dont like those sort of belly dancers, i know what you mean NaasPeeta… besides ‘revealing’ is there middle name!

Anyhow the masjid pictures are beautiful :flower1: :slight_smile:

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Beautiful-once again! :k:

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zabar10 :k: :k:

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Qrius : khaali choona ?? yaar saath katha bhi lag gaya or wo bhi kass key *smack or meri kiya majaal ke kisi ki ankhon ko gunaha gaar karoon ?? main to apni ankhoon se logon ko duniya dikha raha hoon ;~)

little human : thanks LH :~)

Poodenay_Ki_Chutney : you are always welcome PKC .. btw, remember! it was your suggestion to post a complete travelogue :~) I hope .. I am doing it right :~)

ShaRaRa : nahi yaar main poorey kaproon main tha :~) isi liye mangney par bhi onhoon ney gown nahi diya *crying

or tumney pics dekhney sey pehley eyedrops daley they ke nahi ??? *smack

well, main kahan jhaank raha tha .. mera camera jhaank raha tha ;~) btw, you are rite .. it was really some dhoodi's house .. itnay kaprey eik saath dhona koi asaan baat nahi hey .. isn' t it ?? :~)

or yaar apni last destination to koi badnaseeb Pakistani larki hi hogi .. so how cud I dislike them ?? noway!!! Magar yaar onmain sey bhi to koi mujhe like karey na *smash

Grrr!! onka to mijaaz hi nahi milta *smack

Dai_sista : agreed!! But the one I saw in Ramsees club wasn't revealing .. she was soberly covered!

unfortunately they didn't allow me to take photos neither I took my notepad to write some details about her .. and now I even forgot her name *smack.. but she was an amazing dancer .. you know ? in her early 30s she can still perform like some young blood .. I still remember! Her upper body was totally idle while the lower part was on fire :~) arghhh!! I really missed taking her pictures *smack

anyways thanks for the reply :~)

Khanzada : thanks :~) so when are you planning to travel ??

batameez : shukrann :~)

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OK!! lets take you guys to the famous museum of Islamic Art :~)

After spending 4 hours in Citadel, I head directly to Islamic art Museum, It was really interesting for me to see such a nice collection of Islamic history under one roof :~) the present picture of the world of Islam is of fundamentalists and terrorists .. Only few people understand that Islam has a glorious history.. It was the center of a great civilization when Europe lived in the Dark Ages :~)

The Islamic civilization produced great philosophers and scientists ... It also produced military leaders who conquered most of the old world all the way from Spain to China :~)
actually this museum's purpose is to educate everyone about this forgotten civilization :~)
Since there was no flash allowed I was very selective about talking pictures :~)

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An ancient candle stand .. isn't it amazing ??

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Weapons from Mumluk's age :~)

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Some broken pieces of historic art :~)

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Historic carpets :~)

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Some Ornate Quran's formerly owned by King Farouk :~)

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I took just 1 hour to scan thru this museum .. but when I came out Saed was disappeared!!
While waiting for him standing at the road side I took some more pictures of Islamic Cairo :~)

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Since parking was not allowed infront of the Museum Saed was just driving around in circles :~) it didn't took long for him to reach me :~) and than we were on our way to Mosque Ar-Rifai and Sultan Hassan :~)

This is the entrance for these two historic mosques :~)

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I started with Sultan Hassan's Mosque & Madrassa :~)

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The Sultan Hassan Mosque and madrasa is considered stylistically the most compact and unified of all Cairo monuments .. The building was constructed for Sultan Hassan bin Mohammad bin Qala'oun in 1256 AD .. as a mosque and religious school for all sects .. It was designed so that each of the four main Sunni sects (orthodox Muslim, or Sunni rites, consisting of Shafite, Malikite, Hanefte and Hanbalite) has its own school while sharing the mosque :~)

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The madrasa was originally introduced to Egypt by Salau-ud-din to suppress non-orthodox Muslim sects .. There is a difference in congregational as opposed to Madrasa style Mosques such as the Sultan Hassan .. While some congregational Mosques have been used as schools .. those designed for that purpose generally have smaller courtyards and the buildings are more vertical .. allowing for classroom space :~)

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I saw these two Egyptian ladies sitting in a peaceful corner discussing there household problems with each other :~)

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Many consider the Sultan Hassan Mosque to be the most outstanding Islamic monument in Egypt .. It is of true Bahri Mameluke origin .. built of stone .. There is no architectural indulgence here .. but rather self confidence in its clarity of execution and restraint :~)

Sultan Hassan died several years prior to its completion ..

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Here I came out of Sultan Hassan's Mosque and walking towards Ar-Rifai Mosque :~)

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On my back I saw a nice view of Citadel .. especially the Mohammed Ali Mosque :~)

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neways!! designed by Mustapha Fahmi with a Bahri Mameluke style .. the Refa'i Mosque is named after a Muslin holy man .. Shekh Ali Abu El-Shoubak who is buried here .. The mosque was completed in 1912 by Herz Pasha and was constructed at the order of Khoushiar .. mother of the Khedive Ismail :~)

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