A Cairo Adventure

Sorry for the delay in posting. My internet was temporarily suspended, because my landlord didn't pay his bill. He resolved the issue, and now I'm back!
Yesterday, four of the real housewives of Cairo and I went on an excursion sponsored by the ex-pat community center in my neighborhood. The trip was ambiguously named "Royal Palaces", so I really had no idea where we were going. I soon found out that the focus of the trip was on the Mamluks, a group of Turkish slaves who ruled Egypt from the 13th until the late 18th century. The first stop on the trip was the 14th century palace of the Mamluk sultan's food taster, which had been modified over the centuries to serve (in the 19th c.) as a girl's school, and more recently, a compost heap. (I'm not joking. The locals used the palace courtyard and grounds as a garbage dump . . . there were pictures as proof). In 2000, the government decided to restore it to its previous splendor, and voila, it is beautiful once again.
Our charming tour guide, who had a pension for mixing up prepositions, focused on the Arabesque architectural details, and the advanced plumbing technology the palace maintained. She "overdetailed" us a bit, which is something that I as a campus tour guide have a fear of doing, but she really did know her material.
Our second stop was an island in the Nile called "Rhoda Island" (I'm sure someone somewhere could come up with a joke about that one), which houses the Nilometer, a 9th century structure used to assess the height of the Nile, and the Om Khalthoum museum, dedicated to the illustrious diva of Egyptian music. The Nilometer is hard to describe, so I will post a picture for you below.


Basically, it's a pit that designed to allow Nile water to flood inward, in order to measure its height. It is considered a marvel of medieval engineering.

The Om Khalthoum museum just a few steps away from the Nilometer was probably the highlight of my trip. As a classical Arabic singer and national icon, she is considered to be one of the most important (if not THE most important)Egyptian cultural figure of the last century. She sang for King Farouk and Nasser, and was popular with the whole country. Her funeral procession in 1975 was (after Nasser's) the largest in modern Egyptian history.
She was also remembered for her concert dresses, which were elaborate, and brightly colored. These, along with many of her personal belongings and photos were on display at the museum. For those of you who are interested in seeing a performance, here is a link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go-3AN-m2gI&feature=related


Afterward, we boarded our van, and went to the City of the Dead. This city is not related to any Ancient Egyptian place, though, so don't get too excited. Starting in the 12th century, wealthy Egyptians built large mausoleums for their families in this region of the city. Guarding these tombs became a full-time job, and for this reason, many poor men moved with their families to the city to become full-time guards. Over the centuries their descendants' population has exploded to over one million. Many of them live in squalid conditions among the extravagant mausoleums of their masters, and (as I could see) the streets are heaped with more garbage and rubble than I have ever seen in a public place.
Our main purpose was to visit the tombs of Egyptian royalty, mainly the family of Mohammed Ali (turns out he's not just a boxer), who was a 19th century Egyptian reformer and the first in a line of modern Egyptian kings. The most interesting part of the complex was a room that housed the remains of Mamluks (the old ruling elite) who Mohammed Ali slaughtered at a dinner party. Some sources say that the dead numbered between forty and four hundred.
These are the unfortunate Mamluks.


If you want to see the album, check out my facebook page. I will attempt to post pictures soon. :D Have a nice day!