Every now and again I make an effort to escape the rut of my routine and do something new and different. I had the opportunity this weekend so I seized it with both hands and went on a half-day tour of the Bulaq district of Cairo.
The only thing I knew of the Bulaq is that there is a very large fabric souq located there. (What do you expect? I’m a quilter!) There’s much more to it than that – apparently it was once the center of town and a big port, way back when the Nile was actually still running nearby.
(as usual, click any image to enlarge)
One of our first stops was the Sinan Pasha Mosque, a somewhat rare example of an Ottoman style mosque in Cairo – though it did have some Mamluk touches here and there. I’m no architectural expert so I took the tour guide’s word for it. While it was quite plain and unassuming on the outside, it certainly was lovely inside. I can only imagine how lovely in its day, when all the adornments were fresh (and still in place).
The mosque attendants were not at all sure about letting us in to visit. The man on the right was particularly crabby about us being there!
Next, we walked down the street to a hamman, or public bath house, that was built by the same man as the mosque. It’s in the process of being restored, though there are apparently no plans to open it for use.
It has quite an unassuming entrance!
It’s a shame it won’t ever open for business. Can’t you just imagine relaxing in a sauna in here?
I love taking pictures of street scenes, of normal people going about their business. I’m sure that they look at us taking pictures of them or of houses or shops or horses and just shake their heads. Once, when I was still living in the United Arab Emirates, I had a man stop me while I was taking a picture down an alley of a line of laundry hung out to dry and ask me, “Why do you want a picture of that?” To him it was ugly, to me it was fascinating.
We passed along the back of the fabric souq as we walked from site to site. This shop was as close as we got, but it wasn’t exactly what I had in mind!
Work horse, taking a break.
This man was in attendance at the last mosque we visited and he wasn’t nearly so crabby about our visit. Perhaps the first guy just needed a shisha pipe and a cup of tea to mellow him out!
I love exploring markets etc and enjoyed the online tour. Great photos, Jenyfer. So you didn’t get any material?
by Shelley Munro March 24th, 2009 at 3:45 pmShelley – Unfortunately I didn’t have any opportunities for fabric shopping
But that just means I’ll have to go back another time 
by Jenyfer March 24th, 2009 at 4:15 pmLove the pictures, girl!!
You need to write this up and send them out travel magazines.
CC
by Christie Craig March 25th, 2009 at 9:14 amJenyfer, thank you for posting pictures of Egypt. I never saw the Boulap area.
by Mona Risk March 25th, 2009 at 11:00 am