Spices, markets and mosques

One last look at spices. The trip is almost ending, the next day, our last in Cairo, we would be going to Wadi Natrun, the seat of the Coptic church. After visiting the Al-Azhur mosque, we went to the backstreets looking for something to buy to bring home. I'm surprised that we didn't see any cotton goods for which Egypt is so famous. We saw bales and bales of raw cotton but no finished products. Sophie wanted to buy some quilted cushion covers and she didn't like what they had on display. So the guy who tended the stall said, he'll show us more if we'll follow him. So we followed him, a very long distance, through the alley, and to the apartment where they made them. We passed through some really interesting stalls and I got scared, I kept telling Sophie not to continue. The guy walked so fast and we tried to catch up, we had to stop to take pictures. Finally we came to this apartment on the second floor..

If you want chicken tonight, this is what you would buy, a live chicken that they will slaughter for you.

I don't think these are pets even though the little boy is stroking it. It's going to be dinner for some family.

Charcoal.

The first coffee shop we saw. We only had coffee once during our five days in Cairo. It tasted funny, I don't know what spice they put into it.

Bales of raw cotton.

Here we are going into the belly of the beast. I was scared especially after hearing stories of people being kidnapped in foreign countries.

I think this is the old water reservoir behing this beautiful and ornate facade.

The second floor where they made some of the goods for sale in the markets below, in other words, a sweat shop.

Some old ceramic electrical outlet box. I opened it and the guys yelled at me. There were live wires in there, I could have set off some electrical fire and the whole bazaar would have been gutted. What a story that would make, 'tourist from the US set off electrical fire, bazaar went up in flames'.

Even the trash in this bazaar looked interesting. Well, I think this is carrying it too far. Looking back these five days in Cairo were incredible. It didn't cost that much either and we packed it in. I got enough material to write about for 3 months.