“Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.”
― William Shakespeare, Hamlet
Go-Date: Day 59, Friday. March 22
Lesson Learned: Buying clothing in Cairo is very inexpensive. I don’t mean the shops or vendor stalls that cater to tourists (you won’t find toy pyramids, sphinx, and scarab beetles in these stores), I mean the shops and retail outlets that Egyptians go to (which means its not in a tourist area).
So, how cheap is it? I had to buy a tie, dress shoes, a dress shirt, and a pair of black socks. Ellen needed a pair of sneaker walking shoes. Well, I brought a pair of black socks with me, but Ellen insisted I needed a new pair. I don’t think black ankle socks would look that bad, but evidently I don’t get a vote.
We had our driver take us to an Egyptian shoe store. We got black leather dress shoes and a pair of sneakers for 375 LE ($21.65) and a white cotton dress shirt, nice tie (not silk) and a pair of black dress socks for 273 LE ($15. 76). Not bad.
Day’s Itinerary the Citadel, Shopping & the Ballet
Just to show we have a little culture, Ellen decided we needed to attend an event at the Cairo Opera House. Luckily, the Russia’s St. Petersburg Ballet Company was in town for a 3-day performance and we could get tickets for the last show. We couldn’t buy the tickets online, so we had to get a driver to take us over to the Opera House before we got on to our other activities. Tickets on the orchestra level weren’t bad $60 US for two.
I was looking my regular unkept style and the agent eyed me up and down and informed us that attire was formal and I must wear a coat and tie. Women could wear anything. Now, how fair is that. I have a black sport coat and black dress pants, but was wanting for the other apparel necessary. We would have to go shopping, which knocked out visiting Old Cairo for the day. I really didn’t really plan on wearing a tie on this trip.
The Cairo Citadel
Our next stop of the day was to be the Citadel. Like everywhere else we’ve been, old cities had forts, because these ancient guys were always in a scrum with their next door neighbors. We headed off to the Saladin Citadel of Cairo, which is a medieval Islamic fortification in Cairo, Egypt (built by Saladin to defend Cairo from the Crusaders in around 1176 AD CE). The location of the fort, on Mokattam hill near the center of Cairo, was once famous for its fresh breeze and grand views of the city (and it still is today). In 1976, it was proclaimed by UNESCO as a part of the World Heritage Site Historic Cairo (Islamic Cairo) which saw its heyday in the 14th century.
After Saladin defeated the Fatimid Caliphate (Shia Islamic caliphate that spanned a large area of North Africa, from the Red Sea in the east to the Atlantic Ocean), he set out to build a wall that would surround both Cairo and Fustat which was the first capital of Egypt under Muslim rule. Fustat was built by the Muslim general ‘Amr ibn al-‘As immediately after the Muslim conquest of Egypt in AD 641. Personally, I’d never heard of Fustat, but I guess it was a big deal 1,000 years ago. Saladin proclaimed “With a wall I will make the two [cities of Cairo and Fustat] into a unique whole, so that one army may defend them both; and I believe it is good to encircle them with a single wall from the bank of the Nile to the bank of the Nile.” The Citadel was the centerpiece of the wall and its very impressive. It remained the heart of Egyptian government until the 19th century. While the Citadel was completed in 1183–1184, the wall Saladin had envisioned was still under construction in 1238, long after his death.
In the center of the Citadel is the Mosque of Muhammad Ali, which was built by Muhammad Ali Pasha between 1828 and 1848, perched on the summit of the Citadel with an incredible view of Cairo. This Ottoman mosque, one of the largest to be built in the first half of the 19th century, is the most visible mosque in Cairo. The mosque was built in memory of Tusun Pasha, Muhammad Ali’s oldest son, who died in 1816. The main material used to construct the mosque is limestone but the lower story and forecourt is tiled with alabaster up to 11,3 meters in height. The external facades are severe and angular and rise about four stories until the level of the lead-covered domes. It truly is a magnificent structure. See the pictures below.
Shop Till You Drop
After a morning in the Citadel, we set forth to get me outfitted. I won’t bore you with the details, but let’s just say this is the place to buy clothes. Nice stuff and great prices.
Phantom of the Opera
Ellen wanted to visit the Cairo Opera House, so we were fortunate to score tickets to the St. Petersburg Ballet Company performance. The St. Petersburg Ballet Theatre was founded in 1994 by Russian entrepreneur Konstantin Tachkin, for the purpose of delivering classical Russian ballet to audiences worldwide. They tour extensively, including return visits to Egypt, Great Britain and South Africa and Grinnell, Iowa (which must be their highlight of their year). This company is made up mostly of graduates from the famous Vaganova Ballet Academy in St. Petersburg.
Let’s rewind a second. Grinnell, Iowa? Why? Seriously, why? Before today, I’ve never heard of Grinnell. Not that I claim to be an expert on “Fly-over State” communities, I admit I barely know where Des Moines is, and I probably mispronounce it with alarming frequency. So, why does the St. Petersburg Ballet Theatre schedule appearances to a town of less than 10,000 residents? Must be a Russian Mafia connection. But, they do go to numerous big cities all over the world, including Cairo, and Ellen and I went. It was nice.
A couple of things I should bring up:
- I don’t think what we saw was the A Team from St. Petersburg. Not that they weren’t good, but I thought Russian ballet dancers were really supposed to wow you. Also, the women were definitely better than the guys. They also took almost all of the solo bows, which occured about every 67 seconds during the program.
- Egyptian attendees of this ballet had no hesitancy of pulling out there cell phones and texting, reading stories on the Web, taking selfies, and using their phones with flashes to record the ballet. I’ve never seen such a rude group of people in my life. If not for fear of setting US/Egyptian cultural relationships back by 10 years I would have said something. Given the fact that everyone but use was using their phones, I’m sure Ellen and I would have been ejected (its already happened once today)