Articles tagged ‘ souk’

Articles Tagged ‘souk’

Egypt 4 – The Khan Souk

Thursday, May 13th, 2010

One thing I’ve learned about Cairo is that if you have something to do it’s best to get up early and accomplish it before the day gets too hot and there are so many people out and about that you become overwhelmed. The great thing about Cairo is that I feel completely safe here…well, unless I’m trying to cross a street at which point the task at hand could be deemed suicidal. According to my trusty guidebook, the walk between downtown Cairo where my hotel is located and the Khan El-Khalili souk (market) is a manageable and easy 15 to 20 minute walk. I typically prefer to walk a new city when it’s appropriate as it helps to get your bearings and if you’re lucky see how local people are living. I left the hotel around 9 am and had a pleasant stroll out of the touristed areas and into places where people are living and working. Certainly I got a few stares but no one caused me any trouble…not today…not at all since I’ve been in Cairo which was truly refreshing considering I was expecting far worse.

Making bread

After a couple of wrong turns due to the existence of Arabic-only street signs, I arrived at my destination. The Khan (as the locals call it) is the major Cairo market in the heart of Islamic Cairo and has been in operation since 1382. Doing the math you will note that is a full 100 years before Columbus “discovered” the New World. So basically, it’s been around a long time. Things have changed a bit over the years…there is a definitely a very touristy component to the market but if you are willing to take a chance and go down some of the narrow, twisty-turny roads away from the main drag you’ll be rewarded with the “real” Khan. My favorites were definitely the spice markets and the perfumeries. I’ve included some pictures here of some of the scenes around the Khan.

Mixed pot of spices. The dark red leaves in the background are hibiscus tea.

Water pipes for smoking sheesha

Surrounding the market are many mosques and other religious buildings. It would be a trick to name all of them correctly so I won’t try. Instead, I’ll just include the pictures here so you can get an idea of the beautiful archictecture and artistry associated with the ancient buildings. I did go inside a couple of mosques but removing my non-slip-on shoes and donning the head scarf became rather tiresome after a while so pictures from inside the buildings may be somewhat lacking. I did get a mosque-keeper to take me to the top of the building from the vantage point of the minaret (tower) and got a great view of the city of Cairo.

Mosque from outside

…and from the inside.

View of minaret from the roof of mosque

Also from the roof

A good look for me, no?

I don’t know what the trees with the orange blossoms are but they’re beautiful and everywhere.

By about 3 pm I had had it with the heat and decided to head back to my hotel to rest and cool off before catching my night train to Aswan. I was planning to walk back to my hotel in reverse of what I had done in the morning but there were SO many more people out and about that it was practically impossible to move. I gave up trying and jumped in a cab for the mad dash adventure that is Cairo traffic. All-in-all a fantastic time was had in Cairo. Tomorrow on the Mini-Extravaganza I will offer a farewell to Cairo with some parting photos and thoughts before I head to Upper Egypt to continue the adventure.

Enjoy the photos!