Egyptian Museum, The Citadel & Khan al-khalili

Tuesday, we headed to the museum driving by Tahrir Square where another protest was planned for that afternoon.  The streets were closed in and around the area.  No worries due to the protests happening.  The museum was the works of the French archaeologist Auguste Mariette.  It is impossible to see everything in the museum.  It was great to have Mamdue as our guide to explain to us about the Old, Middle & New Kingdom.  He gave us a very informative and brief tour of the museum which gave us an adventure through time.

The Citadel was our next stop which was on the eastern edge of Cairo.  This was home to Egypt's rulers for 700 years.  This is a very popular tourist attraction because it is a collection of 3 very different mosques, several palaces & a couple of terraces over looking Cairo giving you a panarama view of the city.  Mamdue took us into The Grand Mosque and explaided to us the call to prayer and how they are to pray.  The Citadel is massive and is the finest Mamluk architecture in Cairo.  It was very impressive to see.

Our next stop was to the Khan al-Khalili market.  Here we took to all the touts wanting to get us into their shop.  We meandered down a few streets checking the wares.  We did try our hand at bartering but couldn't make deal.  Mamdue was waiting for us at Fishawi's Coffeehouse.  Sacha had heard of this place and wanted to try sheesha.  Mamdue was always looking out for us and convinced her that sheesha was very addictive as one puff was equivalent to 40 cigarets and he did not recommend it.  She didn't try it.

Time was ticking and we needed to get to the train station as we were heading to Luxor on the overnight train.  Once again Mamdue was there to make sure we got on the right train without any difficulties.

Mamdue is very much a great host and true ambassador for Egypt.  We felt very safe in Cairo.