Day 2 - Egypt - Cairo, where hardly anyone knows it
Day 2 - Cairo, where hardly anyone knows it
We will spend the first day in Cairo. A city of millions, fascinating and shocking at the same time. Of course, we first drive to the center of the Chan el-Chalili bazaar and are impressed by the colors, the different scents and the large mosques. We are already in the middle of the lively bustle of the market. Screaming market traders, bargaining customers, hectic workers - and we are right in the middle of it!
Many people don't notice us, the others smile at us kindly, but the young people will get in touch, speak to us and are proud to take a photo with us.
We also enjoy so much socializing. The imam's call resounds from a minaret, yes we are in the Orient. We visit various mosques and mausoleums, where we can escape from the murmur of voices in the market and find silence.
People almost excluded from society, unnoticed of the world. No, nobody wants to live here! Muqattam!
The garbage collectors earn their living by collecting, recycling and selling recyclable materials that were previously laboriously sorted by hand. The rotting garbage is sorted into glass, plastic, cans, paper and leftover food. The leftover food is fed to the animals and, if still edible, also consumed itself. The other raw materials are sorted, packaged and picked up by the dealer. Almost like us. But we have the possibility to have these activities carried out on landfills. The Zabbalin live in, on and from rubbish.
Most of these people make a living by working hard, not by crime. We don't have to look away - they belong to us too and deserve our full respect!
Der Tag neigt sich dem Ende zu und wir wollen nochmal hoch hinauf, 187 m sollen es werden. Gesagt – getan! Wir erobern den Fernsehturm von Kairo, (Eintritt ~ 3,50 € ) der in seiner Bauweise an eine Lotosblume erinnert und stärken uns hier bei einem gigantischen Blick auf Kairo!
Just a little further on at the foot of the Muqattam hill we find the Coptic cave church complex of St. Samaán, St. Simon the shoemaker. The massif was already used by the pharaohs as a quarry for quartzite.
We were just surrounded by rubbish and gloom, now we are here in the light of the sun and everything is clean. The sandstone rocks with the holy figures hewn out of stone rise mightily. An overwhelming sight! Suddenly I feel so small, protected by the saints who look down on us.
The relics of St. Simon the shoemaker is in the grotto church. Under a rocky outcrop, the cave church has seating for around 10,000 believers. A total of up to 15,000 believers can pray here together.
On the walls are colored rock carvings, which tell the story of the escape of the holy family. In total there are seven churches and a monastery consacrated to St. Samaán and to the Virgin Mary.
The day is coming to an end and we want to go high up again, it should be 187 m. Said and done! We conquer the Cairo television tower, which is reminiscent of a lotus flower in its construction and we strengthen us here at a gigantic view of Cairo!
