With 23 million inhabitants, Cairo is the largest city in Africa and also the largest city in the Arab world. It is chaos on a scale few places achieve. But after a lovely night in the Four Seasons in Cairo we were off to see as much of Cairo as we could in the time we had.
Our first stop was the Cairo Citadel. It was built in the 13th century on an imposing point that overlooks Cairo. It was intended to be siege proof as it was the seat of the Egyptian government until the 1870s.
Within the Citadel compound is the Muhammed Ali Mosque, also known as the Alabaster Mosque.
Built about 200 years ago, it is still used as a place of worship today.
The interior of the mosque is stunning and very reminiscent of the Hayya Sofia in Istanbul, which makes sense as the architect built it in the Ottoman style.
Every angle presented an impressive photo opportunity.
The dome of the mosque rises to about 150 feet.
Outside the mosque there is an Ottoman style courtyard where the perimeter colonnades are made from alabaster.
From here we headed to Old Cairo which you’ll see in the next post.
2 comments
Greetings! Very useful advice in this particular post!
It’s the little changes that make the largest changes.
Many thanks for sharing!
Thanks Michael! Hope you are enjoying the Egypt posts. What a special place.
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