Cairo day 1

Our first expedition in the city was to the Citadel Mosque which is built on an old fortress, most of Cairo seems to be built on something else LOL. As you approach you go through the city of the dead which is a cemetary but because of the extreme poverty in the city the tombs are used by the living as well as the dead.

The Citadel or "White Mosque" is massive, the first thing you ask yourself is "Why do they call it the White Mosque" when it is obviously a dirty shade of brown like everything else around here. But as it only rains about half an inch a year everything gets covered in dust from the desert and remains that colour until the next rain. To see it clean must be a real treat as it would glow over the city.

The interior of the mosque is magnificent, the painting, lighting and marble all work wonderfully well, but someone needs to do some maintenance to stop any more damage being done by the elements.

From here it was off to our first taste of shopping in Egypt and the compulsory visit to the Cairo Bizarre. This is a daunting place with thousands of vendors, pickpockets, potential killers, beggars and everything else all in one spot.

We were accompanied by a pistol wearing undercover security guard who made sure that we never wandered into alleys, upstairs in shops or became the victim of over zealous vendors and this guy took every opportunity to flash is hip holster to everyone that would look. With him and the many machine guns, tanks etc we felt decidedly UNSAFE LOL but in the end they were there to protect us and they did a great job.

Signs of the revolution downtown are hard to ignore and the locals are proud to show the burnt out remains of the old government and I think this might be left like this for along time as a reminder to those that come to power next - Don't mess with the people.