Egypt is reasonably tolerant for an Islamic state. Above is the
Synagogue in Old (or Coptic) Cairo. Now days there are ony about
30 Jewish families in Cairo as most left for Israel in the 1950's.
At right the light shines in the Mosque and designs even incorporate
such no-nos for Islam as the Star of David. All interesting stuff
which Stephen (one time studies in religion scholar) enjoyed.
Below the lads wonder the alleys of the Coptic area. About 15%
of the population is Coptic- an early Christian church.
Off the subject, it is an interesting theme in developing economies,
that ecological concerns rank so low on the agenda. I guess priorities
are different. To the left we crawled in a hole in Giza to find
a series of tunnels lighten up by the flash (we had to use our
Athoman Archaelogy Utility Packs). Note the years of trash!
To continue the archaeological tone, Nick decided to fine-tune
his Egyptology and did a crash course in heiroglyphics based on
Rosetta Stone study. We also checked on "Old Tut" in the Egyptian
Museum.
But his most interesting anthropological technique was to immerse
himself with the locals. Below he puffed away on a Sheesha (Apple
variety) with some locals.
£3 Egyptian for some mint tea and an indepth discussion with the
locals in his 5 words of Arabic- three of which were "Apple Sheesha
please".
