A day off in Cairo city

1
A day off in Cairo city
2
A walk near the Nile river bank?
3
A visit to Giza Zoo?
The Giza Zoo is Egypt's largest zoological
garden. Located in the city of Cairo, it is one
of the few 'green' areas in the city, and
includes Cairo's largest park. The zoo has an
area of almost 100 acres, and harbours many
endangered species as well as a selection of
endemic fauna. There is a reptile house and
taxidermist's building on site, and the park
contains a suspension bridge designed by Gustave
Eiffel. To permit the poorer citizens of Cairo
to visit the city's only green park, the entrance
fee is a very small amount and is not enough to
cover the costs of running the zoo. The zoo's
main goal is to entertain, rather than to educate
- however many rare species have been
successfully bred in the zoo - including the
first Californian Sealion to be born in the
Middle East in 2002.
4
A visit to Giza Zoo?
5
A visit to Giza Zoo?
6
Egyptian museum?
7
Egyptian museum?
The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, known
commonly as the Egyptian Museum, in Cairo, Egypt,
is home to the most extensive collection of
ancient Egyptian antiquities in the world. It has
120,000 items, with a representative amount on
display, the remainder in storerooms. The
museum's Royal Mummy Room, containing 27 royal
mummies from pharaonic times, was closed down on
the orders of President Anwar Sadat in 1981. It
was reopened, with a slightly curtailed display
of New Kingdom kings and queens, in 1985.
8
Egyptian museum?
9
Egyptian museum?
10
Visiting the pyramids?
11
Cairo Citadel
12
Cairo Citadel
The Saladin Citadel of Cairo (Arabic ???? ????
?????) is one of the most popular tourist
attractions of Cairo, Egypt. The location, part
of the Muqattam hill near the center of Cairo,
was once famous for its fresh breeze and grand
views of the city, and was fortified by the
Ayyubid ruler Salah al-Din (Saladin) between 1176
and 1183 AD, to protect it from the
Crusaders. It is sometimes referred to as
Mohamed Ali Citadel (Arabic ???? ???? ???),
because it contains the Mosque of Mohamed Ali (or
Muhammad Ali Pasha), which was built between 1828
and 1848, perched on the summit of the citadel.
This Ottoman mosque was built in memory of
Tusun Pasha, Muhammad Ali's oldest son, who died
in 1816. The citadel stopped being the seat of
government when Egypt's ruler, Khedive Ismail,
moved to his newly built Abdin Palace in the
Ismailiya neighborhood in the 1860s.
13
Cairo Citadel
The citadel also hosts cultural performances in
the evening, in this case a troupe of whirling
dervishes.   The dervishes belong to the Sufi
sect of Islam, which originated in Turkey from
the teachings of the Persian poet and theologian
Rumi.   The Sufis follow a mystical approach
which is very different than traditional Islam,
and many orthodox muslims consider them
heretical.  However its emphasis on the love of
God makes it the perfect brand of Islam to
present to western tourists, and the tradition of
poet, dance and song makes it very well suited to
this sort of display.   The audience at this
performance was certainly very enthusiastic, the
ushers had to continually remove barriers and
other furnishings from the room so that more
people could be allowed in, and there was a great
deal of applause throughout the show.
14
Cairo Citadel