Egypt – Coptic Quarter

Mary was recovering from being a sick, so we slept in late. We'll do the pyramids tomorrow. Today we visited the [Coptic] Christian part of town. Egypt was primarily Christian until the Arabs invaded in the 7th century. The Coptic Church split off from the Roman Catholic church in the 5th century.

The area had a Coptic museum and a few nice churches. Honestly, the building the Coptic Museum was in seemed nicer than most of the stuff they had. There was a multitude of window boxes with nice wooden screens, and the ceiling was pretty. There was a nice courtyard that rekindled our interest in having one in our home. The exhibits were well done, but not very spectacular. Cameras were prohibited, so I can only show you the outside.

From Cairo

The churches in the area felt like you might expect a Middle Eastern Church to feel like. There was incense, and the room was dark and intimate. The Hanging Church was built in an old Roman tower. The tower formerly looked out over the Nile, but the Nile has changed course since then. There was a service going on at one of the churches we dropped into, and we got sprinkled with holy water, again. :-)

From Cairo

From Cairo

They really seem to like St. George here. There was even a St. George convent. Lucky St. George! Not quite sure how St. George got to be so popular here though, since we went to the spot where he supposedly killed the dragon when we were in England.

From Cairo

We made it a short day and spent the afternoon playing cards, since Mary didn't want to exert herself too much just yet.