short time-lapse videos of downtown

Midan Tahrir ("plaza of editors," as in newspaper editors, I think) is the focus of 20th century Cairo. It's a giant traffic circle with, among other things, the Egyptian Museum, the Mugamma (like a national city hall), and two KFCs, and provides a strangely popular place for young couples to sit evenings holding hands, inhaling the exhaust, and watching the world spin around them. These are time-lapse, so no cacophony.

These are taken off to the side of the circle, in front of the Mugamma.

spinning kunefa

This is kunefa being made. It's just flour and water, spun on this machine into delicate little strands and then made into a variety of desserts with corn syrup, honey, nuts, and the like.

This was taken in Rosetta, home of the famous stone, on our Alexandria trip a few weeks ago.

garbage city and cave church

A couple of weeks ago we went exploring with Rebecca and Walid.

While the architecture and roads look like most any neighborhood in Cairo, the economy of this mostly Christian neighborhood is based on processing garbage. The organic matter was traditionally fed to pigs, until the government recently freaked out about swine flu and tried to kill them all. Everything else is recycled. Giant bags of stuff sat waiting to be processed.


Man carrying a load of some kind of recyling while chatting on his cell.

Rebecca and Walid and Rachel are standing in front of the imposing gate that marks the end of the neighborhood and the beginning of the church property. Beyond this, there was much less garbage on the ground than most places in Cairo.


Inside the smaller of two meeting halls carved into the hillside.

The ten commandments are carved huge and way up in the cliffside.


A typical Cairo moment: Before we get in the cab, the driver assures us that he knows exactly where we're going. Then after a couple of minutes he starts pulling over and asking everyone he passes where this thing is that we're looking for and he's never heard of. Everyone he asks kindly gives directions, but we get lost again after a minute and ask someone new.


Just after leaving garbage city we passed through a very posh new neighborhood near the top of the hills that overlook Cairo. At a funky old cafe on the cliffside we had a great view, unusual in a city that is mostly flat. In the foreground is a military station.

salad

Ingredients: shredded beets, bell peppers, apples, cilantro, parsley, toasted almonds and pistachios. Yum.
And fresh rosemary-cracked pepper biscuits.