Mosque of Ibn Tulun

One of the few tourist sights I hadn't previously visited in Cairo was the Mosque of Ibn Tulun, and I'd be happy to return to it once or twice more. It's huge, provides amusing booties to wear over your shoes, and has a minaret which visitors can climb to get views of the city.

The climb is intermittently terrifying because there are no railings and nothing to prevent a person from tumbling over the edge, but the top is entertaining indeed.


Also there is a museum in a house named for a British man, Gayer-Anderson. He did some sort of doctoring which allowed him wealth enough to purchase two houses, one 16th century and one 17th, and combine them into a gorgeous home full of Islamic-art style furniture and overly-insistent guides (well, maybe the guides weren't around then) who told us the nature of every room (be it bed, living, dining or the like) in French.



Another day, we wandered a shopping area and came across bags and bags of wooden feet discarded on the street. I regret now that I didn't take one home.

We also spent one night in Alexandria, and saw all the sights there in about two hours. The best sight was the ancient catacomb into which tourists are able to climb, explore and look at ancient bones. Here is what is meant to be a sunset picture of Alex and the Mediterranean, but which looks grayer than I had hoped.