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Places to Visit
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The layout of downtown Cairo goes back to the 1860s when Khedive Ismail wanted to beautify the city for the inauguration of the Suez Canal. Impressed with the layout of Paris's Grand Boulevards he copied Baron Haussmann's idea and had a grid of wide, straight streets dividing Cairo into four parts.
The river Nile is fundamental to basic orientation bearing in mind that it flows northwards across the city so that downriver means north and upriver means south, a reversal of the usual situation.
Central Cairo: Ramses Station, the city's main train terminal, most banks, etc
East Cairo: Islamic Cairo, the Khan El Khalili
Southeast Cairo Coptic Cairo, Saad Zaghloul Mausoleum, Sayyida Zeinab Mosque, Ibn Tulun Mosque
West bank of the Nile: residential neighborhoods of Agouza, Dokki, etc |
Sightseeing in Cairo
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This area is no more Islamic than the rest of Egypt but named so because it is the site of the oldest mosques. The best and possibly the only way to explore Islamic Cairo, or Fatimid Cairo as it is also known, is by walking. There are several routes to follow so if you go on your own equip yourself with a good map and get ready to step back in time. Despite the damage caused by the 1992 earthquake, Islamic Cairo still stands much the way it did during its medieval past, some sites may still be closed due to reconstruction made possible by the World Monuments Fund.
Islamic Cairo is made up of about half a dozen mini cities. When the Muslim troops conquered Egypt they established their own city, called Al Fustat just north of Coptic Babylon. The following dynasties, including the Fatimid's, added their own headquarters as the city grew in size but declined in power. Expand | |
