The Citadel

As Kara had class and papers, Sara was our tour guide for Sunday in Cairo. After lunch, we went to the Citadel, originally built by Saladin in the 12th century. We were lucky with the weather and had a clear view of the city. Within the Citadel, we saw a few mosques, including the famous Mosque of Muhammed Ali, the National Military Museum and the National Police Museum. Muhammed Ali, built in the 19th century, was large and impressive, but I thought the smaller mosques, Al-Nasir Muhammed and especially Suleiman Pasha, had a lot of character. The museums were mostly propaganda, but at least they were air-conditioned. The National Police Museum was entertaining because it was really pathetic, or as Kara describes, "like a 5th grader's project."

Energy zapped by the heat, we lounged around the rest of the day and went to dinner that night. Greg and I were to catch a nine-hour train for Luxor at 12:30 am, but Greg was feeling pretty sick and we decided he would be better off staying behind while I went on alone. He ended up leaving Egypt the next day and is now doing better.