I am not certain how any experience could be more dramatic
than waking up in Lubbock, Texas, catching an airplane, and
soon arriving in Cairo,
Egypt. I have done so more times now than I can count, but it
remains both extraordinary and very pleasant. Obviously,
there is the cultural side to this transformation, but not so
much as one might expect. Even on my first visit, I can
remember finding the people strangely familiar. They work
hard, and have exceptional family values, reminding me of the
residents in the even smaller Texas village where I grew up.
On any given day, men can be found gathered around old friends
in the coffee houses, just as the farmers in Crosbyton, Texas
met in the local restaurant each morning. In that small
farming community, frequently the only public entertainment
was the weekly high school football game, which became the
topic of discussion throughout the remainder of the week.
Though the game is different, we would call it soccer, the
people of Cairo also love their football. Otherwise, the
topics usually centered on business and the struggles of
common people where I grew up, just as in Cairo. I have found
through the years that in many parts of the world, including
Egypt, a close examination of the people reveals that they are
very much like myself. They value life, their families and the
means to support both. Where people differ much is in regions
where one or more of these basics is widely missing, but
Egypt is not one of these places.
 This makes Egypt comfortable and its people are also very
friendly and accommodating, and that makes the extreme
differences all the more pleasant. As I depart Lubbock, with
its flat plains, sprawling ranch style houses and utilitarian
buildings, I step into a world of high culture. This change is
much more drastic for me than for someone from one of the
major cities of the world such as New York, Paris or London.
Those unfamiliar with Cairo
might not think of it as a place where culture abounds, but
just as in these other monuments to civilization, there are
the fine art galleries with works by masters, the opera, very
fine restaurants, grand parks and more places to see and
things to do than one can possibly experience in a single
lifetime. While this extravaganza of entertainment may not be
so foreign to those who live in very large cities, it was, at
least on my first visits, completely alien to me. Of course,
over time and my many visits to Egypt and other cities of the
world, it has become more familiar.
 After visiting Egypt so many times, what remains completely
fascinating to me is the extraordinary and exotic visual
essence of Cairo.
From one end of Cairo's sprawling, greater metropolis the
visions of 4500 year old pyramids,
modern malls, elaborate ancient religious complexes, 19th
century French apartment complexes, with vast cemeteries,
modern block housing, skyscrapers, art deco and the grand Nile
River thrown into the mix, assaults the senses like no
other city on earth. At home, I drive to work each morning
with my eyes on the traffic, but in Cairo, my journeys about
the city are ever and always filled with awe and amazement as
I gawk, from district to district, at this ever changing
cityscape.
This then is Cairo,
a city that spans time, that embraces the modern inhabitants,
the rich, many middle class, as well as the poor, while at the
same time making room for those ghosts of the distant, and
very ancient past. It is a city that I have fallen in love
with, and like having a good wife, that love has grown deeper
and stronger and, while comfortable, it still remains
mysterious.
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| Ceramics
Museum (1924) |
Prayer
Hall in the Mosque of al-Azhar (969-1894) |
Imad
al-Din |
Stucco
work within the Mosque of 'Amr (641) |
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| Sabil-Kuttab
of Umm 'Abbas (1867) |
Diana
Palace Sinema (1932) |
Detail of
the Mausoleum of Qalawun (1284-85) |
Interior
of the Church of St. Barbara, Fourth Century |
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| Villa
Amster (Now German Chamber of Commerce) (1912) |
Wakala of
Ghuri (1504) |
Groppi's
Coffee House (1924) |
Bayt al-Suhaymi
(1648-1796) |
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| Sabil of
'Abd al-Rahman Katkhuda (1744) |
Stucco
Mihrab in the Mosque of Ibn Tulun (876-79) |
Detail of
the interior dome of the Mosque-Madrasa of Barquq
(1384-86) |
Minaret
of the Madrasa of al-Nasir Muhammad (1294-1304) |
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| Amna bint
Salim House (1540) |
Interior
Dome of the Mosque-Madrasa of Sultan al-Nasir Hasan
(1356-59) |
Gezira
Palace (Now the Marriott Hotel) (1863-64) |
Madraa
and Mausoleum of Qaytbay (1472-74) |
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| Mosque of
Muahmmad Ali (1827-57) |
Dome of
the Mosque of Sulayman Pasha (1528) |
Detail of
Sakakini Palace |
Tiring
Department Store (1913) |
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| Mosque of
Muhammad Bey, Abu al-Dhahab (1774) |
Dome
above the central section of the Prayer hall in the
Madrasa and Mausoleum of Qaytbay |
House of
Uthman Katkhuda (1350) |
The
Sednaouui Department Store (1913) |
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| First
Residence/Four Seasons Hotel (1998-99) |
Looking
over the Banks of the Nile |
Sakakini
Palace (1897) |
Interior
dome of the Mausoleum of Shafi'i (1211) |
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Archives
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