Now that we are home and back into the swing of normal life – I’ve had a hard time finding time to finish up the last leg of our Egypt trip.

After our last night in Luxor, we were all heading to the airport. Michael had warned us that the officials at the Luxor airport were “moody” and that he would try to stick with us as much as possible. However, he had a flight to catch himself.

We quickly found out that Michael was right. We had brought a small portable USB fan – in case it was hot and if the hotel didn’t have AC. Even though we were checking this bag, before we even made it to the counter they ran our bags through security. The agent asked me what “machine” was in the bag – after some digging and limited language we were able to realize it was the fan. He let me keep it – just needed to see it. At this point, Andy made it through the first round of security safely.

We checked our luggage at the counter and then moved through what most Americans would consider the normal security portion. This time – I came out unscathed. However, once I was on the other side I realized that Andy was animatedly working with the agent over something in his backpack. It wasn’t until we were reunited on the other side that he told me they took his spiral remover of stopper crock. Uh, what? They took our travel corkscrew! 😂

It was a rather uneventful flight from there – very short flight from Luxor to Cairo. Once we landed in Cairo and retrieved our bags we were split into different busses. Individuals from all of the tour busses were split into those going to the Saladin Citadel and those that were going to the market and back to the hotel. We would still get to see the market, but would go to the Citadel first.

This was a new tour guide – our friends Chelsea and Michael (not to be confused with tour guide Michael!) had him for the whole trip. His day job is as a professor – and he does one week a month as a tour guide. You can definitely see his passion in his work.

We approached the Citadel and were immediately told to take off our shoes. We were heading to the Alabaster Mosque first. At the time, we didn’t know this. And we were standing in our socks (from some people barefoot) outside the mosque. They also let us know that women needed to have their head covered – either by a scarf or a hat. Honestly, I think this was the first time we had been told that.

And I mean WHOA. The second we walked into the mosque – I was in shock. I don’t know why we were waiting outside. It was STUNNING inside. One of the highlights of the trip for me. I’ll let you be the judge of that.

This is the Alabaster Mosque, but is also the Mosque of Muhammad Ali. This was built in the 1800s. All of the Saladin Citadel is perched on a high point above Cairo. You can even see the Giza Plateau (the pyramids!) from there!

There was a lot to learn at the Saladin Citadel. Honestly, our new tour guide was hard for me to pay attention to. 😩🙈

After this, we went to the Coptic neighborhood. Cairo has an interesting religious history – this was the old Christian neighborhood. I don’t want to pretend to be an expert of any sort – on any religion. However, it was fun to get to see so many old buildings.

It is called the Hanging Church because it was built on the southern gate of the Roman Fortress. From the 7th century to the 13th century, the Hanging Church served as the residence of the Coptic Patriarch.

I don’t think I can do the story Justine, I would recommend looking up its history to learn more about “moving a mountain.” Where we went next was quite, well interesting for those following the Christian faith. Or – if you know some of the stories from the Bible. We entered the area where the Holy Family fled from King Herod.

The Cavern Church is a beautiful church and a lot of history. This cave is believed to be where the Holy Family took shelter – and the well that they drank from.

The Holy Family is believed to have spent roughly 3.5 years fleeing from Herod in Egypt. Look up more details, I know I’m not doing it justice.

Keeping in mind that the church we are walking in was built in 5th century AD. We were back on the main floor.

There was a conflict that took place during 1967 in the Holy Land- members of the church noticed that there was blood flowing from the middle of the second pillar. They called for St. Cyril VI to tell him what happened. He came and prayed and put his finger on the blood which stopped immediately.

You can still see blood on the column.

I feel like I can’t do this blog post justice, so please if you are interested look up each of these places. The history has so much to say.