Al Azar Park and the Citadel

I realize I have kind of disappeared of the face of the Earth for some, but I’ve been in a writer’s rut as of late. Until I snap myself out of it, and find something positively riveting to say, I’ll keep the blog alive with some pictures I totally forgot to post. I know, I know. It’s a total cop-out, but what can you do?

Anyway, while Faye’s friends were visiting, we took the time to do some touristy stuff around Cairo. The pictures below are from Al Azar Park and the Citadel. Al Azar was absolutely beautiful, a spectacular oasis in the middle of Cairo with an amazing view of the city.


This is the view from the lookout in Al Azar Park. Pretty cool. We happened to be there on a Friday and heard all the calls to prayer from every direction of the city. The sing song reciting of the Koran took on a beautiful but ghostly quality.


Pretty groomed gardens with Gazeebos.

View over most of the park. The building at the top is a cafe and restaurant.

Arty picture of tree and Mosque. Go me!

Oooo. Pretty!

This is inside the Cafe...with yet another spectacular view of the city. One thing you'll notice about Cairo is that while its a major city, it's not very modern. There are no skyscrapers, just giant cement building everywhere with a mosque about every 100 yards.

This is at the citadel. Well, part of it. It's basically a fortress with Mosques in it. The Citadel was pretty, but there's not a whole lot to it.

Another pretty view of a mosque in the Citadel.

This was amazing...would have been even better if there weren't so many people, but oh well. It's the first Mosque I've been in that wasn't open air. The candles and the ceiling were amazing.

Picture of some ceiling art.

Also in the Citadel is a military museum. It was outrageous. I wish I had some pictures of the inside reenactment mannequins but you had to pay to bring in a camera. I'll leave it to your imagination.

P.S. Dad, if you have any idea what these thingy's are, feel free to comment. I have tons more pictures of weaponry, but kinda felt like, if you've seen one piece of artillery, you've seen them all.

Tanks. Cool.

This was one of many plaques around. Interesting imagery. Also note that it reads from right to left like Arabic does. Ironically it's labeled in English.