Cave Coptic Church of the Zabbaleen in Cairo, Egypt, Apr.2017

The Monastery of Saint Simon, also known as the Cave Church, is located in the Mokattam mountain in southeastern Cairo, Egypt, in an area that is known as "garbage city",because of the large population of garbage collectors or Zabbaleen that live there. The Zabbaleen are descendants of farmers who started migrating from Upper Egypt to Cairo in the 1940s., but eventually found collecting and sorting of waste produced by the city residents more profitable. The Zabbaleen would sort through household garbage, salvaging and selling things of value, while the organic waste provided an excellent source of food for their animals
The local Coptic Church in Mokattam Village was established in 1975., a site of 1,000 square meters. Several more churches have been built into the caves found in Mokattam, of which the Monastery of St. Simon the Tanner is the largest with a seating capacity of 20,000. like small sport stadium.  In fact, the Cave Church of St. Simon in Mokattam is the largest church in the Middle East. All biblical scenes of Jesus and other Saints was carved in the rocks by one polish Catholic sculptor about 40 years ago. It looks like the church was established 1600 years ago, when the ancient Egyptian accepted Christianity form Byzantium in 4th century.

We visited the small old Coptic churches in old Cairo on first day in Cairo. After our journey to Aswan, Nile and Luxor, visiting all main temples, Pyramids and Sphinx and the Valley of the Kings,  we wet back to Cairo for our flight back home. We were met om the local Airport by our first guide in Cairo  Mr.Sobhi Ibrahim. Coptic Christian and his driver, also Coptic Christian, and delivered with pride to the most interested church, we have ever seen - the Cave Church in the Mokattam  mountain around Cairo. It was Sunday one week before Eastern - The Palm Sunday. The Service was already completed and on the square and the streets around the Church all people were carrying palm leafs in their hands. We entered in the church, looked around, took a lot of photos from outside and inside an took some palm leafs from the altar, which brought in Seattle - me  and Sofia-Margy. All 48 photos taken there are shown in this small album.

 

 

Egypt - funny photos from the journey, Apr.2017

Egypt is the country of the artists. Everywhere is full of souvenirs different size and made by different  materials - alabaster, marble, metal,  wood, plastic and combination of them. The main objects are Tutankhamun, Nefertiti, Hatshepsut, lions, black dogs-Horus,, obelisks, and different ancient gods, like Amon, Amon Min, Amon Ra  etc. Egyptians are pretty and handsome, dressed very elegant in national and international costumes. The main occupation of half of Egyptian is production and to another half- selling of everything. The salesman are everywhere - around hotels, restaurants, ships, boats, bridges, ports,  around the Nile river...everywhere. They are walking around the streets,, siting, floating in small boats in the River etc.  .They take photos of the tourists and offer the photos high quality in ready folders for $5. You may buy souvenirs different size and materials for $1 to $150 or more. They simply pull your money  very elegant offering you high quality souvenirs, you cant refuse to buy. I took photos everywhere of different objects - people, souvenirs, monuments, buildings etc .Some funny photos are shown in this album.

 

 

The Valey ot the Kings, Luxor, Apr.2017

The Valley of the Kings is west of the Nile in the Theban Hills. It is the Valley in Egypt, where for a period of nearly 500 years from the 16th to 11th century BC, tombs were constructed for the Pharaohs and power nobles of the New Kingdom  (the Eighteenth to Twentieth Dynasties of Ancient Egypt). The Valley stands on the west bank of the Nile, opposite Thebes (modern Luxor), within the heart of the Theban Necropolis. The Valley consists two valleys, Eats Valley (where the majority of the royal tombs are situated and West Valley. The Valley is known to contain 63 tombs and chambers (ranging in size of KV54, a simple pit, to KV5. A complex tomb with over 120 chambers. The royal tombs are decorated with scenes from Egyptians mythology and shown funeral rituals of the period. Almost all the tombs seem to have been opened and robbed in antiquity, but they st ill give ideas of the power of the Pharaohs. In modern times the Valley has become famous for the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun by an English archaeologist Howard Carter in 1922 and is of the most  visited archaeological sites in the world. In 1979 it became a Would Heritage Site. Exploration, excavation and conservation continues in the Valley, and a new tourist center has recently been opened. We visited 3 tombs: of Merpentan, Ramses IV and Ramses VI. The Tutankhamun Treasures we saw in Egyptian Museum in Cairo. It was forbidden to us cameras or video cameras in the Valley. We took only first 4 photos of the House of Carter on the hills around road. We left ours in the car in the parking place outside. Our guide Ragab  immediately found (to buy) a set of photos of most of the tombs. I scanned the most representative of them, shown in this album.