A Dream of Egypt: The City of Opposites

by Deniz Emrah Baykal (Turkey)

I didn't expect to find Egypt

“The time runs much faster now in this ancient city” said our local guide Ali as he gazed his eyes up at the exquisite minarets of Hüseyin Mosque. The Khan Khalili Bazaar was reasonably crowded on this sweltering day of Cairo. The enigmatic sound of the prayer echoed around the square before the mosque and around the surrounding cafés, tea houses that are always packed with tiresome travelers and reckless locals resting together with the stray cats on the pavements. Drinking up our teas flavored with fresh mint leaves, Ali guided us to the minibus awaiting a block down the square. He added “you are to witness the extreme contrasts; the modern and the ancient, the young and the old, the rich and the poor…” Seeing the archaic and the modern faces of Egypt was predicable but the rich and the poor was probably the less expected for the many. We had already acquainted with the middle-aged and the elderly street vendors, salesclerks and young locals rushing around the centrum. Many visitors from our group got back on the vehicle carrying plastic bags filled with hand-made souvenirs of alabaster Egyptian gods, Nefertiti, Tutankhamun and countless other members of the civilizations’ deities. Each traveler’s motive was to take a small piece of this charming discreetness and mysticism of the Ancient Egypt back home to be placed in their most exclusive chambers; unlike many treasures of this old land, nothing was robbed, but was just borrowed for a very short life-long time. As the minibus slowly passed through the narrow streets, everyone looked out the windows to catch a glimpse of every random face and story on the modern and alive side of the city. In the afternoon the city trip was towards the old, the ancient and finally to the dead. The Parisian Cairo, the bourgeoisie residences of the city slowly disappeared and there stood a tall wall concealing the slums of the city. “It is aimed to hide the ghettos encircling the beautiful monuments; baths, shrines, tombs displaying the most elegant stone work with their roofs standing out proudly among this shack town. They are the true gems of their eras and have shone through hundreds of years… like that Mosque of Suleiman Pasha al-Khadim over there, or that roof of Bab Zuweila on the left or.. El Muallaqa-The Hanging Church… But, it is definitely not so safe to visit those even in the day time, so we’ll stay on this side of the wall”. Then, it was our revelation what Ali meant by “seeing the poor and the rich”, the distinction slightly blending in some parts of the city but so sharp and concrete as this wall sparing the wretched from the rest of the world. As the narration faded away, the enthusiastic travelers sunk into some bitter silence. Our last stop was the Giza Plateau. As the vehicle stopped across the greatest monuments of all times, the delicate breeze blowing from the desert welcomed the group along with its magnificent scenery. Ali, standing before the group stretched his arms up in the air, started talking before he left us all in silence again: “Here you are dear guests, today’s journey ends here! As being the mortal shadows passing by this time today, let's salute the tombs of three great kings, the world of the dead and the Great Sphinx that has faced the dawn for thousands of years. And most probably, we will all be gone as he continues saluting the sun and the prospective guests like you for another thousand years”. With the guide's last words in their ears and the vision in their eyes, all travelers were drawn into all too common dream of Egypt; the old and the new, the modern and the ancient, the poor and the rich…and the life and the death.