Sunday, February 05, 2006

Walking Today




Today we went for another walk through the Khan al Kalili area but this time through the area towards the North wall and much less frequented by tourists. I enjoy seeing what people who live in a place like Cairo themselves do- what kind of food do they buy- what kind of things do they cook in- how do they pass the day? We also visited Bayt Suhaymi a house dating from 1648 which was partially destroyed by an earthquake and restored with help from the United nations.It has wonderful mashrabiyya and a wonderful "blue"tiled room plus some pretty wonderful floor tiles in the public rooms.
I am also very fond of doors and arches- and some of the doors in Cairo are pretty spectacular- the carving intricate , and in the one pictured a finely crafted metal overlay which has green cast to it which contrasted beautifully with the rich brown of the wood.

4 comments:

Claire said...

Dijanne, I'm enjoying travelling vicariously through you at the moment :-) Thanks for shareing
Cheers
Claire

Olga Norris said...

A visual feast. I hope that you are consuming some of that lovely food too. The smells must be glorious. Your excellent photos bring back the markets of my childhood which way back then. And I have always had a passion for Isnik and similar tiles. I am really enjoying your posts. Thanks.

Frances said...

Dijanne, thank you for your tour of Cairo, wonderful inspiration of pattern,

the solitary thread said...

I agree with the 'visual feast' comment, just stunning. The pattern and colours are absolutely amazing and very inspiring. Thanks for the great photos and the great blog. :)
MissMeshell