June 5: Crosses, Icons and Graves

Today, Hillary and I decided to go on an adventure and visit Coptic Cairo. We rode the metro four stops south to Mar Girgis. Coptic Cairo was there, immediately outside of the station with beautiful Byzantine-like churches all around. The Coptic Museum was closing in 2 hours so we stopped by there first. We were amazed by the beauty of the wall paintings, the column capitals, friezes and mosaics - all from old Egyptian Coptic monasteries. Also, there were gorgeous illuminated copies of the gospels in both Arabic and Coptic.

After leaving the museum, we explored the Church of St. George, who is known for his slaying of the dragon, and the Church of the Virgin Mary, which was built at the spot where she supposedly drank water from a well during her visit to Egypt. Within the Church of St. George, there were signs on which people wrote their names or prayers and icons of St. George that people touched, hoping for a blessing. Located in the middle of an immense cemetery, the Church of the Virgin Mary houses a well from which the faithful drink to obtain blessings or physical healing.

After leaving the churches, we continued our adventure by descending down steps – guarded by a very bored Egyptian tourist police officer - to a sub-alley. Here, Hillary and I entered a nunnery that was being remodeled, encountered our first beggar, and visited a souvenir shop, where we befriended one of the shop-keepers (Marian). After chatting (in English) with her for a good 45 minutes, we exchanged email addresses in hopes of meeting up with our friends and her friends later this summer. Our visit to Coptic Cairo was definitely a wonderful adventure and opportunity to use our Arabic to get around. We can’t wait to take everyone else back.