Muqattam Hills

The legend:
According to Coptic sayings, the Caliph Al Muizz, (caliph is the English form of the Arabic word "khalifa" "successor to the messenger of God.") an enlightened man, was fond of literacy gatherings and inviting different religious leaders to debate in his presence with neither anger nor contention.

In one of those meetings in which Pope Abram and a Jew named Jacob Ibn Killis were present, the Pope got the upper hand in the debate. Plotting to take revenge, Ibn Killis quoted the verse where the Lord Jesus said in Mt 17:20:

"If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to the mountain, Move from here to there, and it will move, nothing will be impossible for you"

and demanded him to prove that his religion is right by means of this. The Caliph saw in this an opportunity to remove the mountain that was spoiling his view. At the same time, if the Christians proved unable to perform this miracle, than it would be proof that the religion of the Christians was wrong and they would be forced to convert to Islam.

And so, after three days of prayers and fasts by the people throughout the land of Egypt, Simon was chosen to move the Muqattam Mountain. It is said that a great earthquake swept over the mountain. Each time the people stood up to worship, the mountain was thrust up and the sun would be seen from under it. When the people sat down, the mountain thrust down. This was repeated three times. Afterwards, the Caliph was racked with fear and embraced the Pope warmly and this was a new beginning for a good friendship between them.

So the Coptics were left alone to worship but were not allowed to roam out of the area.

Muquattam Hills is home to over 700,000 Coptic Egyptians. The Coptics living in this area have survived solely on garbage. The area is the main garbage dump for Cairo, but also houses most of the people who collect Cairo's trash. This district is named Zabaleen (Garbage collectors in Arabic), so literally, this is "Garbage City". They include more than 17,000 garbage collectors or zabbaleen, who live in dusty squatter settlements of teeming, narrow dirt lanes. There they sort and recycle the garbage produced by Cairo's burgeoning population.

They start working in the early morning; go to every place in Cairo to collect garbage, and then go back to Muqattam where the trash is dumped. One must keep in mind that Cairo has some 21 million people, and just about all their trash ends up here.

I have mentioned the recycling process before in past emails but will recap here. Mike and I leave our garbage and recyclables outside our apt. door. Ahmed, the boab, collects the refuse and takes what he can use from the pile. He then throws it in to the dump area on the street. The donkey cart comes by and picks it up, also taking what they can use. It is then brought into "Garbage City" where it is picked through by the people who live there.

The buildings house more garbage than people. They have collected bricks and add a floor when they can. You can see this building is in progress.


This building house many different animals used for food: goats, chicken, and cows. Another area there are pigs for eating the food garbage. Coptics eat pig unlike the Muslims.


As you drive along the vehicleless streets you see piles of recyclables. We definitely felt awkward and out of place in the taxi. Magdi was allowed to drive us in because he is Coptic.


We drive into an area an notice a marketed change in the cleanliness of the streets and the people. We turn a corner and see the secret churches and religious carvings.

There are seven churches and chapels in hollowed out caves, each dedicated to a different Saint. The legend holds that the population grew too large to be contained in one church so they prayed for a miracle. The earth shook and the top of the hill crumpled throwing a huge boulder down to the ground. The boulder crashed into the side of the hill. When they moved the boulder they found a cave large enough for 1500 people. They removed the rubble and worshiped peacefully for centuries. The community grew and grew to 35,000 people. So again they prayed and again a boulder from the hill crashed into the side and another cave was discovered that could hold 35,000 people.


The seating is carved directly out of the rock and wood planks are placed on top for comfort.


Scenes from the Bible are carved on he walls. A close up of the striations looks like a man preaching.


With the efforts of the recycling center they have added tv screens and surround sound.


Again the population grew, they prayed, and now a total of 7 churches all in caves are in use.


This city inside the city is an amazing place. The people are doing the best they can with the situation that has been handed to them. They have created schools for children: the children are allowed to go to school one day a week and are actually paid to attend so they do not get in trouble from their parents for not working. The less capable women were rounded up and placed in a training section to learn to create things from the recyclable materials. They are now productive members of the society. They also make an income from selling their beautiful papers, purses, and needlework.

Unfortunately the center was closed so we could not purchase anything. I did learn a great deal abut the area and it was an very eyeopening experience.

After Philae Temple we headed to the Old Cataract Hotel for lunch. Cataract in this sense means rapids, which was how the Nile used to flow when this hotel was built by Thomas Cook in 1899. The hotel is on a granite outcrop that bubbles over into the green Nile, overlooking 3,000-year-old garrison ruins on Elephantine Island. We paid our 85LE to get in and look around. The LE would go to food and drinks later. We wandered around the hotel to enjot the views.

The Secret Garden door was Emma's find. She has read the book series an was thrilled to find the entrance.


She beckons us on and what a sight!


Flowers of course, one of my favorite topics to shoot.




The West Bank


The real photographers.


The only time the kid posed in 10 days.


If you have seen Death on the Nile then you have seen this magnificent hotel.


This is a great representation of Islamic art.

No hotel is complete without a bar...

and stools.

The lighting was soft and welcoming as well as beautiful to look at.


We hopped onto the felucca from the Cataract in order to see sunset on the Nile which was absolutely beautiful, much better than the Nile in Cairo.


Ok so we are out in the felucca and Mike points out these kids in small boats that are rowing with their hands or small pieces of wood. They heckle the felucca boats.


Another favorite topic to shot....the crosses.


and Amy...

and domes....

and St. George...

and terracotta lights...


Egyptian flag tattered in the breeze...


Tombs of the Nobles looked so inviting that the next day we got up and headed out to climb to the top. We negotiated a motor boat to take us over to the West Bank.

At the crest of the hill is the domed tomb of a Muslim prophet which gives the hill its local name, Qubbet el-Hawa or 'Dome of the Winds'.

Amy and Mike headed to the ticket office.


blah blah blah...history of the tombs....





This facade looks like it is going to drop into the Nile.


Emma lines the wall as a statue of a mummy to add one more to the 3 that flank the entry way to the tomb.


The false door was intended to allow the deceased a link between the living and the dead so the deceased could receive sustenance from the land of the living. This is outside the false door in the offering chamber where food was left for the Ka, spirit of the dead.



Views of the Nile.



As we wander around the 100s of tombs we come across these Coptic images. As you can see in this drawing Jesus is holding the 10th digit of his hand as the imagery in St. Anthony's Monastery did. Again it signifies that in all language the word fro Jesus begins with the 10th letter.



The owners of these tombs were father and son, both Overseers of Upper Egypt in Dynasty VI during the reign of Pepy II. Reliefs on the walls of Mekhu's tomb record his murder while on an expedition in Nubia and the revenge taken by Sabni, his son. He seems to have been buried with much ceremony.

The owner of this tomb was another Overseer of Foreign Troops during the reign of Pepy II of Dynasty VI. The tomb has a columned façade, biographical texts and good reliefs showing hunting and bull-fighting scenes. Heqa-ib was the deified official whose cult chapel stood on Elephantine Island.

We headed back to the Basma hotel and had to take a few more photos.

Aswan Coptic Orthodox Church.


I could not give up the picture of the cross.


Donna suffering from Pharaoh's Curse decided not to go with us to the Tombs of the Nobles. After all of our amazing stories she walked away disgusted! No really she was luring the cat in the background away from our table as the cat decided it liked me and wanted to rub all over my legs....cats definately know when you are allergic to them.