Leaving at the Coptic church and passing the ruins of the Latin fortress tower, we make our way to the Greek Orthodox church of Saint George (Mari Girgi). Like the church of the Holy Virgin, this church has been founded in the 7th century. However, it burnt out in the 19th century and was replaced by a modern rotunda. According to our tourist guide, the windows are said to be particularly interesting.

Our final destination is one of the plenty narrow alleys of the historic centre of Cairo. Although the historic centre lies not close to the Nile, the walls show clear marks of former floods. "After the Aswan dam was built, groundwater levels rose" explains our tour guide. Therefore, many alleys are flooded frequently and large areas of the historic centre are threatened with decay. As a countermeasure, sluices have been installed above the aquifers and ground water levels have been lowered by pumping.
A few meters farther, our guide leads us into a small bazaar (which is rather a large single store). The prices seem to be rather high and bargaining (done by our guide) does not help much. Admittedly, instead of offering cheap prices they do not sell jerry-built trash. Their cups, chessmen and Egyptian sculptures are of high quality and the porcelain is authentic.

After already having seen the oldest synagogue and the oldest Coptic church of Cairo, we stopped our trip to the citadel for a short time to visit the Amr ibn el-As-mosque. It has been built in 641, only nine years after Mohammed’s death, and it is said that it is not only the oldest mosque of Cairo, but of whole Egypt.

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