Mint tea and empathy

It's house guest season, when many of us find ourselves with visitors who need to be amused. After a day's sightseeing what is left for those warm summer evenings? Aline Kazandjian walked along Muizz El-Din Street and Jenny Jobbins took a felucca, while Al-Ahram Weekly found the Ceramics Museum is open in the evening
The good thing about my friend Armin is that she is open to suggestions. No other friend would jump at the idea of taking an evening walk down Al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah Street in Islamic Cairo, sipping a cup of mint tea at Feshawi, and then delving into the dance of the whirling dervishes.
This is not your average relaxing promenade on a cool summer night in Cairo. You must be prepared to brave the crowds, dodge donkey carts, bicycles and other means of transport, and ward off eager shopkeepers who seem to think that anyone in blue jeans is a tourist who needs a "welcome to Egypt!"
Feshawi coffee shop in the Khan El-Khalili bazaar was a good place to set the evening's mood. The huge mirrors draped on the walls reflect a comforting sense of continuity: they have, after all, held the images of most of Egypt's intelligentsia, who have used Feshawi as a meeting place for more than half a century. Although intellectuals were a little thin on the ground at our visit, the mint tea, which came in miniature, white- enameled teapots, was compensation enough. It was about 7pm, and the heat was just starting to ease.
We set off from the spice and perfume bazaars at the corner of Al-Mu'izz and Al-Azhar Streets. Do not expect to be intoxicated by the scents of exotic spices or imitation Chanel No. 5, because the fumes exuded by the cars on Al-Azhar Street will overpower your olfactory senses. To get the real essence, you must step inside a shop. If you have time for only one spice merchant, I recommend the one bearing the impressive name of the "Khedr El-Attar Academy." Here you are waited on by "doctors" who will take you on a tour of the shop. There are heaps of spices and herbs of all shapes and colours and for every ailment; some to lose weight, others to gain it. The Israeli olive promises to melt kidney stones, while the baloot (no English translation) is worn as a pendant to ward off the evil eye. This place is a haven for alternative living.
Since my friend and I were too happy with our current lives to need an alternative we carried on, crossing Al-Muski Street and entering the goldsmiths' bazaar. The gods of temptation play devilish tricks on us ladies at this juncture. Be strong and walk fast by the glittering gold in the shop windows, which turns to copper as you reach the Suq El-Nahhasin (Copper Market). This, in turn, leads to the lemon, garlic and onion markets, and then to Bab El-Futuh, the northern end of Al-Mu'izz.
As you walk you cannot help but notice here and there a wooden door leading to a narrow staircase where children are playing, or a light glowing through a first-floor mashrabiya window. You are, after all, in a living mediaeval Islamic city. But on a summer's evening it is enough to leave history to the scholars and tourists and just look around and appreciate the beauty of the buildings, even if your mood is broken by the sight of air conditioning units next to the delicately-carved architectural elements, or interrupted as you squeeze past a highly-polished Jaguar stationed next to a liquorice-drinks stand. All evidence that, though old, these streets are still vibrant and alive.
In this 1,000-year-old city of the Fatimids, so threatened from all sides by modern encroachment, we found ourselves in front of the Mameluke complexes of Qalwun, El-Nasir and Barquq in the section of Al-Mu'izz still known as Bayn El-Qasrayn ("between the two palaces"). The "palaces" have long disappeared, but Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz made the place immortal when he chose it for his title Palace Walk, one of the volumes of his trilogy.
The 13th-century complex of Qalwun is undergoing restoration, but the guards at the gate invited us in for a sneak preview. The grandeur of the mausoleum chamber is impressive, especially when spotlights are directed to the intricately decorated ceiling, blacking out everything else. I felt like Lara Croft of Tomb Raider fame, because this would be a perfect location for a blockbuster film.
Speaking of film sets, our next stop was the alley called Al- Darb Al-Asfar, off Al-Mu'izz Street, where stands the newly- restored 16th-century merchant's house, Beit El-Suhaymi. The 300-metre long alley has recently received a face-lift. All the buildings have been given a fresh coat of off-white paint, while the mashrabiya windows have been painted and look brand new. The facades of the few shops in the alley have been standardised with a small woodwork tent and Arabic calligraphy. Was this a mediaeval alley or a period drama set?
We made our way back to Al-Mu'izz and carried on to the end of the road. The silhouette of the minarets against the moonlit sky was entrancing and some monuments were floodlit, enhancing their beauty. Most houses or sabils (water fountains) are, unfortunately, closed to visitors after 6pm, but we had entertainment in store -- a performance of whirling dervishes at the Mameluke palace of Sultan El-Ghuri.
Dervishes are Turkish Sufi devotees who seek God through spiritual and physical discipline, but the meditative dancing to the captivating rhythm of the tabla and accompanying zikr, while repeating in song the name of God and the Prophet and other Sufi sheikhs, has long enthralled European visitors. Indeed, all the 250 spectators present were tourists, which made it an enriching inter-cultural experience for both performers and audience. For 35 minutes we witnessed the continuous whirling, and when the dancer came to an abrupt standstill he accepted the applause of an enchanted audience. After this dizzy performance we could hardly stand on our feet, but, our spiritual appetite satisfied, it was time to answer our more mundane cravings. We ended our evening with two "sinful" fetiras, known to tourists as "Egyptian pancakes" -- flaky dough piled with sweet or savory tidbits and cooked while we waited -- and went home replete.
AK
Practical information:
Parking is difficult, so take a taxi to Al-Azhar, and ask the driver to drop you at the pedestrian bridge where Al-Mu'izz Street intersects with Al-Azhar Street. Beit El-Suhaymi is open daily from 10am to 6pm. The whirling dervishes perform on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 9pm at Qasr El-Ghuri. Be sure to get there at 8pm if you want to guarantee a place. Admission is free.
Up a lazy river
White sails in the sunset -- a romantic notion in a city approaching 15 million souls. But seeking romance on the spur of the moment is perhaps the best way to go -- less room for dashed hopes or false expectations. On this night, the Nile water was so high we all but had to paddle to the felucca. But though the elderly admiral of the small fleet moored alongside the Maadi Corniche may well have recalled the old days, when the flood rose in summer out of habit, this height was an exception. We settled comfortably on soft cushions, only to realise this was the "waiting room" and we would transfer to our boat when it drew astern. This happened all too soon: within a few minutes a pirate ship appeared, made up of a large crew which, if not particularly motley (they were all aged about nine) made up in noise what it lacked in gross bulk. Since I have in the past taken similar groups of pirates on similar birthday sails, I had every sympathy with the adults who had braved -- and survived -- the trip. They seemed cheerful -- probably because the party was over -- so, if any of the pirates had walked the plank or fallen overboard, they hadn't noticed.
It's best to embark on your felucca before sunset, but we were late, as usual. If anything, though, the darkness makes the excursion even more magical and unreal. The sounds of the nighttime Maadi revels, backed by the honking of car horns, drifted with us out on the river. We picked out the lights of the Grand Café and, further on, the Church of the Holy Virgin with its silhouette of fairy lights. Sometimes dodging other feluccas, mostly drifting alone, we tacked and drifted south.
It was quieter on the opposite bank from where only the odd jack o'lantern flickered and the main sound was the call of curlews. We opened the cool box, and then the warm box which held, in this case, freshly-delivered and still-warm pizzas.
As we drifted back the full moon was hanging over the sails and a welcome breeze helped push us to shore. Just after we disembarked we were surprised and delighted to see a small crayfish stumbling backwards across the stone path. It melted into the shadows before it reached the water. Mud for the crayfish, dry land for us: we had both had our small adventure, we had all escaped the pirates, and we had all remembered that, in Cairo, there is always the Nile to soothe the stresses of life.
JJ
Practical information
Feluccas can be hired along the Maadi Corniche north of the Grand Café. Price per hour LE25, plus a small bakshish for the captain.
Recommend this page
© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
Send a letter to the Editor