Coptic Cairo

Our guests hired a guide we recommended to show us Coptic Cairo. We had never been before, so were looking forward to our third day of sight seeing. We started the tour by joining in the last half hour of a church service in one of the oldest churches in Cairo. We were blessed with the priest throwing water at us at the end, and after communion were invited to eat some of the holy bread.

We saw a Jewish synagogue and about five churches, as well as the Coptic Museum. Our guide made it all meaningful.

Everywhere we go, we are reminded that this is one of the holy lands where Jesus walked while he was on earth. 

Our guide is pointing out the route that the holy family took while in Egypt. Records of their sojourn go back to about 400 AD. 

We are looking at photo collages of the recent Coptic Popes' lives. There have been 108 since St Mark founded the Christian church in Egypt. 

We are coming down the steps of the hanging church that was built on top of a Roman tower.

Our final church of the day was the Greek Orthodox Church. It is in the shape of a circle. Our guide dropped us off at home and then we went out for a late lunch at an air conditioned restaurant, because by 3:00 pm we were really hot and hungry.

In the evening we packed our bags for North America and went out for gelati before heading to the airport.