Exploring Old Cairo.... Coptic and Islamic

Before going to Cairo I had never thought of it as an exceptionally populated city. How wrong I was.....present population is around 20 million, including the Giza area.
This means that traveling on any of its main roads is very very slow! And noisy...constantly beeping cars!
However the Old Christian part of the city does not have this problem......perhaps the metro stop  contributed to its lack of traffic!

We explored the area around the Hanging Church...

This was built over an old Roman fortress..... a tower base is all thats left....

It has some very old icons.....

 and also some new mosaics......

Interestingly this is also the area that Mary and Joseph came with the baby Jesus when they escaped into Egypt. A church has been built over where they lived while there...

 The Egyptians are now starting to promote a' Flight into Egypt' tour....

This old part of Cairo was very interesting......and quiet!

 and in the past was closed by a solid gate at night time!

After being immersed in the Christian side of Old Cairo we then went to the Islamic side....
the Khan el Khalili souk, a very different experience!

This part of the city was teeming with life......

We ended up in front of the Al Hussein Mosque which has lots of cafes in front of it.

I assume the large umbrellas were unfurled to protect people who could not fit inside the mosque for services...