Wish I Was Here

There are thousands of mosques in Cairo...thousands in the city and even tiny hand-built mosques scattered throughout the farmland. Mosques are wonderful places, peaceful and welcoming. This particular photo was taken in the main mosque of Mohamed Ali at the Citadel in Cairo. It isn't particularly old, only a couple hundred years or so, but when I was traveling back and forth between Toronto and Cairo with two small children it was one of our favourite stops on a busy day. I could let the kids run off steam in the park of the Citadel and then they would be happy to lay down on the carpet and just check out for an hour's nap. People come and go, some to pray and some just to admire the lovely architecture that is reminiscent of the Grand Mosque of Istanbul that was once the church of Hagia Sophia. No one ever is concerned that children sleep in a quiet corner or that an old woman sits in a sunny spot to watch passersby or that students study together somewhere else. These are truly centers of community in the old sense of the word