Islamic & Coptic Cairo

Cairo is not one city but many, layered on top of each other. The day begins in Old Cairo’s religious compound: the Hanging Church built over a gate of the Roman fortress of Babylon, the Church of Abu Serga where tradition says the Holy Family sheltered, the Ben Ezra Synagogue, and the Mosque of Amr ibn al-As, the first mosque built in Africa.

Next, climb to the Citadel of Saladin and the Mosque of Muhammad Ali, with its domes, slender minarets and views over the whole city, before descending into Fatimid Cairo and El Moez Street — the world’s largest open-air museum of Islamic architecture, with its mosques, madrasas and sabils.

The day ends in Khan El Khalili among brass, silver and perfume stalls, with a tea break at one of Cairo’s oldest cafés.