On a walking tour of Islamic Cairo today, we strolled among the alleys filled with homes, madrassas and mosques built from the 11th to the 17th centuries. We began at the Bab Zuweila, an 11th century gate of the old Fatimid city wall (circa 1092 AD). I climbed up in one of the minarets for a spectacular view of the neighborhood (and suffered a momentary bout of acrophobia as I walked on a rickety steel ladder toward the highest point). Then we dodged motorscooters and saturday shoppers along a street that was a lively souk (market) and, with an expert guide from AUC’s Arab Studies department, ducked into doorways leading to hidden places off the normal tourist track.
