Cairo: Day 1 - Tentmakers

As evening fell in Islamic Cairo, we finally arrived at Tentmakers' Street (souk/bazaar/khan). Until I read an entry on Jenny Bowker's blog "Postcards from Cairo" I did not know that this covered street was built in 1647 for shoemakers. The fact that it is a covered street lined on both sides with narrow shops lends the shopping experience there a kind of intimacy. And the prices are certainly much more reasonable than if you were purchasing these same items in the Khan el-Khalili or in a shop in Luxor!

Khan Khayamiya (Tentmakers) at night

I was heading to see my friend Ayman Molokhya, from whom I had purchased three wonderful pieces last March--and I just realized that I never posted those pictures:

I couldn't quite remember where Ayman was located, just that his shop was on the right as one headed south along the street, so I ended up stopping to visit with, and eventually buy from, a lovely older gentleman, Ashraf Hashem. He was able to show me some new product lines: dervishes with skirts of silk and appliquéd canvas bags. Of course, we had to drink. This is an important part of any visit in Egypt. This evening we opted for hot karkaday (hibiscus). While I looked and we visited, Ashraf asked me my name and proceeded to draw it in calligraphic shapes: a bird, a fish, a mandolin and a teardrop!

Delightful! And here are my purchases from this shop:

As we were leaving and heading out of Tentmakers, we saw Ayman outside his shop. He recognized me and we stopped to chat and admire his work. But both Andy and I were too exhausted to do any serious shopping at this point. So I gave him the photo we had had taken last time:

And I promised him I would return. Which I did, but that's the subject of another post...