beautiful cairo

When I first visited Cairo last May, on my way into Gaza, I hated it. Hot, crowded, noisy, dirty, full of insane traffic, it is not a city that necessarily welcomes the foreign visitor on first arrival. (In fact, the cab ride from the Cairo airport to downtown was way scarier than anything I encountered in war-torn Gaza.)

But after spending a week there this time around, I started to really like Cairo. On one of the last days of our trip, we went out and did some touristy things, wandering through Islamic Cairo and up to the ancient Citadel, from which you can see all the way across the city to the pyramids on the other side, and whose walls enclose, among other things, the magnificent Mohammed 'Ali mosque.

These pictures from that excursion are, I think, some my favorite pictures I've ever taken. I'm amazed by the quality of light my non-professional digital camera was able to capture. If I had to do that Guardian "My Best Shot" thing right now, I think I'd pick the first one of these pictures. It looks like postcard.