Ateliers, metro, and a night time walk

The next day, we wanted to step up our costume shopping and decided to hit some of the ateliers. 

First stop was Amira el Kattan of Pharaonix, which happens to be in the same street as Lorna's apartment.  The workshop was chock full of costumes all getting parcelled up for export to the United States, in every colour you could possibly imagine and each one carrying characteristic exquisite beading.  We chatted and looked through the albums and my friend tried a stunning asuit galabeya.    The photo is of Lorna being fitted by Amira - a fascinating process to watch. 

Next stop was Eman Zaki, a short taxi ride away to Dokki.  Turning up without an appointment caused a bit of confusion on arrival, but very soon we were busy trying on costume after costume in the workshop.  That was until I found my perfect galabeya and then more confusion, with no one to explain to me how to actually order the exact dress that I wanted.  Time seemed to disappear at Eman's and eventually we were left tired, hungry and exhausted and I still hadn't ordered my dress.  That's when Ramy the tailor came to our rescue.  He ended up taking me and my friend out to a place nearby to buy us some extremely welcome Tamiya and Foull (both Egyptian staples).  

Once we had recovered enough, we took the Metro to head back to old Cairo to continue our shopping.  The Metro in Cairo, is surprisingly clean, quick, efficient and incredibly cheap (12p per trip).  It is also a great way to travel and avoid the traffic, fumes and heat.  We opted to travel in the women's carriage and it was a lovely experience just to people watch and enjoy the journey. 

When we got out, we headed to Mohammed Ali Street to buy some Sagat.  Finding the place was also an adventure as when I asked for directions, several very helpful people then tried to do their best to direct us away as they couldn't understand any reason why tourists would want to come here. 

For the evening we headed out to enjoy traditional music at the Egyptian Centre for Culture and Art at Makan (the place) to see the zar music performance.

At the end of the show there was another surprise treat in store for us.  Lorna had just finished work, and came to pick us up with her friend Sherif so that we could enjoy a late night walk through Islamic Cairo.  We walked along Sharia Al Muizz, a street with beautiful renovated buildings which are lit up at night. 

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