Tour of Citadel, Old Cairo and Khan al Khalili

Today was another amazing tour provided by our hosts at The Future University in Egypt. As you can see, I am proudly representing Temple Pharmacy across the globe. Our first stop was The Citadel, an original fortress built for protection in ancient times. Within The Citadel, is the most famous, Mohamed Ali Mosque. In Old Ciaro, there is an astounding area designed to unite many religions from around the world, including Judiasm and Coptic Christianity. Today, January 7, 2011 is the feast of The Coptic Christmas. We were fortunate enough to visit The Coptic Christian Church that holds a Temple, which is said to be the place where the Holy Family sought refuge during their journey to this region. To be close to the sight where The Holy Family once traveled was a spiritually humbling moment. This moment provided me with a tremendous sense of Inner Peace! We then traveled to Khan al Khalili, which is a type of market place (bizarre) existing for more than 600 years. Within this bizarre we had a wonderful traditional Egyptian lunch at Mr. Abu Abdalla's Cafe. The quality of the cafe was excellent, but the kindness and generosity given to us by the owner Abu Abdalla was exquisite. Abu Abdalla said to me "I promise never to forget you Charlie, and if you return, and I do not remember you, you can eat and drink all your stay for free". For some reason I dont think he will forget. Finally to explain the market place is difficult for words, I recommend all visit at some point. It is a bizarre that has many shops and cafes, selling many things. However, they enjoy the process of bargaining for items, and as long as you are willing to share in the bargaining experience, you will not only purchase many unique Egyptian memories, you will be get a genuinely gratifying and satisfying experience. Finally we visited a typical Egytian Pharmacy. Pharmacy in Egypt many times is the first place Egyptian people go for health advice and medicinals. The role of the Pharmacist is unique that they can communicate often with the patient, perform a type of health assessment, and if appropriate make a recommendation for medicinal therapy. They have, at their availability, many medicinals that would require a prescription in the Unites States. The people of Egypt are very fortunate to have access to so many dedicated and talented Pharmacists!