The Syrian Sandwich Shop

 Because the civil war in Syria certainly isn't front of mind in the United States, I don't know how many Syrian refugees have found their way into Egypt. But, just a reminder, the Council on Foreign Relations states here that "hundreds of thousands of Syrians have been killed and nearly thirteen million people—more than half the country’s prewar population—have been displaced."  

It isn't clear how many of those displaced Syrians have found their way into Egypt.  We used to run into large numbers of them when we were getting our visas renewed downtown a few years ago.  One friend here says there are 5 million of them in Egypt - that's probably high.  Brookings Institute mentioned an official estimate of about 114,000 in 2016 - that's probably quite low.  This report claims a total of nine million migrants of all sorts in Egypt, with 1.5 million of them Syrian. 

More than a few of the Syrians appear to have started their own restaurant.  I Googled "Syrian restaurant near me" and discovered a surprising number:

 

Zooming in closer on our neighborhood, there are three within about two hundred yards of each other just up the block where we visit our favorite bakery and fruit/veggie market.

Any time that we pass by Abu Amar, there is always a crowd and we thought we had better try it out when we discovered that people give directions that now include "turn by the Syrian sandwich shop."

 

The photo below shows a great slice of Egyptian life.  There is Viva Gym, occupying the second and third floor of a tall building; the gym has an entrance on the right next to the apartment building entrance with its bawab sitting out front keeping an eye on the street.  There is a massive snack store on the left side on the busiest corner you could imagine with every kind of chip, cookie and candy bar made.  It occupies this prime corner where buses, taxis and tuk-tuks all interchange passengers.  Cartons of water and soft drink coolers are conveniently located next to the sandwich shop.  

And right in the middle is Abu Amar's Syrian sandwich operation.  It occupies two shop spaces.  On the left, customers place their order and pay, receiving a receipt with a number.  On the right, an artist with a large and very sharp knife whittles away at the largest chunk of chicken shawarma that I have ever seen.  At the back of the two shops, a crew assembles the finished products.

  

A few people are here to buy the large roasting barbecued chickens on the horizontal spits in another cooker  but the vast majority are buying the chicken shawarma sandwiches, Syrian style.  It's a perilous climb up those stairs to the ordering/pickup level - especially the giant first step.  A railing?  Where do you think you are?

We drew number 249 and they were only on the 180s at the time.  Deliveries and telephone orders are coming in besides the orders from the in-person crowd.

  

I admire the largest advertising logo that I have ever seen on a jacket as we wait.  Gianfranco Ferre - perhaps the gentleman is part of the family, he looks the part.  We have about a ten minute wait for our order, then it is off to our apartment.  There is no seating at the restaurant, this is strictly takeaway.

  

 

It turns out that the sandwiches are absolutely delicious.  It must be the secret Syrian sauce.  We will definitely be back.  Price?  40 EGP, about $1.35 each.  We also had a coleslaw- like salad for another 35 cents.  We'll likely skip that next time. It was a little too sweet for our taste.

 

There is a large menu taped to the wall between the restaurant and the snack store.  It describes a wide variety of options for meat and chicken  sandwiches.  They only have chicken.

This year, we will not be leaving until after Ramadan begins.  I am curious to see what happens as all of the restaurants accommodate the fasting season.

A Night at Khan el-Khalili

We always enjoy an outing to visit Khan el-Khalili, the bazaar downtown near Al Azhar in the heart of the retail district of Cairo.  Yesterday we decided to go visit the Khan and have dinner there.

We called an Uber and were quickly on our way.  We had chosen to start this expedition around 4:00 p.m. and traffic was very heavy.  The driver's Uber app routed him through downtown past the Islamic Art museum and through some very narrow streets in the furniture district, an interesting ride for us but frustrating for the driver.  We were at a dead stop several times.  At one point we had just started to move when we hit a traffic cop, busily writing tickets.  Well, actually, he walked back into us.  This provoked a loud discussion between our driver and the cop, but all turned out OK - except for the honking drivers behind us that just wanted to get on with it.

It took us an hour and fifteen minutes to navigate the full route, and Uber suggested 90 E.G.P.  (about three dollars.)  I tipped an extra 60.

There is a lot of remodeling underway around the main entrance to Khan el-Khalili.  We started at our usual spot near the Al-Hussain Mosque which is also getting a major facelift.

 

The Khan was crowded with shoppers, in marked contrast to the past three Covid years.

 

Even the gold shops on the edge of the market which were pretty much shuttered during Covid had plenty of traffic moving up and down Al Moez street.

 

We visited a couple of stores selling porcelain cups and plates to see if there were any new designs in the Fathy Mahmoud world. If you're interested in a mug, be sure to get one marked with the "FM" manufacturer.

 

Soon we wandered into a tiny spot called the Bedouin Shop which had a fascinating hand-crafted collection of various metal objects.  Bedouin shops carry items made in the oases. These items are typically made for the bedouins themselves but more recently have become collector's items.  Linda browsed the second floor excitedly while I explored the lower level.  Like many shops in the Khan, the place is only about ten feet square.

  

  

 

Shop owners were not paying a lot of attention to the customers inside since everyone had the football match on and Egypt vs. Brazil were knotted up at 1-1."How to choose, how to choose?"  Linda found a particular pleasing piece but a couple of the dangly bits were missing. One word with the owner and he disappeared for a couple minutes, returning with a totally intact piece. Pleased with our purchase, we moved on to dinner.  

We had previously enjoyed a couple of visits to the unlikely named restaurant called Mahony's but it had ceased operations the last time we were here.  It is now back in business with what appears to be the same staff and menu but operates with new decor as Khan Restaurant and Cafe.

 

 

We find it a very comfortable quiet place to relax away from the bustle of the shopping area and recharge for more shopping and looking. The food is great, the presentations are spectacular and we give it five stars! Highly recommend the appetizer tray.

A Drive Along the North Shore (of Lake Qaroun), Part II

After our visit to the basalt quarry area at the twin peaks of Widan El-Faras, Mustafa began looking for a nice lunch site.  He chose a spot beneath this stone overhang to set up our table and start the grill.  The fabric windbreak gave us nice relief from the steady chill wind.

Besides being an excellent driver, Mustafa is a very good barbecue chef.  

  

 

With a little prep help from his wife the night before, Mustafa soon had a typical salad, potatoes and rice ready to add to the table as the chicken came off the grill. 

  

After lunch we had a double shot of warm tea before heading on to our next stop.

When we had finished the tea and packed up we drove farther west along the top of the first escarpment taking in the rugged scenery.

 

In many spots, the sagebrush-like vegetation had sprouted bright green color.  This had happened in the past two weeks since the heavy rainfall, according to Mustafa, who had never seen it like this before.  We even noticed new plant growth emerging from the Basalt Road.

 

Along the route, Mustafa paused to dig holes in the dull-looking sand beside our route.  Barely beneath the surface, he showed us the bright red and yellow sand that makes up these hillsides.

  

There are multiple collections of unusual shaped large stones along the western half of the north shore.  This collection of flat-topped plugs is one.

  

Another collection of stones are these "watermelons".

In between the two sets of unusual stones, we came to the ancient ruins of Dimeh al-Siba, "Dimeh of the Lions."  Also known by its ancient name, Soknopaiou Nesos, or "Island of Soknopaios," it was the departure point for caravans transporting goods shipped across the then much larger Lake Qaroun and on to the Mediterranean and Rome during the Ptolemaic times around 200 B.C.  There is an interesting description of the area here at TourEgypt.  

These ruins and the site on the shore of the lake inspired the setting for Soknopaiou Nesos in the computer game, Assassins Creed.  You can take a half-hour walk through the "reconstructed" city in a YouTube video posted here.  That video shows the water lapping at the shoreline of the city which is now two miles away from the lake.  The TourEgypt page linked above explains: "...it was Ptolemy who reduced the size of the lake to provide land for the settlement of retired Macedonian soldiers and their families."

There is some current archeological work taking place here.  A sign marks the presence of a team from the University of Salerno which is also mentioned in the Wikipedia article about the historic archeological activity. 

  

 

We explored the current ruins, taking pictures of a few of the innumerable pot shards.

  

 

After departing the ancient city ruins, we found there was one more view of the lake from atop the escarpment near an unusual rock formation.

  

We descended to lake level in the area where Flamingos are frequently gathered (see our bird-watching post from 2020) but saw only a few other waterfowl this late afternoon.

 

Swinging around onto the south side of the lake, we pulled into this restaurant at the small town of Tunis where we were met by Mohammad, our morning driver, who would take us back to Cairo as dusk settled over the scene.  We had another glass of tea before hitting the road.  It was about an hour and a half drive back into the city.