Cave Church of Saint Simon and Hidden Churches of Old Cairo

What's Included

Meeting and pickup

Itinerary

• 1
  Coptic Cairo

  At the requested time, pick up from the hotel by your guide to start your half-day tour of Old Cairo, also known as Coptic Cairo, which means Christian Cairo. It has been recognized as a holy place because some of its locations were visited by the Holy Family, where the spiritual impact of their presence is still strongly felt. Although their stay was brief, the Governor of what was then Fustat, enraged by the tumbling down of idols at Jesus' approach, sought to kill the Child. However, they took shelter from his wrath in a cave above which, in later years, the Church of Abu Serga (St. Sergius) was built. This church, together with the entire area of the Fort of Babylon, is a destination of pilgrimage not only for Egyptians but also for Christians from around the world. An air of piety and devotion pervades the whole district.

  1 hour • Admission ticket included
• 2
  St Simon the Tanner Monastery

  The Coptic Orthodox saint associated with the story of the moving of the Mokattam Mountain in Cairo, Egypt, during the rule of the Muslim Fatimid Caliph al-Muizz Lideenillah (953–975), while Abraham the Syrian was the Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church.

  1 hour • Admission ticket included
• 3
  Church of St. Barbara

  Saint Barbara Coptic known in the Eastern Orthodox Church as the Great Martyr Barbara, was an early Christian Lebanese and Greek saint and martyr. Accounts place her in the 3rd century in Heliopolis Phoenicia, present-day Baalbek, Lebanon. There is no reference to her in the authentic early Christian writings nor in the original recension of Saint Jerome's martyrology

  1 hour • Admission ticket included
• 4
  The Hanging Church

  The Hanging Church is named for its location above a gatehouse of Babylon Fortress, the Roman fortress in Coptic Cairo (Old Cairo); its nave is suspended over a passage. The church is approached by twenty-nine steps; early travelers to Cairo dubbed it "the Staircase Church". The land surface has risen by some six metres since the Roman period, so the Roman tower is mostly buried below ground, reducing the visual impact of the church's elevated position.

  1 hour • Admission ticket included
• 5
  Synagogue Ben Ezra

  This was the synagogue whose geniza or store room was found in the 19th century to contain a treasure of forgotten, stored-away Hebrew, Aramaic and Judeo-Arabic secular and sacred manuscripts. The collection, known as the Cairo Geniza, was brought to the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England at the instigation of Solomon Schechter. It is now divided between several academic libraries, with the majority being kept at the Cambridge University Library.

  1 hour • Admission ticket included

Additional info

• Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
• Suitable for all physical fitness levels
• Not stroller accessible

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