Travel: 36 hours in Cairo

New York Times (Michael Slackman)

An 11 step timed guide to what to do in Cairo if you only have 36 hours at your disposal. If you are asked for a username and password, enter egyptnews in both fields.

Sunday
8:30 a.m.
11) COPTIC CAIRO
At the Sadat Station in Tahrir Square, take the metro (1 pound) toward Helwan and get off at the Mar Girgis stop. This puts you directly in Coptic Cairo. There is a lot to see in this quiet, compact area, but there are two important sites: the crypt of the Holy Family under St. Sergius Church and the Nunnery of St. George. Tourists often miss the tiny Chapel of St. George, a small basement-floor room where the faithful can place a chain — said to have been used in the torture of St. George — around their necks and gaze at a mechanical picture on the wall depicting St. George spearing the dragon. Finally, there is the Ben Ezra Synagogue, with its cool marble floors. Lore has it that the Nile once flowed up behind the synagogue, and there, in the reeds, baby Moses was hidden. Now it’s all cement and a wall. Afterward, visit the old cemetery, a quiet respite from the chaotic city and walk along tombs that testify to the ethnic diversity that once made Cairo such a cosmopolitan city.