Coptic Cairo Tour: Cave Church of Saint Simon and Old Cairo churches with Lunch
5 h
Lunch
Instant confirmation
About this activity
At 8:00 am you need to be ready at the lobby area of your hotel in Cairo. you will find your expert tour guide holding a sign of your name. At the first you will visit to the "Cave Church" in Egypt which is one of the largest churches in the country, a place where 70,000-plus Christians gather every week to worship and praise Jesus -- a place that's home to one of the world's oldest Christian communities. The cave, also known as the Monastery of Saint Simon, is located in the Mokattam mountain in southeastern Cairo, in an area known as "garbage city" due to the large population of garbage collectors, or Zabbaleen, that live there.
The Zabbaleen are descendants of farmers who started migrating from Upper Egypt to Cairo in the 1940s. Fleeing poor harvests and poverty they came to the city looking for work and set-up makeshift settlements around the city. Initially, they stuck to their tradition of raising pigs, goats, chickens and other animals, but eventually found collecting and sorting of waste produced by the city residents more profitable. The Zabbaleen sort through household garbage, salvaging and selling things of value, while the organic waste provides an excellent source of food for their animals. In fact, this arrangement worked so well, that successive waves of migrants came from Upper Egypt to live and work in the newly founded garbage villages of Cairo,
Visit to Old Cairo where you see some of the earliest christian churches at Middle east from 300 AD visit the Church of Abu-Sergah and St. Barbara, the hanging church, and the old Jewish synagogue called Ben Ezra Synagogue.
Lunch is included but drinks are not and then transfer back to Hotel around 13:00 pm
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The Zabbaleen are descendants of farmers who started migrating from Upper Egypt to Cairo in the 1940s. Fleeing poor harvests and poverty they came to the city looking for work and set-up makeshift settlements around the city. Initially, they stuck to their tradition of raising pigs, goats, chickens and other animals, but eventually found collecting and sorting of waste produced by the city residents more profitable. The Zabbaleen sort through household garbage, salvaging and selling things of value, while the organic waste provides an excellent source of food for their animals. In fact, this arrangement worked so well, that successive waves of migrants came from Upper Egypt to live and work in the newly founded garbage villages of Cairo,
Visit to Old Cairo where you see some of the earliest christian churches at Middle east from 300 AD visit the Church of Abu-Sergah and St. Barbara, the hanging church, and the old Jewish synagogue called Ben Ezra Synagogue.
Lunch is included but drinks are not and then transfer back to Hotel around 13:00 pm
Included
- Bottled water
- Snacks
- Lunch
- Professional guide
- Hotel pickup and drop-off
- Private tour
- Transport by private vehicle
Not included
- Drinks
- Gratuities
Additional
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Children must be accompanied by an adult
- Dress code is smart casual
- This is a private tour/activity. Only your group will participate
Features
Tourism
90%
Cultural
60%
Original
20%
Reviews
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Sayed did a fantastic job for this tour. I would highly recommend. Very thoughtful and took a lot of time to explain. Wonderful tour guide!! The churches were amazing into the caves and all the carvings.
I am really glad I didn't listen to the news in regards to Egypt and churches. If I would have then I would have missed out on an amazing day in Egypt where our guide Ali showed us these beautiful Coptic churches. There was so much security surrounding all of these areas that we had no choice but to feel safe. My favorite by far was the cave church and the local guide we had really spent a lot of time explaining their services to us and even showed us where we could view their services online. We also got to see the winter cave as well and had a panoramic viewing of Garbage City. I would definitely recommend this trip as it gave us an insight on the different religions that made up the beautiful country of Egypt.