Cairo day tour to the Citadel

Cairo Citadel is the highest point of the city, along with its beautiful mosque of Mohammed Ali, it has become a symbol of the city. The place can be divided into 2 parts: the North wing and the South wing. The north wing is surrounded by massive walls and towers, it always had a military function, while the south - with smaller, more irregular walls and towers, was the residence of the rulers. Our tour of the citadel will take place along the South Wing, we will try to visit as many places as possible in just one day tour.

First of all, let's go to the alabaster Mosque of Muhammad Ali and take a look around. In the courtyard there is a beautiful Turkish-style ritual bathing fountain, a clock tower donated by the French king Louis-Philippe to Muhammad Ali in 1846 in exchange for the obelisk of Ramses II. The watch, unfortunately, does not work from the very first day of their arrival in Cairo. Next, let's go inside the mosque and admire its exquisite decorations.

After leaving the Mosque of Muhammad Ali, let's go to the side of the gate known as Bab al-Alam, passing via them on the left side you can see the ruins of the famous striped palace of Qasr al-Ablak. Now it is nothing more than just a name of once a grand palace, begun by Ashraf al-Khalil and completed by al-Nasir Mohammed in 1315.

On the same terrace we can see now already not in use military prison. The prison has 40 cells in two rows, with an open corridor between them. The oldest part dates back to Khediv Ismail, and it was completed in 1882. The prison was closed in 1984 and became a museum, which we will visit (if it is open on the day of your tour).

Next, we will have a tour in the Military Museum, located in the famous palace of Muhammad Ali – known as al-Haramlek. In front of the palace you will see a military exposition of ancient and modern weapons.

At the end of our Citadel excursion we can have a look into a small mosque, the Soliman Pasha Mosque.

Now it’s time to go back, when leaving the Citadel let’s stop at Al-Nasser Mohammed mosque to admire the exquisite columns with capitals in the Corfian style.