29/41.- Alexandria, Midan Gomhuiyya, butchers 2

In this photo you can see another butcher shop in the street market of Gomhuiyya. Although it may not seem very hygienic to have the meat hanging in the middle of the street with temperatures above the 30 C degrees, you do not have to worry about anything. Egyptian meat is much safer than it looks.

After the Muslim rulers established themselves in Egypt they moved the capital to Cairo, because the local Caliph, Omar, did not want to have to cross a river to visit the capital of his new reign. Some of his soldiers had died when crossing a river over the Euphrates. When the Arab troops entered Alexandria, there were more than 4000 palaces, 4000 baths, and 400 theaters in this city. It was the center of the region. Unfortunately things would change in the following one thousand years. Alexandria did not recover till the 19th century, when the construction of the Suez Canal brought back the ships to its harbors.

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