Day 12: Cairo

On Day 12, we went to old Cairo for the Christian segment of the tour. The first church that we went to was the Hanging Church. They call it the Hanging Church because it is built on top of another structure. Most of the other churches looked similar to this church. At St. George we took pictures of some of the tools that were used to torture Christians. There were shoes with nails in them that Christians were actually made to walk in. It really took a lot of bravery to openly proclaim Christianity in that environment. I admire anyone who was able to do this. We also went inside an actual Christian torture chamber. It was a weird feeling to know that I was standing in a place where so many people had suffered for their faith. It was also interesting to see St. Sergius Church. Under this church there was a crypt where the Holy Family is believed to have stayed when they fled to Egypt. We also went to Ben Ezra synagogue. It had once been a Coptic church but was later turned into a synagogue. There aren't very many Jewish people in Egypt though (less than 100). We drove by one synagogue that was guarded by armed guards to thwart attacks. If being a Coptic Orthodox Christian is tough in a Muslim country, I can only imagine how hard it must be to be one of the few Jews.
For dinner we went on Felucca boats on the Nile River