Saturday, visit to the tomb of Ibrahim Pasha in the plain between the Mokattam and the Nile

December 22nd, 1849, 11am

Saturday, visit to the tomb of Ibrahim Pasha in the plain between the Mokattam and the Nile, after the Karameidan neighborhood. All the tombs of the family of Mehmed Ali are of a deplorable taste, rococo, Canova, europe-oriental, paintings and tinsels from a cabaret, and on top of it small ball chandeliers. We were riding along the aqueduct bringing water to the citadel. Roaming dogs slept and strolled in the sun; birds of prey circled in the sun. Dogs shredding a donkey: only part of the skeleton remained, also the full head with the skin - the head, because of the bones, is probably the worst part. The birds always begin with the eyes, and the dogs usually begin with the belly or the anus - they all go from the most tender to hardest parts.

Rhoda gardens Big, unkept, full of beautiful trees - India palm trees. At the end, towards Cairo, stairs going down into the water - palace of Mehmet Bey (on the right looking towards Cairo), the one who had his servant shod like a horse because he had asked for new shoes. In the Rhoda garden stands, on the Giza side and hidden under the trees, close to a beautiful sycamore tree, a house which used to be rented to the consuls and where one would lead the oriental life…

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Cassie said thanks.

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Gustave Flaubert

"Travel makes one modest, you see what a tiny place you occupy in the world." [extracts from Flaubert's travel diary written in 1849-1851]

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