El Moez Street & Khan el Khalili.

El Moez Street and Khan el Khalili are two of the most famous streets in Cairo.
They both have a variety of small stores and businesses that sell Egyptian souvenirs, a
variety of spices and gold/silver jewelry. El Moez Street was named after Al Moez Li-
Din Ellah, the fourth Fatimid Caliph and fourteenth Ismaili Imam (reigned from 953 to
975). El Moez Street is one of the most beautiful Islamic streets in Egypt. This street
displays the glory of Islamic architecture in all of its forms. It is full of Islamic mosques
such as el Hakem mosque and El Aqmar mosque. This street also has many different
buildings that show how the Islamic culture functioned centuries ago. As for Khan el
Khalili, this place has been the choice of trade for many Egyptians since the fourteenth
century. This place (the Khan) used to be divided different districts, but nowadays the
most visited is the Gold district which is the choice for almost all sellers such as gold
seller, coppersmiths and spice dealers. A very important landmark that we visited during
our visit as the historic ahwa Fishawi's. This well known Egyptian caf is located in an
alley near Midan al-Hussein. Another very significant spot that should definitely be
visited is the Midaq Alley (Zuqaq Al-Midaq). This alley was the setting for one of
Naguib Mahfouz's best known works. Khan el Khalili and El Moez Street are two streets
that capture the Egyptian essence, they should be visited by all Egyptians and tourists.


Nayera Hesham Shalaby