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A Drive Round Cairo 21
gallery. The old Greek Cathedral out at old Cairo, on the
other hand, is magnificent, and embodies a stately Roman
bastion.
XVII. The Tombs of the Caliphs
When you get back to your carriage, drive down to the
gap in the city walls opposite the mounds called the Windmill
Hills. Climb the hills—they are not high, and are full of
fragments of old Arab pottery—and from the top of them
you get one of the most splendid views in the world—the
whole panorama of the Tombs of the Caliphs, with the Citadel
towering above them, and the eastern desert rolling away
to the horizon behind them. Here are dozens of mosques,
some of the most romantic examples of the art of the
Saracens.
XVIII. More Coptic Churches and Mameluke Mansions
Then return to your carriage and drive right up the street
till you get to the Sharia Ben-es-Sureni, which runs parallel
to the line of the old canal, now filled up and occupied by a
tramway. In this street are some of the finest mameluke
houses, and in one of the streets at the back of it on the side
away from the canal are two extremely ancient and inter-
esting Coptic churches, and a number of Levantine churches,
such as the Armenian, the Syrian, and the Maronite.
XIX. The Antique Mosques and Mansions of the EI-Giydchi
District
Drive along the continuation of this street, called the
Sharia Esh-Sharawi-el-Barani, to the corner of the Sharia El-
GiyQchi, and turn down that street, one of the best old streets
in Cairo of the humbler sort, containing old mosques, old
Arab houses, one of which, half pulled down, has glorious
woodwork ; and a splendid antique Arab bath, with many
chambers panelled with white marble and adorned with marble
fountains. When you get to its end take the first turning to