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Heading north up the Sharia al-Muizz from
Bab Zwayla, you eventually emerge by the Ghuriya complex (where there are often free exhibitions of Sufi dancing on a Saturday evening). Ahead the Sharia al-Azhar surges across your path, a brutal flyover carved into the heart of Cairo's souks. There are two places here I can recommend for a meal - Gad to the right and on the same side of Sharia al-Azhar, or el-Dahan across the road and up towards Midan el-Hussein. For now bear right and you will find an overpass that will take you over the river of whizzing taxis.
There are two main routes you can take from here up into the more touristy environs of the
Khan el-Khalili. The western way is the somewhat quieter continuation of Sharia al-Muizz that heads up through the Spice and Goldsmiths Bazaars; this eventually terminates at Bab al-Futuh. The eastern route is up Sharias el-Hussein and Gamaliya to end at Bab al-Nasr, on the opposite side of the Mosque of al-Hakim.
Continuing up Sharia al-Muizz you enter the Spice Bazaar - piles of multicoloured spices, the air redolent of their tang. Nostrils twitching (and watching out for tourbuses) you head up to
the Muski, one of the main tourist routes into the market from Midan Ataba. For a well trodden route, the Muski is shocking - a potholed road, lamp-posts lying fallen underfoot, the press of people, and the constant cries of touts. "Hello! I know you! Come in, come in! Where you from?" Occasionally you might crack a smile at something they say - "Walk like an Egyptian!" (amusing the first dozen times you hear it), "Why you no look? No money, no honey?" - and then they have you. One guy came up to me: "English? Francais? Deutsch?" So I tried my usual trick which had stood me well from Peru to Morocco: "Ruski". The man then replied back to me in perfect Russian. Let it never be said that the marketeers of Khan el-Khalili will ever let a small trifle like not knowing the language stand in the way of a sale!
Crossing the Muski and continuing up al-Muizz you will pass through the sector of the souk colonised by goldsmiths. The wares become less expensive as you head north, and workers of gold are replaced by those of copper. Before long a series of handsome 13th-14th century buildings will crop up to your left. These are the maristan (hospital), madrassa (seminary) and mausoleum of Sultan Qalaoun, the completion of which complex took only thirteen months. There then follows the mosque of al-Nasir Mohammed with a beautiful spiky minaret, and then the madrassa and khanqah (Sufi monastery) of Sultan Barquq. The road forks at an ornate trellis-work building (the Sabil-Kuttab (public fountain and primary school) of Abd al-Rahman Katkhuda. Keep to the left. On the corner of Darb al-Asfur, a pristine restored street, you will find the Beit al-Suhaymi, a restored complex of traditional buildings (q.v.).
Continuing north the streets empty out. You will pass the entrance to the Mosque of al-Hakim on your right, just before the path disgorges yoy at the Bab al-Futuh in the northern wall.
The eastern route, up towards the Bab al-Nasr has fewer sites of note. What it does have si the easiest way into the very heart of the bazaar. The entrance to the narrow
Sikket al-Badestan is down a couple of steps opposite the corner of the Mosque of Saiyidna Hussein.
This is prime tourist territory, and the weight of people often means that the passageway jams solid. It is also prime real estate, and the hawkers here call out constantly from the awnings of their shops. Frankly, I hated it. Still, after thirty minutes pushing down al-Badestan you will be fully tempered to survive any other lesser souk in Egypt - those of Luxor and Aswan are just pale, easy-going shadows of the great Khan el-Khalili. Plus the experience is precisely what the uninitiated expect a middle-eastern bazaar to be like. Given an option I would recommend Fes in Morocco or Damascus in Syria over here, but it's all fun!
From journals
Conquering Al-Qahira: a Walk Through Old Cairo