Friday kicks off the weekend for most of Egyptians and is considered a day of rest. Besides Friday prayer, which shuts down the city midday for a few hours, Cairenes spend the day enjoying several different activities. Among wealthier Cairenes bicycling is slowly becoming more popular as a way to get around the city’s notorious traffic. Others are more traditional and one of many coffeehouses in the city where they drink coffee or tea, play backgammon, and smoke the water pipe called shisha. The coffeehouses have long been a place for discussion, recitation or the Koran, and the telling of tales by storytellers. Hamada Elrasam speaks to Cairenes from all walks of life about how they are spending their day of leisure.
Friday Prayers in Cairo, Egypt
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Mostafa says he fears eviction from his family home of generations and says, “I love my grand sons even more than my sons.” 3 June 2016. (Photo: Hamada Elrasam for VOA)
