Islamic Cairo & al-Muizz street

The densest kilometre of medieval architecture in the Islamic world, still lived in.

Between Bab Zuweila and Bab al-Futuh runs a street where a thousand years of sultans competed in stone. It is not a museum: people live, pray, work and drink tea in all of it, which is exactly why it stays astonishing.

Most monuments welcome respectful visitors outside prayer times; a knowledgeable guide knows which courtyard doors push open and which minarets you may climb that day.