We were treated to a great breakfast of pitta bread with foul, giant falafels, halawa, eggs and pastrami and cheese!

Annie had lessons in making Turkish coffee from Aunty Samia and Safe’s cousin, Iman.  After drinking coffee, Annie had her future read from the coffee grounds.  Apparently she was about to go on a long journey.

Aunty Samia predicts Annie's future

European airspace opened this morning and Safe’s uncle set about getting us back to London.  As far as we knew, flights were fully booked and … urm … uncompetitively priced, but things work differently in Egypt.  Safe’s uncle with his three mobile phones “made some calls”.  By early afternoon, we were booked on tomorrow morning’s flight back to London!

We spent some time cancelling our former overland plan with the aroma of aubergine mahshee (stuffed aubergines) coming from the kitchen:

Mahshee

We sat down to lunch with Uncle Ahmad, Aunty Samia, their son and daughter, Mohammad and Yasmin, and Yasmin’s two-year-old son, Saleem.  The kofta, aubergine mahshee, molokhia and stuffed pigeon eaten with our fingers were a fantastic shock to the system after nibbling at fish, rice and pickles with chopsticks for the last two weeks.

Lunch

After lunch, Annie played with Saleem for a while.  Saleem was very upset when Annie had to leave.  A few trips to the airport to sort out tickets and refunds, an evening walk, and a drink of sugar cane juice rounded off the day.

Happy Birthday, Jonathan!