Sydney Archdiocese REPORT-
5 Aug 2011
A tired but exhilarated group of 96 young Australians flew into Cairo today on a journey. The group are all World Youth Day pilgrims who will take part in a once-in-life-time tour led by the Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell and other leading Australian clerics to follow the sites of the ancient Biblical prophets before crossing into the Holy Land to retrace the footsteps of Jesus Christ.
Called the "Exodus Encounter," the tour will prepare the young people spiritually prior to World Youth Day in Madrid where from 16 August they will meet up with 4000 other pilgrims from across Australia at an event expected to be attended by more than 2 million.
Yesterday some of the groups flying from Sydney to Egypt spent several hours sightseeing during their stopover in Dubai, before joining the group of Australian pilgrims who flew in from Rome where they had been attending a conference.
For most their first glimpse of Cairo was through the windows of the bus that ferried them in from the airport into the city. But it was enough time for most to take in waters of the Nile, the longest river in Africa as well as to see the outline of the famous pyramids of Giza against the horizon.
The airport bus also gave the pilgrims their first sight of the Cairo's famed City of the Dead, the vast Arab necropolis that is more than 6.5 km in length and crammed with Islamic mausoleums and tombs.
While the trial of former President Hosni Mubarak and his two sons who are charged with the murders of protesters during the February uprising earlier this year began yesterday, the city is generally quiet.
The main reason for the lack of traffic in the normally congested streets and the lack of protesters in Tahrir Square where the democracy demonstrations first began is due to the start of Ramadan which began on 1 August.
Between 80% and 90% of Egypt's population of 85 million are Muslim and for them Ramadan is an important period of prayer and fasting. As a result there is less traffic on the normally-crowded streets with demonstrators and protesters largely steering clear of Cairo's Tahrir Square.
Australia's pilgrims are also staying a considerable distance from the Square and the Courts where Mubarak's trial is now underway and feel very free to move about on this first stage of their adventure.
Later this morning the group will be given a tour of the great pyramids at Giza, known since Biblical times as the seventh wonder of the world, where the pilgrims will have a chance to explore the ancient burial tomb of the Pharaohs and to the massive mysterious Sphinx.
This afternoon (Cairo time) the group will tour Old Cairo which contains remnants of the ancient cities that preceded it as capitals.
Among the highlights are a tour of the Coptic Christians' famous Hanging Church, built in the site of an ancient Roman fort and dating back to the 7th Century. There will also be a visit to the Abu Sarga Coptic Church, the oldest church in Egypt and built in the 4th and 5th Centuries. Constructed above the crypt where the Holy Family, Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus fled to escape persecution from King Herod.
The pilgrims will also visit the Ben Ezra Synagogue once a Christian church believed to have been constructed on the site where Moses was discovered in his cradle in the bulrushes.
For live blogs and information about as the pilgrims continue on this very special journey log on to log on to www.xt3.com/wyd
http://www.sydney.catholic.org.au/news/latest_news/2011/201185_1915.shtml
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