ramadan fitars

egypt is considered to be the best place to experience ramadan. cairo is a city that comes alive at night, so it's twice as exciting and lively during the month of ramadan.  restaurants are booked solid for both fitars and sohoors, traffic is insane, stores are jam packed with eid-outfit-shoppers, and everyone from friends to family to colleagues get together and have a fitar together.  add to all of this, that the world cup was playing this month- it was a busy month!

festive decorations hung between buildings

summer is the season for cactus fruit… the BEST!

in addition to that, dozens of new soap operas are released for just those 30 days, and people become addicted to the series' that they follow.  so much so, that most of the fitars that are set up in restaurants and cafes host private tvs at each table.  towards the end of ramadan, i was feeling very conflicted about the outings in all the restaurants.  restaurants feature totally overpriced set menus, and the food and service are notoriously terrible.  meanwhile, as you watch your soaps, you're overwhelmed with heart wrenching commercials for charities seeking donations.  halfway through the month, i withdrew myself from the ramadan nightlife and felt extremely hypocritical for supporting these restaurants for stealing our money, when those charities could use the money we were wasting, so much more.

there was one, unique fitar setup this year, on a felucca.  the organizers decorated each boat with different colors and fabrics, and arranged the two hour rides on the nile river for guests.  the fitar was catered by crave, and halfway through the ride, they sent out a felucca with a live band, playing music for us.  it was such a lovely evening, by far, the best of all ramadan events!