Quick note on the above photo [praktike's place], which was not taken by me, although I have a similar one waiting to be uploaded.

It's a view westward towards the Nile, from the Citadel originally fortified in the 12th century by Salah al-Dinh, the legendary Kurdish warrior who defied the evil Crusaders. In the 19th century, the Citadel complex more or less was given its current form by Mohammed Ali, the Ottoman ruler who spawned the royal dynasty that ruled Egypt until King Faruq's abdication in 1952. Here's the full history of the Citadel. Today, tourists can visit three mosques on the site, along with the strange Military and Police Museums and some other stuff.

The two buildings dominating the photo above are the Sultan Hassan Mosque and Madrasa and the al-Rifai Mosque. While they look similar, the former was built in the 13th century (Mamluk period) while the latter was only finished in 1911 in the same style. You can't see this in the photo, but the thick outer wall of the Sultan Hassan Mosque and Madrasa contains two or three beauty marks from when Napoleon's troops rained cannon fire down upon some Egyptian rebels hiding out in the complex. The al-Rifai Mosque is far less impressive architecturally and historically; it is disinguished mostly by the fact that is the final resting place of King Faruq and the last Shah of Iran. So you get two loser Middle East monarchs for the price of one admission ticket!