The view from our roof on El-Khartum Street

View from our roof...

Tonight we took this picture. It was by chance. Our satellite reception had broken down a couple of weeks ago, and Farouk and Samir were trying to repair this. The dish is on the roof and there Farouk showed us proudly "his" madrassa (the French school opposite our house, where he works) as well as the view to the mosque near us (to the right and in front) and "Qasr El-Baron" or Baron Palace (left in the back).

Baron Palace was the former residence of Baron Empain, the man who "built" Heliopolis, in the beginning of last century. It was built in 1910 and resembles the Cambodian temples of Angkor Wat. With the celebration of 100 years Heliopolis, it was open to the public for one month. The land beside it is turned into a garden and at night the Palace is beautifully lit. We visited it in the month that it was open to the public last year. All built in concrete, it does have its charm and forms a special landmark.

We soon will post some pics of the villa (and neighbourhood) we are so lucky to live in while we are in Egypt. It was built in 1927 in Baron Empain "style" and we are near the old centre of Heliopolis, called Korba.