Church of St Simeon the Tanner

Lonely Planet review

The Church of St Simeon the Tanner , on a ridge above 'Garbage City', is just a part of a whole complex carved into the cliffs. It seats 5000 (that the buses carrying worshippers fit through the lanes below is a miracle in itself) and is ringed with biblical scenes carved into the rock. Look over the ridge, and you can see the whole sprawling city; look down, and you see real, live pigs rooting around the zabbaleen backyards, recycling the edible trash.

But this church is not old (nor are any of the others here, though some are tucked in spooky hermits' caves). Completed in 1994, St Simeon's is a belated honour for a 10th-century ascetic who prayed to make Muqattam move at the behest of Fatimid caliph Al-Muizz li-Din Allah (per Matthew 17:20: 'If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove…'). Today the church is a major site of Coptic pilgrimage.

To make your own trek to this modern marvel, tell your cab driver 'Manshiyet Nasr' or 'Madeenat az-Zabbaleen'; after turning off the highway toward Muqattam, make the first left, going slightly uphill. Once you're in the zabbaleen district (which is surprisingly tidy, considering), anyone you pass will wave you in the right direction - they all know where you're headed. Pay around £E60 for a round-trip taxi from Downtown, with an hour's waiting time. If you'd like to go with a guide, consider Ibrahim Morgan (%012 347 6343; morgan_@yahoo.com), recommended by Lonely Planet readers.