Chapter 46

The places that Pierre most wanted to see were the underground catacombs of Kom el-Shuqqafa and the Abu Abbas al-Mursi Mosque, which was built in 1796 over the tomb of a 13th-century Sufi holy man that Antoine had written to Yuu about. He also wanted to go shopping in the souks or markets to look at all the antique carvings he had read about in various books. Pierre had a fascination with the ancient religions of the continent as well as the Islamic mystics that had come later. He had a fascination with the Orient from the 1001 Nights tales he had read avidly in the past as well and wondered if any of these systems of meaning and human beliefs supported something unexplainable, such as the vampire existence.

The Sufis and their history interested Henri and Jacques as well. They said that their mother talked of these holy men. When it came to sightseeing, Yves was there for the ancient history and the architecture, and he was content to sketch while