Blood on the streets, Eid al-Adha

Cairo didn't sleep last night - shops were open till around 4am, people wandered the streets eating ice cream, chilling out and waiting for prayers to commemorate Eid al-Adha, the Feast of the Sacrifice.

A walk through Islamic Cairo saw flocks of sheep and tethered cattle in the main squares, being sold off to those who then had them butchered on the streets, which are, actually running with blood. I photographed a slick of blood, only to have a woman shrieking from a window above that I shouldn't be shooting such things.

But everyone was happy for me to snap them carving the head from cows, disembowelling sheep and painting the walls with their bloody handprints.

There was a tense moment when I nearly fell on a great mound of cow's intestines on the footpath, but for the most part, everyone's in a good mood, taxis are giving way to pedestrians, shopowners not charging outrageous prices ... it's only me who's tired and cranky and needs to sleep... and I'm probably the only one who did in Cairo last night...