I took a private tour to photograph Cairo, during which i was taken into the City of The Dead slums, where people live and work among the graves, tombs, shrines and mausoleums. Some people choose to live there to be close to their deceased family (some consider it a blessing that will bring a divine reward) , some live there because they are poor. After a big earthquake in Cairo in 1992 many more people were forced to live in the City of Dead.
I went there in 2009. As of the 2011 Egyptian revolution it has been reported that the area has become less safe, with a rise in criminal activity including drug trade in the dirt streets that connect different families tombs etc.
When i went on the tour they told me that the entire area or the building they took me into (Sultan Al-Ashraf Qaytbay Mosque) was off limits to tourists. Of course they had "connections" and could "get me in". A policeman came and took some money at one point, but then also money was given to some guards at the Citadel and really that falls under what is called Baksheesh in Egypt. Baksheesh is a cross between a tip and a bribe, and has a trickle down system, IE: the head guard gets the Baksheesh, but smaller bits of it are given to other guards, nobody goes without in Egypt.
So was this an illegal incursion into a holy City of The Dead to be smuggled into a mosque that was closed for repairs (this part was true)? I am not sure, but it sounds like a good spin on a story regardless. (As it turns out the story i was told was probably utterly false, as i had forgotten the name of the mosque and within a few hours 
I must confess that at the time i was not as confident photographer as i am now, and i was being rushed by the tour guide much to my anger because it was a private tour specifically for me to photograph and learn. Many pictures were not worth sharing for various reasons. But what did come out great are some shots of tiles and arches and painted roofs. I will now hand over to the pictures to tell the story, as i can not give any more input.