20091211 – Cairo, Pyramids, Sphinx and More

Our first visit after negotiating Cairos’s incredible traffic was the pyramids of Giza.(Giza is a suburb of Cairo). I was very surprised that this ancient site was on the edge of the city. This is where the desert begins and the city stops. The main pyramids are Cheops and the son of Cheops. We got there early to be of of the daily 150 that could go inside of Cheops. With a slight case of claustrophobia, I was nervous. It was a fairly steep, narrow, stuffy climb that had a low ceiling. It opened up into a large chamber with a high ceiling. There was nothing in it – no hieroglyphics, jewels or mummies. We spent a few minutes in the chamber and then got out as quickly as we could.

Next we drove to the plateau so we could see more pyramids. This included a visit to the Solar Barque which is an ancient boat that was used to carry the pharaoh’s mummy across the Nile to Memphis around 2600 BC.

 

Our next stop was the Sphinx which was carved almost entirely of one piece of limestone.

On our way to Saqqara, we stopped at a restaurant for lunch where they served excellent rotisserie chicken. On the way in, we could watch a group of women cooking bread in an outside wood-fired oven.

Saqqara was the necropolis of the Old Kingdom pharaohs who ruled from nearby Memphis starting around 3,100 BC. It is a sprawling complex of temples, pyramids and funereal monuments. It was explored by archaeologists starting in the mid-19th century. There is a temple, a step pyramid of King Zoser built in the 27th century BC and several partially restored houses that were used by the pyramid builders.

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at a school that trains students in the making of Oriental carpets. The students were young boys who go to normal school in the morning and make carpets in the afternoon. The carpets range from basic wool and cotton to fine silk.

Ann and I had a quick dinner in the hotel’s bar. Then we were off for a schmaltzy sound and light show at the pyramids.

This was a long and tiring day, but we enjoyed it all. We felt that we were reliving the “"Book of Knowledge”.