Cairo, Egypt - the Pyramids at Giza
I made it through the gauntlet of customs and security checks with my newly issued passport, from Bangkok, to Mumbai, to Kuwait City and finally to Cairo.
Chris and Kim arrived from the USA last evening to join me on this part of the trip. It was great to see Chris again and to meet Kim for the 1st time!
I had been in Cairo for two days before they arrived and saw the pyramids both days from my hotel room. They are within walking distance. Unfortunately, this morning the smog/fog was so thick that even driving right next to them, you would not even know they were there. Our Guide gave us the option to go to Memphis this morning instead and come back later in the afternoon to see the pyramids, when hopefully the smog had cleared. We quickly took him up on this offer.
Memphis, founded around 3,100 BC, is the legendary city of Menes, the King who united Upper and Lower Egypt, but now not much remains. The highlight of Memphis is the "Colossus of Ramses II", a 34-foot long statue of Ramses II that lays horizontal inside of a museum. A modern sculptor commented, "How these master carvers achieved perfect surfaces on this scale with simple tools was beyond my comprehension. My own twenty years' experience provided no clue. But clearly this was not the work of slaves. This forty-foot length of stone could only have been brought to life through the sensitive hand and watchful eye of a master sculptor, and with a great deal of loving care."
Another notable artifact was the Alabaster Sphinx. The Alabaster Sphinx is 8m (26 ft) long and 4m (13 ft) tall and weighs around 90 tons. The type of figure known as a sphinx is created with the body of a lion and the head of royalty. The lion is in a crouching position with its paws outstretched. The human head is adorned with the covering reserved for kings of that particular period.
Next we headed to the Step Pyramids in Saqqara. Unlike Giza, Saqqara has the distinction not of having Egypt's largest pyramids, but its first, the Step Pyramid of Djoser. This was an impressive site, with a large courtyard and more pyramids, some very ancient, than Giza. The Step Pyramids were quite huge.
After the Step Pyramids, we visited a carpet school and papyrus factory... both ended up being pitches for vendors to sell their wares, but they weren't too bad. Quite interesting to see the hand-made Egypt carpets. Chris J. bought a small carpet for Kim.
Finally off to see the Great Pyramids and luckily by this time the weather had cleared, how funny to come to Egypt and not get to see the GP. What was most odd was the location... right in downtown Giza. Kinda expected a long bus ride in the desert but the Pyramids were about 2 miles from the hotel. Impressive to see all three Pyramids, we decided thanks to our guide not to pay the 100 pounds ($20) to go inside the main Pyramid but spent 25 pounds ($5) to go into the second. Both had the same flavor, very small shaft leading into the burial chamber. But no hieroglyphics or art of any kind just small stone passages. Still incredible the precision in the construction. Last stop was the Sphinx, once again not expecting it in such a crowded local, but still it was fascinating.
Afterwards we visited a perfume shop. We were subjected to the worst sales pitch I've heard quite in awhile. We left with nothing but an odd mix of scents lingering on us.
In the evening we paid roughly 25 pounds ($5) each for Stella beers in the hotel bar. We had a short, heated discussion with the waitstaff and left feeling slightly ripped off. The main issues were, beers are really expensive in bars in Egypt and we didn't understand Arabic numerals.
Egypt note: Necropolises, tombs of the dead, were always located on the western side of the Nile River while the eastern side was used for active temples for the living.
I made it through the gauntlet of customs and security checks with my newly issued passport, from Bangkok, to Mumbai, to Kuwait City and finally to Cairo.
Chris and Kim arrived from the USA last evening to join me on this part of the trip. It was great to see Chris again and to meet Kim for the 1st time!
I had been in Cairo for two days before they arrived and saw the pyramids both days from my hotel room. They are within walking distance. Unfortunately, this morning the smog/fog was so thick that even driving right next to them, you would not even know they were there. Our Guide gave us the option to go to Memphis this morning instead and come back later in the afternoon to see the pyramids, when hopefully the smog had cleared. We quickly took him up on this offer.
Memphis, founded around 3,100 BC, is the legendary city of Menes, the King who united Upper and Lower Egypt, but now not much remains. The highlight of Memphis is the "Colossus of Ramses II", a 34-foot long statue of Ramses II that lays horizontal inside of a museum. A modern sculptor commented, "How these master carvers achieved perfect surfaces on this scale with simple tools was beyond my comprehension. My own twenty years' experience provided no clue. But clearly this was not the work of slaves. This forty-foot length of stone could only have been brought to life through the sensitive hand and watchful eye of a master sculptor, and with a great deal of loving care."
Another notable artifact was the Alabaster Sphinx. The Alabaster Sphinx is 8m (26 ft) long and 4m (13 ft) tall and weighs around 90 tons. The type of figure known as a sphinx is created with the body of a lion and the head of royalty. The lion is in a crouching position with its paws outstretched. The human head is adorned with the covering reserved for kings of that particular period.
Next we headed to the Step Pyramids in Saqqara. Unlike Giza, Saqqara has the distinction not of having Egypt's largest pyramids, but its first, the Step Pyramid of Djoser. This was an impressive site, with a large courtyard and more pyramids, some very ancient, than Giza. The Step Pyramids were quite huge.
After the Step Pyramids, we visited a carpet school and papyrus factory... both ended up being pitches for vendors to sell their wares, but they weren't too bad. Quite interesting to see the hand-made Egypt carpets. Chris J. bought a small carpet for Kim.
Finally off to see the Great Pyramids and luckily by this time the weather had cleared, how funny to come to Egypt and not get to see the GP. What was most odd was the location... right in downtown Giza. Kinda expected a long bus ride in the desert but the Pyramids were about 2 miles from the hotel. Impressive to see all three Pyramids, we decided thanks to our guide not to pay the 100 pounds ($20) to go inside the main Pyramid but spent 25 pounds ($5) to go into the second. Both had the same flavor, very small shaft leading into the burial chamber. But no hieroglyphics or art of any kind just small stone passages. Still incredible the precision in the construction. Last stop was the Sphinx, once again not expecting it in such a crowded local, but still it was fascinating.
Afterwards we visited a perfume shop. We were subjected to the worst sales pitch I've heard quite in awhile. We left with nothing but an odd mix of scents lingering on us.
In the evening we paid roughly 25 pounds ($5) each for Stella beers in the hotel bar. We had a short, heated discussion with the waitstaff and left feeling slightly ripped off. The main issues were, beers are really expensive in bars in Egypt and we didn't understand Arabic numerals.
Egypt note: Necropolises, tombs of the dead, were always located on the western side of the Nile River while the eastern side was used for active temples for the living.
posted by Chris at 2:37 PM
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