Egypt, day 5: Giza

Finally, the last post of Egypt!! We ended our day, and also our trip, with a visit to the Great Pyramids at Giza. This worked best with our travel schedule, but it was also nice to end our adventure with one of the best attractions. I think we had all heard about what to expect, in that there are parking lots, and vendors, and whatnot, and that the pyramids are no longer isolated in the desert, but it wasn't so bad.  In comparison to everything else we saw though, this was definitely the busiest spot, and it was so nice to see so many other things without all the people. I can only imagine what these places are like when it is high tourist season.

Along our drive we caught glimpses of the pyramids in the background of the skyline


A nice view to have!


Downtown Giza. Last donkey picture, I promise :)




Beautiful colors


Ticket prices in English and Arabic. The entry fee is 60 Egyptian pounds or 30 for students. The price for Egyptians (listed in Arabic) is 2 pounds, or 1 pound for students. Wow.


The pyramid of Khufu, the oldest of the bunch. Dating to 2550 BC, it is one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, and was the tallest structure in the world until St Mary's Cathedral was built in London in 1300 AD. That's a long time!


The Great Pyramid of Khafre, the son of Khufu. Technically shorter than Khufu's pyramid (in respect for his father's monument), it is built on slightly higher ground, and therefore appears to be the tallest. At the top a section of the original outer limestone covering survives. The rest of the limestone, as in the case for all of the pyramids, was later stripped away and reused for other building projects.


The Pyramid of Menkaura, Khafre's son, and the smallest of the bunch


The parking lot, with the two favored modes of transportation


Feeding the camels


The result of that feeding :)


One of the 6 smaller pyramids on the site, built for various wives of the 3 Pharaohs


No one else was obeying the rules, so...


The chaos of Giza. Tour groups, school groups full of small children, camels, horses, people trying to sell stuff, tourist police, guards, construction workers, etc. Even still, it wasn't that crowded, and once we walked away from the first pyramid we had the place to ourselves. Quite a few children and young teens approached us for pictures. At first we thought it was somehow a scam, but they never asked for money, and we then realized that many of them had likely never been to such a large metropolis before, and therefore had never before seen foreigners.


From right to left, view of the Pyramid of Khafre, of Menkaura, and a smaller queen's pyramid. The Pyramid of Khufu is on the right, just outside the frame of this picture.


Camel rides!! We heard they are a ripoff, but whatever! There was no way we were going to leave Egypt without riding a camel. Plus, we were able to bargain down to a price we were happy with, and it was one of the funnest things I've ever done. Here is my camel, Moses.


He's a cutie!


Because there were 5 of us, and we all wanted to ride one individually, they had to call more guys over. The guy in the back is trying to persuade some of us to ride horses instead of camels. No way!




Eek!


This expression says it all: "Holy shit, I'm on a camel in Egypt!!" They are incredibly tall by the way, which doesn't become until they stand up (which they do very quickly!).


Pure joy






During a self-timer photo we accidentally caught a camel walking by in the background. Photobomb!


Surface of Khafre's pyramid


Corner shot.  Each stone is several tons, and was placed by hand, although we still don't exactly know how.


The sphinx!


She's a lot smaller than I expected, but quite cute!






We met our driver at the Pizza Hut in town. I love the Arabic, and also the reflection of one of the pyramids in the window.


On our way back to Cairo we saw the Egyptian equivalent of a tow truck. Yikes.


Back at the hostel, packing up our suitcases which had exploded. Our flight left at 4:55am, and we had to leave the hostel at 2am. Luckily we were able catch a few hour's nap before we had to leave. Crazy hours, but so worth it.


Alla ysalmak Egypt and shokran

Egypt, day 5: Dashur

After Saqquara we drove to Dashur to visit the Bent Pyramid and the Red Pyramid. These two give a great idea of the continuing evolution in pyramid design.

The base of the Red Pyramid on the right and the Bent Pyramid in the background

The Bent Pyramid is so-called because of its odd shape. Commissioned by King Sneferu in about 2595 BC, it is unique in that it is one of the only pyramids in Egypt to still have its outer limestone facing intact. The bent shape is a result of problem-solving during its construction: in the middle of building it was discovered that if the pyramid were completed at a 55º angle (as seen in the base), then the whole structure would collapse upon itself. Rather than abandon the project, it was decided to decrease the angle to 43º, therefore strengthening the monument, but giving it its bent shape. Unfortunately tourists are not allowed to visit the sight at the moment, so this is the closest we got.


The Red Pyramid. Also built by Sneferu, it is the first "true" pyramid, in that it was successfully built with smooth sides without any bending. The order in which we saw the pyramids on our last day was great, as we began with the oldest and ended with the newest (at Giza). You'll notice how empty this picture is, and that is because I think we saw only 4 or 5 other people at this sight. Like so many other things we saw in near isolation, it was delightful to be there alone, and because of this, and the fact that we were able to go inside (again with no one else there), I think it was my favorite experience of the trip.


Guard, and beginning of the ramp that leads to the inside


Closeup of the climb up to the entrance, and the few tourists we saw


Looking back down from the top of the climb


Inside!! Officially there are no photos allowed, but again, because there was no one else inside there weren't any guards and so we were able to snap a few.


Picture of Michael climbing down. The passage was sort of a combination of a ladder and stairs. The ceiling was incredibly low, forcing us to squat the entire way up and down. Our thighs were definitely complaining for the rest of the day.


Inside one of the main chambers. The stairs lead up to a smaller chamber on the right.


View directly up at the ceiling, which is constructed into the form of a corbelled arch. Given that the Egyptians had not "discovered" the use of a true, or rounded, arch, the corbelled system was used, where blocks of stone are gradually moved into the center as they are stacked up, as demonstrated here. This creates a strong and stable triangular shape. It was absolutely breathtaking inside, as the space was incredibly vast, and it makes one realize the genius of construction. These pyramids were not just solid piles of stone, but were made to contain the deceased, and therefore stable interior spaces had to be constructed as well. The fact that the Egyptians were able to achieve this without collapse, and the fact that the interiors are still structurally sound today is absolutely amazing. When you click and enlarge this picture and the one above you can see the precise cutting of the stones, and how closely they fit together. Remember, this was all done by hand, by stone on stone. Absolutely incredible. (I'm running out of adjectives!)


Climbing back up


We never made it inside the Great Pyramids at Giza (to be covered in the next blog post) because the tickets were only for certain times, and it was an extra cost. After our fabulous experience inside the Red Pyramid, we didn't feel like we needed to. I can only imagine that the climb inside the Great Pyramid would be like a cattle call, with wall to wall people, and therefore the experience wouldn't be the same. I think that's why our journey inside this one was so magical, and nothing could have compared to that. It was also incredibly lucky that it was so much cooler this day, as I can't imagine what these chambers are like in the stifling heat we experienced earlier.


View from the top of the stairway outside the pyramid. In the background on the left is the Stepped Pyramid. The flattish object second to the right is a mastaba tomb. The pale monument furthest on the right is yet another pyramid, but I don't know which one. Besides the main ones we saw, there are smaller pyramids scattered all around the area.


Closeup of a mastaba tomb. These were the predecessors of the Stepped Pyramid.


Closeup of the surface of the Red Pyramid


Back down at the bottom