September 27, 2019 - Cairo

The day starts really early.   We are being picked up at 7:30, so we’re leaving to go down to breakfast at 6:15.  Shudder!  That makes for a short night when you get up two hours early!!  And a panicked morning when you’ve turned down the volume on your phone and just happen to wake up fifteen minutes late!

The breakfast buffet is even more elaborate than any I’ve seen on a cruise ship!  We haven’t even tried half of the offerings;  but we’ve got to get outside to meet our guide, Achmed Azziz, and our driver, Mahmud.  Today, first thing, we’re going to explore the Pyramids of Giza, on the Giza Plateau.  Achmed is so very knowledgeable!  I started taking notes but eventually became overwhelmed with trying to learn five thousand years of EgyptIan history!

I did learn a few things.  The Nile, which runs from south to north, divides the province of Giza, on the west bank, from the province of Cairo, on the east bank.  Together, the two provinces create Great Cairo. That’s why people say they’re coming to Cairo to see the Pyramids, but the pyramids are in Giza.  Also, since the Nile runs north, the Upper Kingdom is actually in the south of Egypt and the Lower Kingdom is in the north - counterintuitive!

Did we climb the Great Pyramid?  Well, at least this far!

And this was our view!  So grateful to have gone early, before the hordes and the heat!

And there was even a breeze!

Can you hear the music?

Egyptian history is divided into the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms and together they contain thirty dynasties.  Before the dynasties, there was North and South Egypt.  In 3100 BC, they were first unified by King Menes.  The Old Kingdom was ruled by the first seven dynasties.  Then the country was divided again until the second unification, which began the Middle Kingdom.  The New Kingdom began in 1600 B.C.  The Cairo monuments are all from the Old Kingdom;  those in Luxor are from the New Kingdom, when the capital was moved.

We learned that The Great Pyramid is the only one that was part of the Seven Wonders of the World.  It was built by King Cheops (Khufu) and is the tallest of the three pyramids of Giza, and was originally capped with gold.  It was actually the central monument in an entire complex which also included a Valley Temple which served as the entrance to the complex and the funerary temple in which the embalming took place.  There were also tombs for nobles and workers.  There were also three smaller pyramids, called the Pyramids of the Queens, although he did not have three wives.  They may have been for a wife and two daughters of some other female relatives.

Khufu’s son, Khafrem build the second pyramid.  It appears larger than his father’s;  but that is only because he built it on a taller base.  The third pyramid belongs to Khufu’s grandson, Menkaure.  The sphinx is actually part of Khafre’s pyramid complex and was originally enclosed, not exposed as it is today.

Before these, the first actual pyramid-shaped monument was attempted by King Djoser, but it was leaning, so it called a halt to construction.  He then had a second one built and it was the first perfect pyramid, ninety-nine meters high.  It was designed by Imhotep, his vizier.  It is a step pyramid and is located in Saqqara.

Today we visited the Pyramids of Giza and saw the trench in one of the solar boats rested, saw an actual reconstructed solar boat (the worlds most difficult jigsaw puzzle, made of more than fourteen hundred cedar fragments!  The boat was designed to convey the king to the after life.

It was quite a shock when they discovered the solar boats buried under limestone slabs!

We rode camels!! 

We went to see the remnants of the Temple of Memphis and Ramses II statues.

His legs were broken with British soldiers tried to move him, prior to taking him to England.

We went to Saqqara and saw the Step Pyramid.

Entrance to the complex

So desolate!

Achmed told us that we won’t be stopping at any of the vendors at the sites we visit.  Instead, we will visit shops that have been vetted by the Tourism Police to ensure that their goods are what they claim to be, not cheap knock-offs.  That keeps me from blowing a whole lot of time at the ever-so-numerous stalls, and lets me walk right past the persistent salesmen.

We all received a beverage;  most of us choice hibiscus tea!

This is irrigation water from the Nile.  The banks all look like this - or more so.

With that in mind we stop at a shop that sells jewelry and lots of other souvenirs, and shop that demonstrates how papyrus is made, and, of course, sells artworks, and a school that teaches young people the art of rug making.  I manage to get out of that one unscathed.  We won’t talk about the other two!!  Interesting fact about papyrus - it is triangular and was thought to be holy because the poof at the top looks like the sun’s ray.  Amman Ra, the Sun God, is the principal deity of ancient Egypt, for most of its history.

The one that got away!

We stopped for lunch at Pharous Restaurant and were treated to lots of Egyptian delicacies, including tahini, babaganoush, felafels, eggplant (aubergine), potatoes in a tomato sauce, excellent Egyptian bread, stuffed leaves of some sort and grilled chicken and beef!  Every time a plate was emptied, it was replaced!  We were so stuffed!  Maybe that’s why some people’s resistance was lower when we went to the carpet school.

We hurried back to our hotel, with just enough time to shower and change for dinner and the Sound and Light show at the Pyramids.  Mustafa came to get us with our driver from the other day, and we went to Aboushakra for dinner.  Basically it was quite similar to lunch, but not as welcoming or as plentiful.  We were not all that hungry, though, so it worked out, and we had plenty of time to walk to the VIP seats for the show.  Memphis Tours seemed to have most of the front-row seats!  Mustafa must know everyone in Cairo! While we were waiting, the couple we had met earlier came over to say hello and compare adventures! 

During the show

After the show

The show as about an hour long, recounting many of the highpoint in Egypt’s history.  And on the way out we saw three cats!  Made my evening!  Our driver found us and brought us home.  When we got into the lobby, we saw a belly dancer performing in the restaurant and stopped to watch her for a while before coming upstairs.  We have to check out in the morning, so there’s some packing and re-organizing to do.  And some writing!!  And MAYBE some photo editing!