Pyramids and Sphinx

We made it to Egypt! We landed shortly before 6pm yesterday evening and made it through passport control and customs with no problems. Since we booked our entire time here with a tour company, a guide met us as soon as we got off the plane and took us through all of the airport hoops. Then he took us to our driver who whisked us off to our hotel. Wow, the driving here is terrifying! They have lane lines on the highways but they pay no attention to them. Literally we were on a 3-lane highway with 5 cars across. They just weave in and out and it's insane. Often the cars converge in front of you and then you have to slam on the breaks and hope the guy behind you doesn't hit you. Luckily our driver was good, but it was over an hour drive and I chomped my gum so hard that my jaw was sore by the time we made it to the hotel.

The hotel we're staying at is very nice. We're staying at the Cairo Pyramids Hotel, which is a 5-star hotel. Since the US dollar is so strong compared to the Egyptian pound we're paying less than $60/night for the room. It has two pools, one with a swim-up bar, and several different restaurants here on the premises as well. We got settled in to our room and then grabbed some dinner at the Italian place by the pool which was nice and also cheap. Oh, we can also see the pyramids from our room!

By 6am it looked like the middle of the day since the sun rose so early, so we were up bright and early. We got ready, after I spent awhile stressing about what to wear, and went to breakfast. I kept reading that women need to be covered up, so I dressed in pants and brought a long-sleeve shirt and a scarf to cover my head, but I wore a t-shirt since I couldn't bear wearing the long-sleeves in the upper 80 degree heat. Turns out we stressed for nothing because our guide, Yasmine, showed up wearing a t-shirt and pants like me and later mentioned that I could wear whatever I wanted and it would be fine. 

So Yasmine met us at breakfast and then we hopped in the car with our driver, Said. Our first stop of the day was Saqqara, which contains the step pyramid. The Step Pyramid, or Pyramid of Djoser, was the first ever Egyptian pyramid and is said to be one of the earliest large-scale cut-stone construction. Before going to the pyramid however we went to the museum to learn a bit about it's history. At the museum we learned about the high priest Imhotep who built the pyramid for Pharoah Djoser. We were also able to see some remnants of the temple such as columns and ceiling pieces and represent some of the first ever pieces of their kind. We also got to see one of the first ever mummies which was really cool. It was the mummy of Merrenre I and he was partially unwrapped so you could still see his facial features and also his toes. So weird! This was from literally somewhere around 2,290 BC, over 4,000 years ago! Unfortunately I wasn't able to take any pictures in the museum, so you all will just have to go for yourselves!

After the museum we went were able to go inside King Titi's tomb, which is unique since it has a lot of pyramid text inside (there are only two pyramids with text inside). To get into the tomb we had to crawl down a very narrow tunnel. Yasmine was able to read some of it for us and describe what the writing was talking about. We also learned a bit more about pyramids in general. They were built as tombs and the purpose was to facilitate a successful journey into the afterlife, so they left food and other necessities that would be needed for the journey. A lot of them also recorded everything that the person owned (slaves, livestock, plants, equipment), with the thought that if they recorded it there then they would be able to use those resources in the afterlife as well. These recordings were in the second place we went which was the tomb of one of the rich and powerful priests, Qagemini, who had more than 50 titles. 

Then we walked through what's left of the Complex of King Djoser, which is where the ceiling and pillar pieces came from that we saw in the museum. After we got through the temple we got our first good look at the Step Pyramid. We walked all around it while our guide told us about the history of the pyramid so that was really cool. We also saw lots of donkeys, horses, and camels around. We were able to climb up near the pyramid and get lots of good pictures. 

Then we left Saqqara and went to Memphis, which used to be the capitol of Egypt. There we were able to see a huge statue of Ramses II, who was a very famous and powerful pharoah. He was king of Egypt for over 80 years and had over 100 children. He was a well-loved ruler and brought peace and prosperity to Egypt during his reign. We also saw lots of other things in Memphis, including a small sphinx statue and a smaller statue of Ramses II.

After we left Memphis we went to a Papyrus Institute, where we were shown how to make papyrus into paper. They peel the green off and then slice the papyrus. Then they flatten the strips with a roller in order to remove all of the water and sugar. Then they soak the strips in water for 1-2 weeks. Then it's laid in a cross-pattern- horizontally and vertically to get the size of the sheet you want. Then it's pressed for awhile and that's it! We were able to view all of the beautiful papyrus paintings they had and we ended up buying one that we really liked. Hopefully we can make it home without damaging it!

It was lunch-time by this point so we were taken to a local restaurant where we each got a shawerma wrap which was really good; I got chicken while Matt got beef. 

Then we moved on to the big Giza pyramids! We spent lots of time there taking a ton of pictures. It's truly incredible how big the limestone blocks are that the pyramids are made of. I can't imagine trying to move one of those! It's crazy that they had hundreds of thousands of slaves working for over 20 years on those pyramids. The Great Pyramids consist of 3 pyramids: The Great Pyramid of Giza (also known as the Pyramid of Khufu or the Pyramid of Cheops) which stands at 138 meters, the Pyramid of Khafre which stands at 136 meters, and the Pyramid of Menkaure which stands at a modest 65 meters high. The Great Pyramid is the oldest of the Ancient Wonders of the World and also the only one left in existence (how crazy is that?!). It was also the tallest man-made structure in the world for more than 3,800 years (take that, Burj Khalifa!). There were also several boat-shaped pits surround the pyramid which housed complete boats for the deceased pharaohs to take to the sun. We opted not to buy tickets to go inside the big one but instead went inside one of the smaller ones. Again, it was a very tiny tunnel down a steep ramp in order to get into the pyramid. We saw the tomb and went right back up since it was hot and crowded down there. 

We were also able to get on some camels and take lots of great pictures with the pyramids in the background. The camels are so tall! I felt like we were so high while we were riding them. They walked us around a bit and so that was fun. And we had good views of the pyramids. The purpose of the pyramids is thought to have been constructed to house the remains of the pharaohs who ruled over Egypt and therefore it also stored lots of treasure and artifacts that the king would need in the afterlife.

A few hundred meters away from the pyramids is where the Great Sphinx is located. The face of this particular sphinx is believed to be of Pharoah Khafre, although that's not known for sure since there have been no inscriptions or markings found. It was cut from bedrock and is 73 meters long from paws to tail and 20 meters high. It is the oldest known monumental sculpture in Egypt and is believed to have been built during Pharoah Khafre's reign (2558 - 2532 BC). The Egyptian sphinxes are said to represent protection. We got lots of great pictures of the sphinx with the pyramids in the background. 

That was our day! We got back to our hotel shortly before 4pm and decided to hit up the pool for a bit which was refreshing. We grabbed dinner at the hotel buffet and called it a night.

We booked our entire stay in Egypt with a company called Egypt Tailor Made Tours and so far we've been very happy. The logistics have all went smoothly and our guide and drivers have been great. It's been really nice to have our own private guide and driver so we can go at our own pace and we don't have to worry about driving on these crazy roads ourselves. Plus every time we start walking out of an area our driver is there waiting with a nice air-conditioned car ready to whisk us away to the next Egyptian wonder. Our guide, Yasmine, is very knowledgeable so we've learned a ton (much more than I was able to record here). Plus she loves to take lots of pictures of us with my camera so that we can remember everything. Which is actually super nice since it would be really tough to find strangers we trust to take pictures of us at all of these sights! Most of my pictures from today are credited to her!

We're off to explore Alexandria tomorrow!