There are how many pyramids in Egpyt?
Trip Start
Jan 28, 2008
1
11
83
Trip End
Sep 18, 2008
Cairo, Egypt
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
We visited pyramids on three days at three different sites (but read the fine print).
The Step Pyramids of Saqqarra were our first. We had caught a taxi to the Australian embassy the day before and it was clean and smokeless. We organýsed with the driver, who spoke just a few more words of English than our Arabic, to pick us up the next morning. He did pick us up and after stopping to ask for directions a number of times, we arrived at Saqqarra. All the Step Pyramids are crumbling but the largest is in the best condition. Sadly there is an incredible amount of rubbish at this site. Plastic bags were dancing in front of the second largest pyramid.
We continued on to Dashur to see the Red and Bent Pyramids. We had to convince our driver that it was only 10km away and would take no longer than 20 minutes to reach. When we arrived there were only a hand full of cars in the area. We were able to enter the Red Pyramid by climbing up the outside to the entrance and then down into the pyramid. I still had my cold, which dampened my sense of smell but not enough. The smell was pretty strong by the time we had climbed down to an entrance hall. This and the next room reminded me a little of the roof of Melbourne's Shrine. Through these two chambers we found a set of wooden stairs. At the top of the stairs was a low passage that led to a wooden platform and a dark room. We couldn't see anything. Not even by mobile phone light. The smell was the strongest here and it was hot, so we didn't stay too long. Only after the steep, doubled-over climb to the surface of the pyramid did we remember the small torch in our first aid kit.
After a short bumpy ride we arrived at the Bent Pyramid wıth a coach of tourists. They turned out to be Australian. The Bent Pyramid was closed and we walked around its base. Of course we met some Egyptıan Tourıst Police. The one on a camel wanted to sell us a ride. His mate followed us around for a bıt and then started asking for a tip for allowing us to climbs a set of stairs. There is something NQR about a man carrying an AK47 sticking his hand out asking for money. But hey that's Egypt.
On the way to the Giza Pyramids we scored some genuine help wıth only the slightest hint of a sell job. Thıs help saw us catch a local bus from El Giza Metro Statıon to the Pyramids. The three you saw ıin all the advertising. We ate at a restaurant looking out on the Sphinx and the Pyramids. Good food with a great view, except for the billboard in front of the Sphinx. We only started to be hassled for camel and horse rides once we entered the gates. The riders were very persistant and we became frustrated when they ıgnored our negative responses. İt put a dampener on our visit until we walked up to a viewing and photo area to see the three pyramids in a line. We had a chat to a Spanish couple after taking photos for each other and left the area happier.
You mıght recall İ mentioned fine print. WE visited the Saqqarra and Dashur Pyramids in one day and the Giza Pyramids on another. That was our second visit to the Giza area. Our first had been poorly timed and we arrived at 4pm, closing time. We had caught the Metro out to the Gıza area and then walked a long way before jumping ınto a taxi. On the way home on this adventure the bus suffered a broken fan belt. İt took us and also some Egyptians some time to work out that this was not a scheduled stop and when İ saw the fan belt hanging from the engine İ knew we were in for a bit of a wait. After an hour stand in the traffic another bus arrıved and took us back to the downtown area.
I asked Jillian and there are over 90 pyramids in Egypt!
![[11] Camel and Pyramids](http://images.travelpod.com/users/el_condor/thumbnail.asia_2005.1143747660.picture_032.jpg)