Wednesday (December 26)
Today I was awoken by the hotel to let me know my tour of the Pyramids and surrounding sights was going ahead. Despite the lack of sleep and being the only native English speak on the tour (*cough* Koreans and Japanese *cough*) I was super excited as a trip to the pyramids is definitely the highlight of a trip to Egypt, and it was definitely one of the major sights I was looking forward to the most.
So all seven of us packed into a dirty, old taxi, in which the dodgy taxi driver insisted two of the cute Korean girls sit in the front with him because they had "short legs" - dirty old man!
The Pyramids are situated only some 10km from downtown Cairo in a city called Giza, and nowadays the urban sprawl of Cairo has incorporates Giza and laps up against the desert that the Pyramids are situated in. It was an awesome sight driving through the concrete apartment buildings of Giza and getting glimpses of the Pyramids behind the buildings. Once we arrived the immediate reaction by me, and I'm sure anyone visiting the Pyramids for the first time, is "Wow!". These things are an incredible sight there is no doubt.
A little bit of a brief history of the Pyramids. The Pyramids of Giza, as they are officially known, were built over a period of 100 or so years more than 4000 years ago, yes 4000 years ago! They are the only survivor of the ancient 7 wonders of the world and to this day it is not known how the Pyramids were constructed using the technology at the time. The largest of the pyramids - the Pyramid of Cheops - contains an astonishing 2.3 million limestone blocks weighing on average 2.5 tonnes.
Anyway as you enter the sight of the Pyramids the first sight you come across is that of the Sphinx, one of the most famous of Egyptians sights. It is a pity it is damaged, as it would make a very impressive sight if in perfect condition. After the sphinx I spent the next 2 hours wondering around the sight admiring the pyramids as well as trying to avoid the hundreds of annoying Egyptians trying to sell me a camel/donkey/horse ride.
Unfortunately I did not really get the photos I wanted as I was shooting in the midday sun and there is an ugly grey haze which sits on the horizon of Cairo in the background, most likely caused by the terrible pollution the city causes. Despite these excuses for some reason I really struggled to get any good shots in my opinion so I think I will have to return at some point in time.
What really diminishes the magic of the place is all the damn Egyptians trying to sell you everything from rides (as mentioned above), to crappy t-shirts and pyramid paperweights. Of course the answer of "No thanks" doesn't seem to suffice most of the time so I now tell everyone I am allergic to animals or I already have one of whatever they are trying to sell. Of course this doesn't always work but it at least gets half of them to piss off straight away.
So three hours at the Pyramids I don't think was anywhere near enough to see everything, and I ended up rushing to try and see them and didn't really get to enjoy my time there. After leaving the Pyramids at Giza we then went on to the Step Pyramid at Saqqara, which is the first pyramid of Egypt as well as being the oldest stone structure in the world. Despite being much smaller and less impressive that the other pyramids there were fewer tourists and no people trying to sell you anything which made me really enjoy the site.
Last on the tour was a visit to the site of Darshur, which is home to both the Red Pyramid and also the Bent Pyramid. The Red Pyramid was good as it was included in the entrance price to venture on inside the pyramid to where the sarcophagus was kept. The climb down on into the Pyramid was tough as you had to be crouched over the entire way and the humidity was overwhelming also. Once inside the pyramid it was actually relatively small and compact with not much to see at all except revel in the fact that I was inside a pyramid. The Bent Pyramid is in a military zone these days and therefore you can only admire it at a distance, however by that point in time I was all pyramided out.
So that concludes my day out seeing the Pyramids. I don't think I enjoyed myself as much as I could have mainly because I was stuck to the confines of being on a tour where someone says to you "here is XXXX, you have XXX minutes to see it", so much of the sights seemed really rushed and I really struggled to get any good photos also. As mentioned before I would really like to visit the Pyramids at Giza again on my own either first thing in the morning or at sunset which I think would be a lot nicer way to see this truly magnificent sight.
More thumbnails ...
18 votes 
