Who Said Cairo? Giza Pyramids

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  Cairo, Egypt
Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Tuesday was a long, long day. We left Port Said on the Suez Canal by bus in a convoy of some 110 buses or some 5000 people (2 or 3 ships in port all doing the same thing) at 7:30 AM to head down to Cairo to tour the Pyramids (the Step Pyramid was the first one built in Egypt, the Great Pyramids of Giza - there are three of them there all in a row). This is also the location of the Sphinx. The ride to Cairo follows the Suez Canal for about an hour then continues across the lands east of Cairo (mostly desert, farmland and military bases) in other words empty space. As we approached you can see the suburbs rapidly expanding into the agricultural land. Cairo is a huge city (approximately 22 million people and growing or over 1 quarter of Egypt's population of about 80 million). They are building huge tracts of apartment/condo buildings are being built not one at a time or even 10 at a time but at least 100 at a time. As we approached Cairo we could see the Airport (modern transportation methods-air planes) then we crossed over the River Nile (some of the oldest transportation methods - reed rafts and Nile sailing boats). This was the river that the ancient Pharaohs of Egypt sailed. The Nile of Moses, Anthony, Cleopatra and Julius Caesar and still going strong although more controlled now that the Aswan Dam is in place and controlling water levels.
The first site we went to was the Sakkara Pyramid. This was the first Pyramid built in Egypt to house the mummy of a Pharaoh. It is also known as the Step Pyramid because it actually rises from the floor of the Sahara desert (yes we were actually in the Sahara Desert) just on the other side of a massive Oasis with Palm trees and everything. By the way all of the Pyramids are located on the west side of the Nile (Giza)where the sun sets and which for the ancients represented Death whereas the East side (sunrise) Cairo represents rebirth.
Lunch was next (not a typical Egyptian lunch) but one that had been westernized but with a little Egyptian flavour so that it appealed to everyone. This was in the 5 star Meridian Hotel just across the way from the "Great Pyramid of Cheops" in Giza.(the only remaining "Wonder of the Ancient World").
Then it was back on the bus to go to across to the Pyramids. Our admission tickets got us onto the site to see the Pyramids but you needed to get an extra ticket to crawl inside. Those who wanted to crawl into the burial chamber were able to do this but I was afraid Mary might leave me and vise versa there so neither of us did this. We were later told it was extremely hot and a very tight squeeze (make that traffic jam). Herded like cattle then penned up with no real organization on how to get in or out. While this was taking place we were able to take as many pictures as we wanted (posed, unposed, sneaking pictures of Bedouins and camels or "Pyramid Police"- these guys wanted posing fees). The Pyramids are close but with only 45 minutes it is difficult to get up close and personal with each one. So we settled for close shots of the 2nd Pyramid and distance shots or artistic shots of all three plus the six smaller Pyramids of the wives and daughters. The sheer size of the Pyramids is awe inspiring and a very spectacular sight to behold. Built some 50 centuries before the birth of Christ the "Great Pyramid of Cheops" is made from some 2500 blocks of granite and weighing in at some 2 to 3 tons for a total weight of in the neighbourhood of some 6 million tons. After getting our fill of taking pictures of the Pyramids and pushing the vendors out of the way to get back to the bus we moved higher to get an idea of the alignment of the three Pyramids then down below to the Sphinx where we spent another half hour taking pictures. At 4:30 PM we again boarded the bus for our trip by convoy back to Port Said to board the Ship for an 8:00 PM departure to Alexandria. At 8:00 PM we were still standing on the Egyptian side of the wharf waiting to board . By the time everyone of the passengers was back onboard we were over an hour late in departing the port. Fortunately, Alexandria (the capital city of Alexander the Great) was only a short distance down the coast of Egypt and only on the other side of the Nile Delta so time was made up quickly. Complete disorganization but I suppose that is the Egyptian way. Everything is done by hand with no rhyme or reason to explain the system.

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