Cairo - Pyramids & Tombs

May 2006

Click on any photo to see a larger view of it or a slideshow of the photos

Ever since Annie and I went on our Nile Cruise in 1998 from Luxor to Aswan and back to see all the ancient temples and monuments we have wanted to see the Pyramids so this year we decided it was time. It was a real last minute trip; booked on Saturday, confirmed on Monday and left on Thursday for what turned out to be a fantastic trip. Part of the package was a private transfer from the airport and, as it happened, our guide from the airport could arrange just about any tour or anything else we wanted (-:

We haggled over the options for a while and then he did us a special private deal which turned out to be just what we wanted. We were fetched early the next morning and, for the two of us we had a driver, a guide and an Egyptologist! We started off by driving out into the countryside, on the road to Memphis heading south from Giza along canals and fields, to see a few statues and columns, a limestone colossus of Ramses II as a young man, monuments, tombs and the first of the pyramids on our tour. The Step Pyramid of King Djoser at Saqqara, was built in the 27th century BC, and is the oldest of them all. We also stopped to visit the tomb of the priest Ptah-Hotep, with wonderful wall carvings. Then, after the obligatory stop at the "carpet factory" and then for lunch, we went to see the GIANT (Great) Pyramid of Giza, Khufu (Cheops), it is no wonder it is considered one of the survivors of the 7 ancient wonders of the world! It stood 146m high when it was built around 2570 BC but is has reduced by about 9m after 46 centuries! It was built with about 2.3 million limestone blocks, weighing around 2.5 tonnes each. The 2nd pyramid, the Pyramid of Khafre (Chepren), built by Cheop's son (who also gave the Sphinx his face), stands 136.4m high, and the top part of this pyramid still has some of it's original limestone casing (and looks like a Toblerone capped chocolate :). The 3rd pyramid, Menkaure, was built by Khafre's son and stands only 62m high! Around each pyramid there are the remains of smaller pyramids of the royal families. We looked at the Pyramid of Cheops from every angle, climbed up the side of it, went down into the tomb of one of the wives' pyramids, went to see the 3 pyramids from a viewpoint and ended with a visit to the Sphinx. WOW!!!