Oct 27 – Pyramids, Sphinxes and Egyptian Pharaohs

This morning we met the other travels in our tour…Bill and Joyce and Earl and Joan, two couples traveling together from the Washington DC area and a much younger couple, Todd and Cindy from Delaware.  And we met Khalid, our guide and Egyptologist.

Yesterday had clear, blue, sunny skies.  This morning is pretty hazy and almost overcast.  Really too bad as it really affected the light.  Of course, the pyramids are so big they are hard to photograph well anyway so maybe the lighting won’t be a big deal.  Our first stop was the Pyramids of Giza…a big bucket list item.

We were dropped off near the Great Pyramid (largest of the three largest pyramids in the area.  The Great Pyramid is the pyramid of the Pharaoh Khufu. 

There was a walk up the side of the pyramid to an entrance.  It was below the actual entrance built at the time of the pharaohs. 

Paul with Tod and Cindy

The three pyramids are for the pharaohs (left to right) Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure. 

Khafre Pyramid

We saw other ruins while we were driving through the area.  

From the pyramids our next stop was the sphinx.  Apparently one is required to get special tickets in order to be able to go down to the level directly in front of the sphinx “between the paws”.  And we had tickets for that access.  How amazing to be so close to the sphinx…so close we could touch it. 

Then it was on to the camel ride.  We both opted to pass on the ride.  We have ridden those beasts several times in the past.  Even the chance to ride them with the pyramids in the background couldn’t seem to entice us onto the backs of those animals.  The rest of our group took the ride and all seemed to enjoy it.  It was a pretty short ride…about half an hour. 

L-R Earl, Joan, Bill, Cindy, Todd (behind), Joyce

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More Giza
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We stopped at a nearby papyrus shop where we were given a demonstration on how papyrus paper is made.  Most interesting.  They soak the papyrus stems then peal it and cut it into thin slices.  It is then pounded flat and the rolled flatter to press out as much water as possible. 

Papyrus

Peeling

Cutting into Strips

Pounding

Rolling out more water

The strips are then laid out in overlapping style on a cloth, the papyrus covered with another cloth and the entire thing pressed for some period of time.  There are likely a few other steps but that is basically it.  And that’s the paper, it lasts for a few thousand years.  The oldest known papyrus paper is about 4500 years old. 

The shop had a lot of beautiful art pieces on papyrus paper.  The largest stalks of the papyrus are around 6 feet so that is usually about the largest of the pieces.  And they had a lot of items besides papyrus.

We had lunch at a nearby hotel with lovely grounds and views of the pyramids. 

From there we drove to Memphis (some interesting sights along the way)...

an early capital of Egypt where we visited the Saqqara Archaeological Site.  

There we saw the Ramesses II Colossus.  It originally stood upright with the lower part submerged in water.  The ground water in the area is salty so the lower extremities of the statue were eaten away by the salt and are now gone.  But even with just the remaining part it was obviously huge…about 33 feet tall. It now lies on its back in a large, covered pavilion to protect it from the elements. 

The oval carvings are the pharaoh’s cartouches…sort of like dog tags in that they have the name of the pharaoh carved on them.

Near the pavilion was a large collection of other artifacts (carved rocks) from the area. 

And another sphinx…

and another, smaller, statue of Ramesses II.

Then we were off to another section of the archaeological site where we visited the Step Pyramid of Djoser.  This is one of the earliest versions of pyramids and dates to around 2600 BC.  (The Giza pyramids date to around 2500 BC…a bit later.)

There was also a grand entrance to the area…

and a colonnade of 42 columns.  The columns aren’t free standing…there is a large projection of uncarved rock at the backs of then to give them more support.  Consequently, they are in pretty good condition.  But the roof is missing. 

This area is a necropolis (City of the Dead) and some of the tombs, while found empty due to grave robbers, were reasonably well preserved.

Entrance to the Southern Tomb (we didn't visit this one as it was closed).

The Tomb of Lynefert with good carvings and still vivid paint...

and a beautiful “false door”.  The false doors are not doors at all but solid rock painted to look like a door.  They are believed to represent the threshold between the living and the dead.

The Tomb of Mehu with some of the best, and most well-preserved paintings we saw.  And there were some wonderful carvings...

and another false door at the end of a beautiful chamber.

The Tomb of Seshseshet Idut with more paintings and carvings.

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More Saqqara
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From here we headed back to the hotel where we rested a couple of hours before we were picked up for a ride to another hotel where we had dinner.  We had dinner right beside the Nile.  

Lovely evening.  Way too much food.  

This lady was making pita bread at the restaurant entrance.