"Egypt is the gift of the Nile"- Herodotus
. It is hard to image how it would be accomplished even today!
The first pyramid is the largest of the three and was built by Khufo and is currently 139 meters tall. The second is the second largest, 1 meter shorter, was build by his son, Khafre. It still has the exterior limestone at the peak. The third pyramid was build by Khufo's grandson Menkaure and is 1/10 the size of the great pyramid.
Omar left us to explore. We were approached by several men trying to sell us camel rides, a photo with them or a photo to the entrance of the pyramid. All of these things would have cost us extra money, so we declined.
Originally the top stone of the pyramids were made of gold. The two largest pyramids have decreased in size by 20% due to erosion.
We purchased tickets to explore the interior of the second pyramid Lunch!!. We were not able to take our cameras in, but there were no drawings to take photos of. There was the casket of a sarcophagus and a fairly large chamber. We had to climb down a shallow stairway, then back up again. It seemed like we traveled a fair distance inside the pyramid, but in reality we probably went in a quarter of the way or less.
We did not stop at the third pyramid, but drove up a hill to take photos of all three pyramids together. It was a spectacular view!
We then drove to the site of the Sphinx. Omar told us about the three types os stone used in constructing the pyramids, funeral temple and Sphinx. The stones were limestone which is local to the area, pink granite and alabaster which were from other parts of Egypt.
We toured the funerary temple where rituals were performed upon the Pharaoh's death With Omar inside the Funerary Temple. He was not buried for 70 days. This was significant due to their calendar - the one bright star in the sky disappeared for 70 days, when it reappeared, the Nile began to flood. The organs of the Pharaoh were removed when he died, except the heart. It was a belief in the afterlife that the Pharaoh's heart would be weighed. If it was light (not weighed down with sins), that meant he had lived a good life and would go on to the afterlife.
We were then able to walk near the Sphinx and take photos. That was the largest crowd we saw all day, 20 or so people… Again, this is so wrong!
Then we rejoined Omar and Makmood and drove to the New Merit Papyrus shop. Aiya was our guide/salesperson at the shop. She demonstrated how to make papyrus and how to identify fake papyrus. We did not purchase an ancient papyrus, but we did get a hand painted papyrus with King Tut and his wife Inside the Tombs. I am sure it will look great in our house! We also had our names done in hieroglyphics for the scrapbook.
We went to a large outdoor restaurant that was surrounded by beautiful gardens. We were there only people there when we showed up. Omar said that it used to be full and sometimes he would have to wait 30 minutes. Unreal! Before we left, three other couples showed up. The roasted chicken meal was very good. The mezze platters were amazing - baba ganoush, garlic tahini, lamb kefta, ect. It was a lovely place to rest and recharge!
After lunch we had a long drive to Memphis. It is a small, largely outdoor museum. The main attraction is a large granite statue of King Rameses II that is approximately 10 meters long. I found that it was so interesting because there were artifacts strewn about the area that you can walk up to, touch and photograph at your leisure Still Awesome after 4350 years.
We then travelled nearby to Saqqara. It is estimated that only 1/3 of the site has been uncovered to date, so there is still a lot of uncovered treasure to be found! The pyramid at Saqqara is dated back to 2650 BC. This pyramid was the first one made of stone with 6 Mastabas on top of one another (structure in a shape of a bench above tombs, this was the inspiration for later pyramids).
Off in the distance we could see the Bent Pyramid and the Red Pyramid.
We entered the Funerary Temple with Omar. The 40 columns inside resemble a bundle of papyrus or palm are still largely intact, but the stone roof has been destroyed.
We were supposed to go and explore for 30 minutes on our own, but we must have been gone much longer than that. The tombs of the influential men of the day were so impressive. We had a local man lead us through, for a small fee, and we were amazed to see some incredible paintings that still have colours of red, yellow, black and blue. There were many scenes such as slaves suppling and carrying food in preparation for the afterlife. It was so amazing to see in person and not in a museum behind glass and ropes.
We rejoined Omar and went to the pyramid of Teti. The posted rules said we were not allowed to take photos, but our newly befriended guard/guide began encouraging us to take photos and took some of the two of us for a small bribe, I mean fee. Inside there were several hieroglyphics and the first sarcophagus with inscriptions which is still located there.
Omar and another guard guided us through the tomb of Kegemni, the chief justice under Pharaoh Teti. This tomb had many beautiful drawings and lots of colour. Bill noticed that one slave was scraped off. Omar said that he must have lost favour with the chief and his image and name have been removed from every spot in the tomb.
We then drove back through the farmlands with fields of corn, donkeys pulling carts, lambs and goats, back to the city filled with tuk tuks, cars, buses and trucks.
We took a refreshing dip in the pool, it was 29 degrees and felt cool! We then had a short nap and went out for dinner. We settled on Aubergine. It was more like a cafe and was incredibly smoky. Bill opted for vegetarian! He had gnocchi with pesto and I had a spicy fish and rice dish. It was pretty good and very reasonably priced.
After completing the blog on the patio at the hotel, Bill went and played a game of chance at the casino and won back some of our tricks and tips money!
I should mention, we have walked to dinner both nights and it has been incredibly safe. We have even seen female expats walking or jogging alone after dark.
