Today was our visit to the icons of Egypt - the pyramids and the Sphynx. Firstly we headed off to the museum to see some of the amazing Egyptian treasures including those of Tutankhamen. Outside the museum there was a lot of security and a row of about eight tanks. They have been stationed there since the revolution to protect the museum. During the revolution the building next door which was admin for the govt was totally burnt out by demonstrators and there were fears that the museum would catch on fire. There were also fears that the museum would be looted or severely damaged so many tour guides and historians formed a human chain around the building to protect it.
Inside the museum are some extraordinary pieces . Tutankhamen's treasures are beautiful. You can see where some idiot tried to fix the beard which had been accidentally knocked off Tutankhamen's mask whilst being cleaned or moved. They used an epoxy glue which has turned yellow. We also saw the replica of the Rosetta Stone (the original is in the British museum and they don't want to give it back!) however we also saw another stone which is practically complete, larger than the Rosetta Stone. This stone was found about five years ago and will take pride of place in the new museum that is under construction. We also went to the mummy room. I personally found this quite disturbing. The idea of seeing the mummies was better than actually seeing them. I just felt uncomfortable and disrespectful. BTW Ramses II had blonde hair. Who knew!
After the museum we drove toward the Giza plains and stopped for lunch at a falafel place. Egyptian felafel are so good - they are made with fava beans instead of chickpeas. But anyway, there we were munching away on felafel in the streets of Cairo with the pyramids just standing there towering above us, quite nearby .
They are amazing, huge, stunning. Some views of the pyramids have a city scape in the background but we went around the back and had an amazing view from there with no souvenir sellers hassling us. We went on a camel ride in the desert at the pyramids. How fantastic is that! It definitely has the wow factor. We didn't go into the pyramids here as it's not much different to the red pyramid and the red pyramid had no other people around. Mike had a bit of a clamber around the base of one of the pyramids. Lots of people were, though I don't think it's officially allowed. The staff just seem to turn a blind eye. The pyramids are an incredible sight to see in the flesh. The great pyramid has 2.3 million blocks of stone. Imagine the weight of that. How they devised the chamber rooms and passageways without the whole lot falling down is an amazing feat of engineering.
The Sphynx is stunning and iconic as well. The tales you hear that are attached to these icons are often wrong. Napoleon's army did not shoot at the Sphynx, and neither slaves nor aliens built the pyramids!
Just an extra note - there was a partial solar eclipse as we visited the pyramids today.