Crazy Cairo and Ancient Pyramids

Saturday, September 30, 2023
Cairo, Cairo Governorate, Egypt
By the time we arrived in Cairo at 4.30pm, and waited for our luggage, and navigated the Cairo traffic - it was 7pm before we reached our hotel - the massive Marriott (also where we stayed on our first night in Egypt). The hotel was once a palace and is a beautiful building with lovely gardens on the bank of the Nile.
Cairo is the capital and largest city of Egypt. The city's metropolitan area is the largest in the Middle East and the Arab world, and 15th-largest in the world, and is associated with ancient Egypt, as the famous Giza pyramid complex and the ancient city of Memphis are located in its geographical area. Located near the Nile Delta, modern Cairo was founded in 969 CE by Jawhar al-Siqilli ("the Sicilian") of the Fatimid dynasty, but the land composing the present-day city was the site of ancient national capitals whose remnants remain visible in parts of Old Cairo. Cairo has long been a center of the region's political and cultural life, and is nicknamed "the city of a thousand minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture.
Cairo has the oldest and largest film and music industries in the Arab world, as well as the world's second-oldest institution of higher learning, al-Azhar University. 
Cairo, like many other mega-cities, suffers from high levels of pollution and traffic. Cairo's metro, one of only two metros on the African continent (the other is in Algiers), ranks among the fifteen busiest in the world, with over 1 billion annual passenger rides.
A group of us headed for the steakhouse for dinner, and it was a great meal with cold beer! 
The next morning was an 8am departure for Cairo sightseeing. Cairo is an absolutely massive city with a population of over 22 million people in Greater Cairo. Our first stop was the Mohammed Ali Mosque.
The Muhammad Ali Mosque or Alabaster Mosque is a mosque situated in the Citadel of Cairo in Egypt and was commissioned by Muhammad Ali Pasha between 1830 and 1848.
Situated on the summit of the citadel, this Ottoman mosque, the largest to be built in the first half of the 19th century, is, with its animated silhouette and twin minarets, the most visible mosque in Cairo.
The mosque was built in memory of Tusun Pasha, Muhammad Ali's eldest son, who died in 1816.
This mosque, along with the nearby Cairo Citadel, are one of the landmarks and tourist attractions of Cairo .
It was a spectacular building. The views over Cairo from here were expansive - on a clear day the pyramids can be seen (although a clear day is not a common occurrence). As per usual, it was a hazy day so no pyramid sighting this morning. 
We drove beside the walls of the Aqueduct. The wall of Cairo’s Citadel Aqueduct is distinguished by its area that reached 3500 meters and its distinctive architectural Islamic style that uses "sculpted" stone to build the wall that starts from Fumm Al-Khaleej to the area of Sayyida Aisha. The wall also consists of a tower called the Al- Makhath Tower that contains six wells. This tower is divided into several contracts responsible for carrying the water canal.
We then visited the Egyptian Museum. The Egyptian Museum is the oldest archaeological museum in the Middle East, and houses the largest collection of Pharaonic antiquities in the world. It was absolutely fascinating. The most popular exhibits were the treasures found in King Tutenkhamen’s tomb and treasures found in other tombs. We were not allowed to take photos in these rooms but it’s hard to believe the wealth and value of the items that the pharaohs took with them into their tombs in the hope that they would be taken to the after-life. Obviously the discovery of King Tuts tomb would have been incredible. The items that were in there are just priceless, including the famous funerary mask. So much gold!! The jewellery found in the tombs was truly magnificent. 
This museum is being replaced - the new one already has many of the pieces in situ ready for the opening. The new one will be located near the Pyramids and will be air conditioned! The old one is crowded and hot and has no air conditioning! Its contents are spectacular but wasn’t a great visitor experience, so the new museum will be amazing!
We then visited the new National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation. This is air conditioned, and has a modern layout. This also has many artifacts but most importantly has all of the Egyptian mummies found in tombs of the Pharoahs and Kings and Queens. They are all in glass boxes but you can get very close to them and see them in all of their glory. No photos allowed here either. We saw the mummies of the Pharoahs that were found in the Valley of the Kings, and who were responsible for many of the incredible ancient temples we have seen. 
After seeing their wealth and evidence of their immense power through their temples, statues and tombs, it was easy to imagine these men as being larger than life, however mummification and death has seen them reduced to mere mortals. Still amazing to see, and many were in incredible condition with nails, teeth and hair (even eyelashes) intact. Of course, one of the mummies (22 in total) was the great King Ramses II.
We had a few hours to relax back at the hotel (drinks and very early dinner) as at 7pm we departed for the Giza Sound and Light show. Giza is part of Greater Cairo but this is where the famous Pyramids are. These are the only remaining original ancient wonders of the world. It was very exciting to see these for the first time. We had seats for the show, and the weather reasonably pleasant. The show itself was fairly average, but we enjoyed seeing the pyramids and sphinx lit up at night. It was just so special to be sitting in front of these ancient pyramids that we have seen so many photos of.
The journey to and from the pyramids though through Cairo was absolutely fascinating. This could have entertained us for literally hours. Just some of the sights in this fascinating city:
  • the interesting shops we passed
  • The gatherings on the road, in the dark and in piles of dirt and garbage
  • Shared transport
  • Driving with no lights
  • Horses and donkeys towing buggies 
  • Guards and police everywhere with machine guns 
  • Streets with garbage 
  • Literally chaos everywhere 
  • People selling things on makeshift stalls on the side of the road in the dark 
For our final full day in Egypt, we left the hotel at 7am. Our first stop was Memphis (although the journey there was incredibly fascinating - life in Cairo is nothing like Port Macquarie!). It was the capital of ancient Egypt during both the Early Dynastic Period and Old Kingdom and remained an important city throughout ancient Egyptian history. It was founded in 3200 BC. The site is over 5000 years old so little of the city remains but there are many important artifacts including a huge statue of Ramses II and an Alabaster Sphinx (the latter was never finished). King Ramses II was regarded as the greatest, most celebrated and most powerful Pharoah. In fact, whenever our Egyptologist greets us, it is “Good morning Ramses!” And when he needs us to move it is “Ramses, Attack!”. Very amusing. 
On the way to our next destination (Saqqara) we had to go through the most bizarre checkpoint. Most of us had to get off (a few were allowed to stay on if tired) and we could leave all of our things on the bus. And we walked through a scanner which wasn’t even on. And then we got back on the bus. Sigh. Apparently after the last terrors attacks here, the government is keen for tourists to see that they are taking security seriously and to take that message home.
Saqqara is truly an open-air museum, one that has all of ancient Egyptian history on display. Kings and noblemen from the very first two dynasties (c.3040–2686 BC) were buried here, and this is also the location of the Step Pyramid of Djoser (c.2686–2667 BC).  We wandered around for about an hour, and crouched down to get down underground to the tomb of one of the ancient pyramids. There was the usual array of soldiers with guns and one on a 4 wheeler with a machine gun overlooking the site. 
The tombs were incredible with many reliefs on the walls describing sacrifice. The colours, after all this time, are original and just beautiful. 
We then went to the Pyramids. Nothing can really prepare you for the magnitude of this site. We visited the biggest one first the Grand Pyramid of Giza - which was the tomb of the Pharoah Khufu. The blocks are massive. Built in the early 26th century BC, over a period of about 27 years, the pyramid is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and the only wonder that has remained largely intact. It is the most famous monument of the Giza pyramid complex, which is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Memphis and its Necropolis. Tim and 3 others bought extra tickets to enter the inside of the pyramid - the description by our guide of having to crawl through a tiny space to do it, and to be rewarded with a tomb with no decoration, did turn the rest of us off. The line was also very long. One of our 4 who attempted this turned back, and whilst Tim made it to the tomb, he was absolutely dripping in sweat when he returned. 
Here is Tim’s summary of being inside the big pyramid:
I was one of four in the group to Choose to go up into the center of the grand pyramid of Giza. 
It was about one hour round trip through a very low entrance, very squishy. About 50 m into the pyramid. 
Once we reached the climb, it was about 180 steps at about 30 degree angle with a very low roof up to the second chamber
Which was in itself amazing. It was about 4 m wide at 8 m high and about 30 m long . And again as bout 30 degree Angle 
Then we had to climb through a very small, opening of about 10 m into the grand chamber, under a piece of polished granite estimated to be 400 tonnes which houses the sarcophagus. 
By the time we got out, we were absolutely soaking wet with sweat as I think it was about 45° inside and no air for any ventilation.
Would not want to have a heart attack in there, or have something go wrong as evacuation would be very difficult. 
It was extremely claustrophobic, hot crammed, but extremely overwhelming to think that we were in the middle of the pyramid is just amazing.
At the moment, tour buses can conveniently go to each site so very little walking is needed. This will all change within a year when the new museum opens. Shuttles will be available but your own bus will not be allowed onto the site. 
We then stopped at a location where all pyramids can be seen for a photo (and there are lots of camels too). And pushy vendors!
And then we stopped at one of the smaller pyramids for a photo - and Tim went inside this one also. Whilst a bit of crawling was required, it was nowhere near as arduous as the big one! And then finally, a stop at the Sphinx of Giza. It is huge! It measures 73 m (240 ft) long from paw to tail, 20 m (66 ft) high from the base to the top of the head and 19 m (62 ft) wide at its rear haunches. The Great Sphinx of Giza is a limestone statue of a reclining sphinx, a mythical creature with the head of a human and the body of a lion. Facing directly from west to east, it stands on the Giza Plateau on the west bank of the Nile in Giza, Egypt. The face of the Sphinx appears to represent the pharaoh Khafre.
We returned back to our hotel for drinks and then a few of us gathered for a final dinner at the Italian restaurant at the hotel. 
We had a transfer to the airport at 9am for a very long journey to our next destination (it will take 24 hours!). It took 2 hours to get from our hotel to the airport and through security. The traffic in Cairo is just insane - never seen anything like it! There seems to be no road rules at all just cars, buses, horses, donkeys, tuk tuks and pedestrians pushing in at high speeds. It’s absolutely crazy - although the guides say “it just works”!
That ends our tour (actually, 3 back-to-back tours) in the Middle East. We loved it! So much history and things to see and experience and learn. We would highly recommend all 3 countries (Israel, Jordan and Egypt) to visit and not sure if doing it in less time would be enough to see all the magnificent sights that are here - in fact, there are still things we didn’t see - such as the Red Sea  - as the scuba diving is amazing apparently (the Nile cruise could have been reduced - a 4 night one would have sufficed without sacrificing any sightseeing. We were lucky to have a great group to travel with, and everyone got along very well. It was a very busy tour though without much time to rest, and some days were arduous (especially in the heat although that could be avoided by travelling Dec/Jan) - so not a trip to leave until older or have mobility issues! All in all, a very satisfying and enjoyable trip!
And as a bonus, we have managed to avoid the dreaded Egyptian Belly, although a few on the tour were affected.
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Comments

Barb Smith
2023-10-02

What a fantastic journey you both have experienced. How you have remembered all the details and correct spelling is amazing. Thanks for letting us share your travel through your blogs. It has been much appreciated.

Rachel D
2023-10-02

It truly sounds impressive & horrible all at once 😝 Loved Timmy’s description. Enjoy the relaxing part of your holiday now xx

2025-02-12

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