Day 1 - 3
DAY 1
My brother and I wanted to surprise our mom for her 65th birthday with her bucket list vacation spot, Egypt! It was a fully catered trip from the airport pickup to hotel bookings, tour guides, etc.
I landed in Cairo 40 mins before my mom landed and my brother was going to join us a few hours later. We were picked up by our travel coordinator, Ahmed, and rushed through Passport control. The lines were long as the tourist season was just picking up, but Ahmed got us through the diplomatic channels. After picking up our bags and some USD exchanged for LEH we got into our private van to be driven to our hotel at “Four Seasons Hotel Cairo at First Residence”.
The name 'Egypt' comes from the Greek Aegyptos which was the Greek pronunciation of the Ancient Egyptian name 'Hwt-Ka-Ptah' ("Mansion of the Spirit of Ptah"), originally the name of the city of Memphis.
By the time we got checked into our rooms it was late evening and with nothing else to do the rest of the day, we went for a stroll along the Nile, which was just behind our hotel. First impressions were nothing to talk about as it was in an old part of the city. With Friday and Saturday being Egypt’s holiday weekend, the roads were empty and deserted. It was a lot of grey and brown on the buildings, but there was a sprinkling of folks on the bridge as we crossed over to the other side of the Nile, which surprisingly was quite wide even within the city limits. There were a few boats floating about, but devoid of any serious activity. Tried looking for a place to sit down for some dinner but we ended up at Pizza Hut. There was nothing else left to do but to retire to our rooms to rest and get prepared for the next day.
By the time my brother came in at 11pm, I was already asleep.
DAY 2
My brother and I were up by 6am, picked up our mom from her room and headed to breakfast by 7:30. What a spread that was. I had to really control myself from overeating.
Ahmed was there at 8:30 sharp along with our guide and driver, and off we went. It was a 30–40-minute total drive that first went through the city and as we reached the outskirts ran along one of the canals of the river Nile to our first site, the Bent pyramid. The Bent Pyramid of Dashur was built by Sneferu, the father of Cheops during the age of the Old Kingdom (2700 – 2200 BC).
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The Bent pyramid of Dashur was the first smooth sided pyramid ever built in 2600 BC.
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It started at a 55-degree angle and as it got higher it tapered off to a 43-
degree angle as they realized mid construction that it was designed incorrectly, and it could possibly not hold its own weight. Who can blame them, being that it was the first ever attempted. Still a massive engineering feat that is still standing 4,500 years later.
The doorway to the entrance of the pyramid was mid-way to the top so we had to climb up a few stairs and then onto the actual rocks of the pyramid. Take that in for a moment. After watching all those movies now, you are stepping onto the actual stones laid down thousands of years ago with ease and no sense of damaging it. Testament to Egyptian engineering in the ancient times. This is where our first adventure begins. We descended a long narrow shaft just wide enough to fit 2 people at probably a 45-degree angle into the bowels of the pyramid for about 120-140 meters, followed by a spiral of stairs, followed by more steady climbing on our knees and hands. We had to crouch down quite low in some places and pull ourselves up using the rock in others
with the core of the pyramid of heavy rock just over our head still in place and holding. As we went deeper it got warmer and warmer to the point we were not dripping with sweat. Some more stairs and then a final short straight short to the burial chambers. It was a small burial chamber, but there was nothing there since it was plundered years ago. Still the sheer ingenuity of the building was marvelous to experience. Same way out as in. First experience of the ancient world was nothing short of exhilarating, memorable, awe-inspiring and had us all drenched.
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Next on the stop was just a couple of minutes away, the Dashur pyramid. Just my brother and I went inside this one. This too required some climbing down, but after that it was flat. At the end of the climb down it opened into a large chamber with high ceilings that tapered up like a reverse pyramid with layers of stone on top of each other as it closed into the top. This chamber was connected was connected to another one and after a short climb up we came up to the burial chamber. Again, plundered so nothing there other than a rubble of stones.
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Next stop was the city of Memphis (or Men-nefer) which was founded in about 2925 BC, was the ancient capital of Egypt during the early Dynastic period and the Old Kingdom. The current city of Mit Rahina was built over its ruins. The ancient city itself was discovered while digging to build a highway. With the more recent developments of the village already over it and people residing there and with no intention of moving, most of the city remains still buried to this day. With treasure right under their feet there are many illegal excavations in people’s backyards and quite a few instances of smuggling as they unearth artifacts.
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However, a small section of the city was identified and is preserved today, and this was our stop. There were quite a few impressive statues, tablets and other artifacts displayed here of which the most impressive was the 12 ft statue of King Ramses II who ruled for 66 years, a couple of stone sarcophaguses with extremely intricate engravings and a sphinx.
After stopping for lunch at a nearby country club which was a feast. Humus with cheese and tomato dip with bread for starters, followed by eggplant, fresh salad, fried fish, chicken kebabs and rice with some kind of tomato/potato curry, ending with mango for dessert.
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The next stop was the first pyramid ever built (Dashur was the first smooth sided, but this was the first ever) at Saqqara or otherwise called the Step Pyramid.
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The Step Pyramid or the pyramid of Djoser was the first known pyramid built ever between 2667 – 2648 BC by stacking rocks on top of each other by Imhotep for his king Djoser.
Imhotep wanted to build a grand tomb for his king by also mimicking the king’s original palace with a massive open space in front of it surrounded by architectural pillars and walls that remain and can be seen in a few places. The whole point was that even after his death he would still be revered and be larger than life as when he was alive, even after his death. The pyramid is the center of a large mortuary complex. The open space much like the palace grounds was where traditionally the king used to fight a bull every 5 years and if he won, he would crowned king for another 5 years, which was abolished and just became a more symbolic gesture, but instead they made him run the massive square to each of the
4 corners to show that he controls the 4 corners of the empire or universe. Next to the pyramids were 2 symbolic houses (again like in the palace) where dignitaries used to stay when they visited for the 5-year crowning ceremony.
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Of the entire enclosure surrounding the complex only a portion, of which only the entrance remains still standing now through which the burial ceremony or procession goes through. The most amazing thing is that as you come through the entrance you must feel the walls. They are still smooth after thousands of years. The craftsmanship of the ancient Egyptians to polish the walls to such a high degree and it remain smooth to the day is phenomenal. As you walk through the entrance you are greeted by pillars on both sides which then lead into the open space at the other end of which is the step pyramid. We walked around the open grounds, into the houses next to the pyramids and around the pyramid before returning to the van.
On the way back we stopped at a carpet factory or a school that taught the art of weaving carpets together. Children of all age groups were sitting around learning or making some pieces. Mind you this is a school and not a labor shop!
Back to the hotel for a quick shower, some browsing in the mall next door, dinner and to bed.
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Day 3
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Woke up to some scrumptious breakfast after which we were greeted by Ahmed and our guide at 9am to make our way to the see the last remaining 7 wonders of the ancient world – The Great Pyramids of Giza!
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Sunday being a workday in Egypt the traffic was heavy, and it took a while to get out of the city and head towards the Giza Plateau, which was an ocean 4 million years ago.
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The Giza Plateau is otherwise also known as the Valley of the Whales, since they found whale fossils there.
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As we got closer in the background, we saw the new village that was being built to relocate people from the current village which was close to the pyramids, as the proximity of residence and vibrations resulting from that was causing long term damage to the pyramids.
The first stop on the pyramid tour was the largest of the 3 called the Cheops pyramid (~4500 years old). Standing tall at 450 ft, it was built to serve as the tomb of pharaoh Khufu or also knows as Cheops, who was the son of King Snefru, builder of the Bent pyramid we had visited the previous day.
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The Cheops pyramid’s original height was 481 ft and was the tallest structure in the world for almost 4000 years, but today after losing some of its top layers stands at 449.5 ft.
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The entire exterior of the pyramid was fully stripped off by builders who came later to reuse
material for buildings and pyramids that came later, but at one section at the bottom of the pyramid the original smooth outer white casing remains. The whole pyramid was once covered by this giving it a white sheen till the very top where a golden triangle formed the apex of the pyramid. The layering of the stone on top of each other was so immaculate, with absolutely no gaps and held together with no visible sealing agent at all. It was like they fit into place perfectly. Marvelous craftsmanship!
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I was the only one who chose to go inside this pyramid. The line was long as we climbed the outer stone to the entrance of the pyramid. The first section called the “Robbers tunnel” was a brief walk under the hanging stones. It was like walking through a narrow cave at first before the ascent started. This passageway was narrower compared to the previous day and was an extremely tight fit as we scrambled up while others were scrambling down. At the end of the ascent was another ascent through the “Grand Gallery, but this was a lot more open, and we could walk up standing straight. At this point it was heating up and everyone was sweating. At the end of this ascent there was a short crawl which finally opened to a large Kings burial chamber. There were no carvings of any sort. It was just a 4 walled room with the stone sarcophagus at one end. You could see that this too was once robbed as the stone sarcophagus was chipped away to remove what was inside. Same way back as the way in.
There is also a smaller Queens chamber that you must descend into, but that was closed off and from what I could learn from others it is typically forbidden to enter.
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I met up with mom and brother at the base of the pyramid after which we walked around the pyramid to admire the magnificence and the sheer immensity of the structure as we look up from the base of the pyramid, which is estimated to be made of 2.3 million limestone blocks with each block weighing a massive 2.5 tons for a total of 6 million tons. The pyramid was surrounded by smaller burial sites and houses for nobles
The second pyramid was right next to it and looked larger than the first one, but it is not since it was just built on a higher elevation giving it that perspective. This one had the top still intact. The common theory is that as the builder started stripping the outer layers it got harder to move the heavy rocks down from the upper sections and just abandoned it.
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On to the third pyramid, which was a much smaller one and was encased on the outside by granite instead of fine white limestone. The smaller size is due to the age of the King who came to power. He was already old, and they wanted to finish the pyramid before he died. There were plenty of granite blocks strewn all around the base of the pyramid, probably from being stripped down or they just started falling off. Mom and brother went inside this one as I waited outside.
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After the tour of the pyramids, we were driven to a vantage point from where we could see all the 3 pyramids with the city of Egypt in the background and the brown sands of the desert in the foreground. This was also the spot from where we were to get onto our camels for a stroll through the desert and for some photo ops that the trainers were obviously well too aware off. Our camel guide took our camera and made sure to position the camels at the right spot to get those pictures.
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Next stop was lunch at a restaurant called the “9 Pyramids Lounge” which was right on the Giza Plateau with no obstructed view of all 3 pyramids plus the smaller queen’s pyramids. We took the opportunity to try some of the Egyptian varieties and to be honest the food was dry and nothing to talk about, but the view is what people came here for.
After lunch we drove down to visit another iconic sight, the Sphinx. It was a perfect shot with the Great Sphinx in the foreground and the Great Pyramids in the background. In ancient times there was a river close to the Sphinx where the boats used to bring the body of the king to the ceremonial temple located in front of the Sphinx where the body was embalmed and wrapped. It took them 70 days to dehydrate the body with salt and then wrap it before carrying it up to the pyramid. The path of the body from the temple up to the pyramid was still so clear and still in place for everyone to see. The sight was surrounded by other tombs and burial sites.
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Once inside the gates this magnificent limestone sculpture
was right in front of us. So close, but to be honest I thought it would be much larger in size, probably a result of all the movies and pictures had my expectations set too high. Nevertheless, still stunning to see it up close as it stretched out some 240 feet long and 66 feet high. From afar the features on the face of the Sphinx were so clear but as you got close you do notice the well-known chipped off nose, not due to the elements but by someone climbing it and chipping it off as a protest treating it as a deity.
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The Great Sphinx of Giza dates to the 4th dynasty of the Old Kingdom built during the reign of pharaoh Khafre, son of Cheops.
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After absorbing in the setting of the Sphinx and the Pyramids for a while, we headed back to van and on the way back to the hotel we stopped off at a Papyrus making factory. Papyrus was the paper of the ancient Egyptians made from the pith of the papyrus plant. We got a private tour of the process they used to draw out sheets from the plants stem, flatten it out, soak it in water, lay strands of them in an overlapping pattern and pressed together to form a single sheet of writing paper. Sturdy stuff. I got them make 2 sheets with some artwork and got my children’s names written in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. Next stop was a cotton factory where we were greeted with a traditional welcome drink made from hibiscus before heading back to the hotel for the night.
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That ended our first leg of the Egypt tour in Cairo.