On our first night we ate at the Hard Rock Cafe. The girls did some salsa dancing.
Day 1
We went to Giza, just west of the city, to visit the pyramids. Larry and I have been there before but the pyramids are no less amazing. The drive there was interesting. There are many people who still use donkeys to move produce to market. Trash is piled every where... sad to see. Seeing how people live is really interesting. Families build multi-story apartment-looking buildings. The parents live on the bottom and their children and their families live on each floor. The roof remains unfinished so that other floors can be added but also to pay less taxes on an unfinished building. Often building take place in the early morning hours so that official don't see the building going on and less taxes will be owed.
Back to the pyramids... we went into the 2nd pyramid - Chephron. You can't take pictures inside but I did find one on the internet to show. Inside it is hot and extremely humid. You have to crouch down to walk thru the tunnel to get to the burial chamber. There are only a limited number of tickets sold per day to help preserve history.
Info about the Pyramids at Giza (taken from National Geographic, http://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/ancient/giza-pyramids.html)
Egypt's pharaohs expected to become gods in the afterlife. To prepare for the next world they erected temples to the gods and massive pyramid tombs for themselves—filled with all the things each ruler would need to guide and sustain himself in the next world.Pharaoh Khufu began the first Giza pyramid project, circa 2550 B.C. His Great Pyramid is the largest in Giza and towers some 481 feet (147 meters) above the plateau. Its estimated 2.3 million stone blocks each weigh an average of 2.5 to 15 tons.
Khufu's son, Pharaoh Khafre, built the second pyramid at Giza, circa 2520 B.C. His necropolis also included the Sphinx, a mysterious limestone monument with the body of a lion and a pharaoh's head. The Sphinx may stand sentinel for the pharaoh's entire tomb complex.
The third of the Giza Pyramids is considerably smaller than the first two. Built by Pharaoh Menkaure circa 2490 B.C., it featured a much more complex mortuary temple.
Each massive pyramid is but one part of a larger complex, including a palace, temples, solar boat pits, and other features.
A picture of the burial chamber inside the 2nd pyramid.
Next we visited the Sphinx. We walked through the temple next to the Sphinx. It was interesting to see the children selling souvenirs. They would give money to the guards to allow them into the tourist area. Egypt is unfortunately very poor and corrupt. Government employees are paid very little so to make up for the lack of salary bribes are standard operating procedure.
After Giza we went to a papyrus factor to learn about how it is made. Then off to lunch. Don't eat the greens in Egypt. Their water isn't so good for tourists. Afterwards we went to Memphis and Sakkara. We went inside the step pryamid of Djoser, the tomb of Mereruka, and the tomb of Teti. The tomb of Mereruka was amazing. The tomb is quite large with many rooms and each room is carved with scenes of daily life in Egypt.
Sakkara is one section of the great necropolis of Memphis, the Old Kingdom capital and the kings of the 1st Dynasty as well as that of the 2nd Dynasty. are mostly buried in this section of the Memphis necropolis. Sakkara is best known for the Step Pyramid, the oldest known of Egypt's 97 pyramids. It was built for King Djoser of the 3rd Dynasty by the architect and genius Imhotep, who designed it and its surrounding complex to be as grand as it was unique and revolutionary. Imhotep was the first to build stone tombs in honor of the king's majesty.
Ramese II statue
Step pyramid of Djoser.
Tomb of Teti
tomb of Mereruka
More from the tomb of Mereruka
More from the tomb of Mereruka
That night we went on a dinner cruise on the Nile. The buffet wasn't all that great but the entertainment was wonderful.
Day 2
We started our day off at went the Egyptian museum. Some day I would love to spend hours in there. But we were traveling with 4 kids.... there are limits to what they can take. The kids loved the mummies the most. We got to see so much of the King Tut stuff, but only a fraction of it is on display because they don't have the room. It's amazing how many things were stuffed into his tomb. Pictures were not allowed in the museum but I did some some on the internet.
After the museum we headed up to the citadel to visit the Hanging Church (coptic christian), Ben Ezra synagogue (Jewish) and Mohamad Ali Mosque (Muslim). Egypt is very tollerant of all religions.
Views of Cairo from the Mohemmed Ali Mosque.
The walls just outside the synagog at the citadel.
Views while walking through the citadel. Down one of the narrow streets we heard the shrieks of a young girl. Her father was holding her while her arm was being tattooed. Freaked the kids out a bit.
Ben Ezra synagogue
Views of the hanging church at the citadel. This is a catholic church, but Egypt has it's own Pope that is separate. Egyptian catholics are called Coptic Christians.
That night we collapsed. It was a long 2 days of site seeing. Hopefully some day we can go back and take the girls to see other parts of Egypt. It is truly an amazing place!
