egypt_giza1

Charming Cairo
Pyramids of Giza

After a hurried walk through the complex, we drove on to Giza to see the world famous pyramids and the Sphinx. The pyramids were the resting places for the dead during the years of the Old Kingdom. Funnily enough, for all their fame, our first impressions were a bit of an anticlimax compared to some of the other wonderful sights we'd seen like Valley of Kings or Abu Simbel. Part of the reason is that these monuments have suffered some deterioration due to climatic conditions. However, once you grasp the scale, size and precision of the construction, one begins appreciating the enormity of a task undertaken in an era which did not have the benefit of modern technology or processes. All pyramids have a perfect 54º degree angle at the base, making symmetric isosceles triangles! The three pyramids at Giza are the most important of the 80 or so pyramids in Egypt. The biggest and oldest is the Great Pyramid of Cheops (Khufu), erected in around 2690BC. Its original height was 481 feet and its base covered 13 acres. The Great Pyramid is supposed to be the largest and most massive stone structure in the world. Cheophren, Cheops son, built the second pyramid, slightly smaller in size. The smallest of the three, the Menkaru pyramid, was built in 2600BC.

The great pyramid was closed to visitors when we went there, so we went in to the smaller pyramid of Cheopren. The interior is quite dank, and people with claustrophobic tendencies should not venture inside. We had to bend double and crawl through a narrow passageway for about 20 feet before we could stand up! The interior of the pyramid is quite bare, having been robbed by grave robbers in antiquity. The Pyramids don't seem to have any reliefs to the extent in the Valley of Kings.

Other tombs of princesses, nobles and courtiers lie to the east and west of the pyramids, and are called mastabas due to their shape which resembles a bench (mastaba).

After a couple of photo shots, we made our way to the Sphinx, which is a recumbent lion with the head of a man, built by pharaoh Cheophren. It was carved out of natural rock, but over centuries, parts broke off or eroded, and although many parts have supposedly been restored, this was even more of an anticlimax than the pyramids. Most people ascribe the deterioration to the high pollution in the area.

The body of the lion symbolized might, while the head symbolized intelligence. Its total length is 190 feet. It faces the east, from which it was meant to watch the rising sun - the return of life - each day. It was named the Sphinx by the Greeks, after a legendary Greek hero of the same name.

There is a sound and light show at the pyramids which is supposed to be good, but we didn't see it. After this hectic bit of sightseeing, our guide was quite insistent that we divert ourselves with some shopping, and we were not averse to visiting a papyrus museum, where we saw the process of making papyrus. Beware though, because a lot of banana leaf gets sold as papyrus, and one just can't tell the difference!

This was the end of our sightseeing tour of Cairo. After checking into the jaded, faded Cosmopolitan Cairo, we ran out almost immediately to avoid the depression that a less than adequate hotel room can put you in, but more importantly, to catch the sights and sounds of Cairo by evening. After some wandering around the main streets, interspersed by many time-outs for snacking, we wended our way to our favorite Felfela for dinner, and it was a tired twosome that crashed in the creaking beds that night!

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May 01 2003