He caught me at a weak moment. Peggy and I had just re-entered the world of the living from our trip deep under the pyramid of Khafre at Giza and I was feeling a bit giddy. I’m not a fan of small, narrow, dark spaces. “You will look quite handsome in an Arab headdress,” the vendor told me. I looked at the white cloth and thought, to myself, “Ha, I can assessorize. It will match my beard.” He took our photo as Peggy and I did the tourist thing, using our hands to outline the Great Pyramid.
If you have ever been to Cairo, the odds are you have visited the pyramids and Great Sphinx at Giza. Over fourteen million people do every year. Located just outside the city, it’s an easy trip (depending on traffic) of just over 12 miles. Your journey back in time is a bit longer, some 4500 years. Of the three large pyramids, the Great Pyramid is the most famous. Considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, it was built some 2000 years before any of the other six. And, it has outlasted all of its younger siblings. Its longevity alone should earn its claim to fame, but consider this: Standing at 481 ft, (146.5 m.), it was the tallest human-built structure in the world for 4,000 years! That’s mind boggling. Or was that aliens who built it? Grin.
Seeing the pyramids is a must-do if you are visiting Cairo. They are located just a short distance from the city center. Cairo traffic may slow down your trip a bit, however…Here they are from left to right: The Great Pyramid, the pyramid of Khafre, and the pyramid of Menkaure. Perspective makes the pyramid of Khafre appear larger than the Great Pyramid in this photo. Cairo provides the backdrop. The tall buildings of downtown are barely visible through the smog.The Great Pyramid. One of the two entries can be seen on the right. People walking along the road on the left provide some perspective on size. This photo of the base of the Great Pyramid with the entry above, shows people walking along an established pathway. Peggy is one of them. People used to be able to climb the pyramids. Doing so now will get you a fine of somewhere between $639 and $6,390. I wonder if the amount is determined by how high you reach? Peggy, standing along the trail at the base of the Great Pyramid, provides a perspective on how massive the stone blocks used to build it are. It’s estimated that some 2,300,000 of these granite and limestone blocks were used in building the Great Pyramid with each block weighing an average 2.5 tons (2.3 metric tons). One of the all time great mysteries is how the ancient Egyptians moved the blocks into place. Answers have ranged from aliens (Twilight Zone music here), to greased ramps with hundreds of people pulling on ropes. More recent guesses have included ropes, pulleys and levers— simple machines to aid in the extensive human and possible animal power required. Another photo to capture the massive feel of the Great Pyramid. The pyramid was built in the early 26th Century BCE and took some 27 years to construct for the pharaoh Khufu. You might think that the Great Pyramid has given up most of its secrets by now, but on March 3rd of this year, scientists announced that they had discovered a new 30-foot hidden passage way using infrared thermography, 3D simulations and cosmic-ray imaging to peer inside the structure. The passage may very well be filled with ancient treasures. (Since I was celebrating my 80th birthday up the Nile near Aswan on the 3rd, I considered the discovery a birthday present.)The pyramid of the pharaoh Khafre is easily recognizable by the lime rock casing on top. All of the pyramids were once encased in lime polished to bright white. Seeing it at high noon must have been incredible. Blinding is another word. Over the millennia, the casing was repurposed/borrowed/stolen. Like the Great Pyramid and pyramid of Menkaure, Khafre’s pyramid was built during Egypt’s Fourth Dynasty (c. 2613 to 2494 BCE), which was considered the Golden Age of the Old Kingdom. We have several other photos of Khafre’s pyramid but the folding chair amused me. Not to mention the woman in black who seems to be hovering off the ground in a Flying Nun pose, and the herd of rent-a-camels waiting for customers. The blocks in the right foreground were once part of a temple associated with the pyramid. Peggy makes her way along the narrow passage under the pyramid of Khafre. Considering half of our journey into the depths was spent bent over avoiding rock/head collisions, this was actually roomy— until you met visitors coming from the other direction. Skinny was okay, but not so skinny could be similar to meeting an 18-wheeler going the wrong way on a one way street. The fuzzy state of the photo reflected my feelings about being under 4,880,000 tons of rock with the ghosts of a long dead pharaoh and possibly servants who had been killed to serve him in the afterlife. Can’t have the pharaoh fare for himself, right? If this practice was still in vogue at the time, it’s hard to imagine bumping into happy servant ghosts.And finally, we come to the Pyramid of Menkaure, the smallest of the three. It’s thought that the three smaller pyramids were for the pharaoh’s queens/wives/half sisters. If you look closely at the shadow side of the pyramid, you see a slice cutting down through it. There’s an interesting story. In 1196 CE, Saladin’s son, Al-Aziz Uthman, who was the Sultan of Egypt, recruited workmen to demolish the pyramids starting with Menkaure’s. Their challenge was they could only break up a couple of rocks per day. It was a slow process. After eight months, all they had accomplished was the slice featured above and they gave up. Apparently, the pyramids were as tough to tear down as they were to build, for which we can be thankful. Certainly one of the best known statues in the world, the Great Sphinx was built during the same time frame as the pyramids around 2500 BCE. Having the body of a lion and the head of a man, it was carved out of the bedrock where it now stands. Photos of it are often taken in conjunction with one or more of the pyramids. This one is the Great Pyramid. The missing nose was once attributed to Napoleon’s soldiers using it for target practice. Now it is felt that the nose was broken much earlier, possibly as early at the 3rd Century CE. Seen here in its entirety, the Sphinx was built in a direct line from west to east. It is 240 feet (73 m) long measured from its front paws to its tail and 66 feet tall (19 m) from the top of its head to its base. The Great Pyramid can be seen peeking out from behind the Sphinx’s head. And now for a Curt and Peggy special! Millions if not billions of photos have been taken of the Great Sphinx’s head, often with a pyramid thrown in for good measure. But how often do you find a picture of its tail with a pyramid. Classy, huh? 🤔
And now on to what 62.5 % of you have been waiting for: Camels.
Giza Uber…Pink tongue. Check out the symbol on the camel’s neck. Each camel, as far as I could tell, had its own unique tattoo. This one also had face decorations.“Getting down,” camel style. Again, note the neck decorations.Horse or camel? The foot print might prove a clue. Don’t you just love it when I post scat photos? That’s the nature boy in me. I—did—not–do—that!How a camel driver rides camels. Note the legs.How tourists ride camels.Remember the old saying, “Two ships passing in the night?” These are two camels passing in the day. Did you know that camels are often called ships of the desert because they carry cargo across long distances in the desert just like ships carry cargo across the ocean. They are uniquely fit for their role. For one, they can carry up to 400 pounds for 25 miles a day. They can go for several days without water and up to two weeks without food. Their leathery lips and mouth allows them to chomp down on delicacies such cactus and other spiny desert plants. Eyes, ears and noses are designed to withstand sand storms. Large feet help keep them from sinking in the sand. Wearing a size 14 shoe, I know something about the latter.Remember back when I posted my introduction to our Egypt trip and had a camel photo bomb me. Here he is to conclude my blog on the pyramids, Great Sphinx and camels of Giza.
Next post: Big Foot’s Big Foot and my wrap up on South Dakota.As you read this post, Peggy and I are off on another adventure, starting today (Monday, June 25). Once again, we are on a three month trip exploring North America with Serafina the trailer, Iorek the truck, Bone and Eeyore. We’ll keep you posted.
We would so love to see them.
We should all be tourists at times.
The Urban Dictionary gives this snide definition of a tourist: “An annoying sort of people who vacation (invade) someone else’s living space. They are often found in tropical locations and travel in swarms.”
But being a reverse snob, I believe more of us should be tourists — people to travel to experience different places, cultures and people.
Well, there are tourists and there are tourists, Ray. Remember the book from our youth, The Ugly American? I think most Americans are better travelers now than then. But still… As for the value of travel, I’m in 100% agreement.
I actually read that book in high school. I picked it off the library shelf because it looked like the most boring book in the library and I wanted to challenge myself. It stuck with me and made such an impact. I have not heard this book referenced in 30 years at least. Thanks for the memory. 🙂
Excellent photos, as usual! Camels are so benevolent looking, aren’t they!?
In Qatar they used to bring a camel to the compound during the Christmas season and let us expats sit on it and get our photos taken. They transported the camel on the flat bed of a truck and they used a small crane to lift the camel on and off.
When we visited Cairo, we stayed at a hotel near the pyramids. We could see them from our window and at night the pyramids were lit up – excellent view for lulling you to sleep.
Fun looking, but they can be cantankerous. Interesting way of getting them off and on a truck. 🙂
That would be a great location. Was it the historic hotel where guests have been staying for decades.
Thanks.
It was the Mena House Oberoi at the time we were there (2002). My journal doesn’t mention the long history of the hotel – but it does note that we were followed around by armed guards at all the pyramids because our traveling companions were ‘Americano’.
There are still armed guards everywhere! Mena House Oberoi was what I had in mind, Margie, it was built in 1869. Lucky you that you stayed there!
On the recent trip home from AZ to AB we stayed at the El Tovar Hotel on the rim of the Grand Canyon. We were lucky to be able to get a room on short notice and it was one of those once in a lifetime choices. (At our age, we ask and answer the question – what have we saved our money for…)
I’ve stayed at the El Tovar a couple of times, Margie. It is grand hotel! And we are right there with you on the issue of saving money. It’s not that we still don’t keep it in mind and do our share of inexpensive travel, but if there is something we really want to do, we don’t hesitate.
I think I have been on that trip!! One comment I heard about the Sphinx is that they now believe there is an identical still buried Sphinx on the other side of the graveyard! That would be a discovery!!
Indeed it would, Steve. I remember that as well. Did you know that they found a new ‘small’ sphinx in Dendera during our trip not long after we were there. They think it has the face of the Roman Emperor Claudius.
What exotic location are you in now? Peggy and I have started our road trip and have made it to St. Mary’s in Ohio.
Enroute to Lyon and then take a little boat ride to Arles!! Stay safe and if you are driving past Houston you are always welcome! (assuming a rare alignment of the stars and we are home!)
Thanks for the invite, Steve. Not sure we will be in the Houston area soon. The weather there is certainly suggesting that somewhere else might be a good place to be now, like Lyon, for example. We will be flying out of Austin in October on our way to South Africa with Peg’s brother and his wife. They live in Georgetown.
Actually, they may be on your trip to Arles. They were talking about going to Lyon and making a boat trip right about now. So if you run into a John and Frances Dallen, say hi.
Camels can be cantankerous, but I love them anyway. Thanks for taking me back to the Pyramids and desert. Back in my day, people could climb the Pyramid and each month a few tumbled to their death.
It came to me that there’s an interesting connection between the Sphinx and the on-going sculpture of Crazy Horse. The urge to carve huge sculptures in situ must be a deeply embedded one. Some of your posts stir the “I wanna be there” impulse in me, but oddly enough, this one didn’t. Maybe it’s our current heat wave. All I could think was, “Sand, and hot? That’s no vacation!”
Laughing. You do want to be there at the right time, Linda. Like you don’t want to be in Death Valley in July. But you might just find those locations preferable to your heat wave with its humidity. Don’t discount those hot, dry places. Grin.
I enjoyed this post immensely, Curt. Glad you two succumbed to the tourist thing and donned head coverings. When Kellen and I were there we also couldn’t resist the tourist stuff and got some silly photos. Sometimes you just have to do it. My favourite photo here is the one you highlighted, with the fold up chair. But somehow describing each thing doesn’t explain why I like it so much – the photo is framed well and works well. I do recall being inside those low, narrow passages, and how sketchy it was when there was cross traffic, and how bad it all smelled from the hoards of sweaty tourists inside. Phew. One does emerge grateful and impressionable, ha ha!!
I’m tempted to describe the trip under the pyramid as a journey into the Egyptian underworld. How much worse could it be. Grin. Well, there is no monster waiting to eat your heart if you’ve been bad. That would be worse. 🙂 Picking photos is always fun, but a challenge none-the-less. I think that was the third photo of the Khafre Pyramid that I put into the post and then removed. The others seemed more dramatic to me, but not as much fun. Thanks for your comment, Crystal. –Curt
This whole post was a delight – full of snark and facts. And chuckles. 😁
Amazing structures! I was so happy I finally got to see them.
Your pic showing the people next to the pyramid for perspective was really telling.
Alison
These photos are incredible, but I say that about all of yours, Curt. I love the first one of you and Peggy! And if that is a true photo of traffic in Cairo, that’s insane! The photo of the Great Pyramid with tourists climbing really shows perspective, and another good one of Peggy. I love the camels, but I think I’d pass on the narrow tunnels. The scat was fun! 🙂 Awesome post! Hope you’re having a wonderful time wherever you may be!
Peggy and I are laughing at this, Lauren: “Hope you’re having a wonderful time wherever you may be!” Sometimes we wake up and ask the same question. Right now it is Indiana, however. Soon we will be working out way north through Illinois and into Wisconsin.
That photo of the traffic was real! It depends on the time of day but it could get insane. When we were coming into Cairo from the airport, we were on a three lane road that the drivers had turned into a four lane road!
Thanks for your comment. Always appreciated!
Thanks
Great pics! I wear the moniker of “tourist” with pride (at least while the others in the impromptu temporary families we travel with behave themselves.)
The scale of that great pyramid kind of blows my mind – which I’m sure was the intent.
I think most tourists from the US are a little more sophisticated and certainly more traveled that they used to be, Dave. But there are those occasions… 🙂
It’s almost impossible to imagine the impact it would have had on folks from 4000 BCE!
Loved seeing all of this, Curt. The size, the scale, the camels, the traffic! I hope to see the pyramids in person someday, but If I don’t, it’s nice to have seen them through the eyes of “regular people” who point things out that I would be looking for!
Thanks, Lexi. We truly loved it, and many more posts will be coming. But not until fall. Peggy and I have decided to take a break from blogging as we wander North America over the next couple of months. We will jump back in mid September after we go to Burning Man. –Curt
wholly hell Curt the contrast of the remote and the metal car jungle is extreme. Love these pics with the camels and pyramids and especially you two in your great accessories. Why it’s true you 2 looks so amazing and love the smiles on your faces. Keep having fun my friend😎
Wandering through Time and Place 
The closest I ever came to this was riding a camel. These sights must be so impressive in person!!
Well, riding a camel is pretty close. But there is something about riding a camel in the proper atmosphere. 🙂
Exactly. 🐪
We would so love to see them.
We should all be tourists at times.
The Urban Dictionary gives this snide definition of a tourist: “An annoying sort of people who vacation (invade) someone else’s living space. They are often found in tropical locations and travel in swarms.”
But being a reverse snob, I believe more of us should be tourists — people to travel to experience different places, cultures and people.
Well, there are tourists and there are tourists, Ray. Remember the book from our youth, The Ugly American? I think most Americans are better travelers now than then. But still… As for the value of travel, I’m in 100% agreement.
I actually read that book in high school. I picked it off the library shelf because it looked like the most boring book in the library and I wanted to challenge myself. It stuck with me and made such an impact. I have not heard this book referenced in 30 years at least. Thanks for the memory. 🙂
Excellent photos, as usual! Camels are so benevolent looking, aren’t they!?
In Qatar they used to bring a camel to the compound during the Christmas season and let us expats sit on it and get our photos taken. They transported the camel on the flat bed of a truck and they used a small crane to lift the camel on and off.
When we visited Cairo, we stayed at a hotel near the pyramids. We could see them from our window and at night the pyramids were lit up – excellent view for lulling you to sleep.
Fun looking, but they can be cantankerous. Interesting way of getting them off and on a truck. 🙂
That would be a great location. Was it the historic hotel where guests have been staying for decades.
Thanks.
It was the Mena House Oberoi at the time we were there (2002). My journal doesn’t mention the long history of the hotel – but it does note that we were followed around by armed guards at all the pyramids because our traveling companions were ‘Americano’.
There are still armed guards everywhere! Mena House Oberoi was what I had in mind, Margie, it was built in 1869. Lucky you that you stayed there!
On the recent trip home from AZ to AB we stayed at the El Tovar Hotel on the rim of the Grand Canyon. We were lucky to be able to get a room on short notice and it was one of those once in a lifetime choices. (At our age, we ask and answer the question – what have we saved our money for…)
I’ve stayed at the El Tovar a couple of times, Margie. It is grand hotel! And we are right there with you on the issue of saving money. It’s not that we still don’t keep it in mind and do our share of inexpensive travel, but if there is something we really want to do, we don’t hesitate.
I think I have been on that trip!! One comment I heard about the Sphinx is that they now believe there is an identical still buried Sphinx on the other side of the graveyard! That would be a discovery!!
Indeed it would, Steve. I remember that as well. Did you know that they found a new ‘small’ sphinx in Dendera during our trip not long after we were there. They think it has the face of the Roman Emperor Claudius.
What exotic location are you in now? Peggy and I have started our road trip and have made it to St. Mary’s in Ohio.
Enroute to Lyon and then take a little boat ride to Arles!! Stay safe and if you are driving past Houston you are always welcome! (assuming a rare alignment of the stars and we are home!)
Thanks for the invite, Steve. Not sure we will be in the Houston area soon. The weather there is certainly suggesting that somewhere else might be a good place to be now, like Lyon, for example. We will be flying out of Austin in October on our way to South Africa with Peg’s brother and his wife. They live in Georgetown.
Actually, they may be on your trip to Arles. They were talking about going to Lyon and making a boat trip right about now. So if you run into a John and Frances Dallen, say hi.
Camels can be cantankerous, but I love them anyway. Thanks for taking me back to the Pyramids and desert. Back in my day, people could climb the Pyramid and each month a few tumbled to their death.
Which, I suspect, may have been one of the reasons for the law. Still, I think climbing to the top would be a pretty incredible experience!
On the subject of cantankerous camels, I was reminded they spit vomit at people who annoy them, just like their llama cousins from South America do!
Indeed they do.
It came to me that there’s an interesting connection between the Sphinx and the on-going sculpture of Crazy Horse. The urge to carve huge sculptures in situ must be a deeply embedded one. Some of your posts stir the “I wanna be there” impulse in me, but oddly enough, this one didn’t. Maybe it’s our current heat wave. All I could think was, “Sand, and hot? That’s no vacation!”
Laughing. You do want to be there at the right time, Linda. Like you don’t want to be in Death Valley in July. But you might just find those locations preferable to your heat wave with its humidity. Don’t discount those hot, dry places. Grin.
What a marvelous observation. Thank you for that, Linda.
I enjoyed this post immensely, Curt. Glad you two succumbed to the tourist thing and donned head coverings. When Kellen and I were there we also couldn’t resist the tourist stuff and got some silly photos. Sometimes you just have to do it. My favourite photo here is the one you highlighted, with the fold up chair. But somehow describing each thing doesn’t explain why I like it so much – the photo is framed well and works well. I do recall being inside those low, narrow passages, and how sketchy it was when there was cross traffic, and how bad it all smelled from the hoards of sweaty tourists inside. Phew. One does emerge grateful and impressionable, ha ha!!
I’m tempted to describe the trip under the pyramid as a journey into the Egyptian underworld. How much worse could it be. Grin. Well, there is no monster waiting to eat your heart if you’ve been bad. That would be worse. 🙂 Picking photos is always fun, but a challenge none-the-less. I think that was the third photo of the Khafre Pyramid that I put into the post and then removed. The others seemed more dramatic to me, but not as much fun. Thanks for your comment, Crystal. –Curt
This whole post was a delight – full of snark and facts. And chuckles. 😁
Amazing structures! I was so happy I finally got to see them.
Your pic showing the people next to the pyramid for perspective was really telling.
Alison
Thanks, Alison. Peggy and I had fun with the post. The pyramids are truly amazing. Curt
These photos are incredible, but I say that about all of yours, Curt. I love the first one of you and Peggy! And if that is a true photo of traffic in Cairo, that’s insane! The photo of the Great Pyramid with tourists climbing really shows perspective, and another good one of Peggy. I love the camels, but I think I’d pass on the narrow tunnels. The scat was fun! 🙂 Awesome post! Hope you’re having a wonderful time wherever you may be!
Peggy and I are laughing at this, Lauren: “Hope you’re having a wonderful time wherever you may be!” Sometimes we wake up and ask the same question. Right now it is Indiana, however. Soon we will be working out way north through Illinois and into Wisconsin.
That photo of the traffic was real! It depends on the time of day but it could get insane. When we were coming into Cairo from the airport, we were on a three lane road that the drivers had turned into a four lane road!
Thanks for your comment. Always appreciated!
Thanks
Great pics! I wear the moniker of “tourist” with pride (at least while the others in the impromptu temporary families we travel with behave themselves.)
The scale of that great pyramid kind of blows my mind – which I’m sure was the intent.
I think most tourists from the US are a little more sophisticated and certainly more traveled that they used to be, Dave. But there are those occasions… 🙂
It’s almost impossible to imagine the impact it would have had on folks from 4000 BCE!
Loved seeing all of this, Curt. The size, the scale, the camels, the traffic! I hope to see the pyramids in person someday, but If I don’t, it’s nice to have seen them through the eyes of “regular people” who point things out that I would be looking for!
Thanks, Lexi. We truly loved it, and many more posts will be coming. But not until fall. Peggy and I have decided to take a break from blogging as we wander North America over the next couple of months. We will jump back in mid September after we go to Burning Man. –Curt
wholly hell Curt the contrast of the remote and the metal car jungle is extreme. Love these pics with the camels and pyramids and especially you two in your great accessories. Why it’s true you 2 looks so amazing and love the smiles on your faces. Keep having fun my friend😎
It’s quite the contrast, that’s for sure, Cindy. 🙂 I’m just glad I wasn’t driving! And thanks, we do have fun…
it’s amusing when someone else is driving for sure.. lol. so happy you have fun❤️