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.
Wandering through Time and Place 