March 1, 2023

On Wednesday we had an amazing day of seeing the pyramids near Cairo.  These pyramids are within a 30-45 minute drive from Cairo.  It’s surreal to look at these huge structures and see downtown Cairo in the background.  

Our first stop was the Saqqara Pyramid.  This is Egypt’s first and largest pyramid.  It was built about 4300 years ago.  4300!  There are many important people buried in this step pyramid.  The pyramids remind me of our national mall.  There are many different statues and memorials that America has built over the past 247 years.  

We were able to go into two of the burial sites.  The first one was a princess’s chamber that we walked through.  To see the carvings, still with their original color is breathtaking. 

The burial chamber of King Unas was also built 4300 years ago.  We were able to walk down and see the sarcophagus.  The passage way down and up is 3 feet high.  We walked at a steep decline bent over.  It’s one of those times when you think “I can do this!”  As we started out it was exciting, then you start thinking, “wait, how far down is this? And we have to go back up!”  There were lots of people going down and up the same space.  Luckily we had our hats on, so when our heads scraped the “ceiling” it was a reminder to bend down more.  

 

I found that walking sideways while hanging onto the rail worked best.  Just when you think you can’t go any further you step into a small room with other rooms on either side.  The carvings on the walls and ceiling were amazing.  So many stories and magical potions were carved in this entire tomb.  

Here is Bob standing next to the sarcophagus 

After lunch at a tourist place with good food, we went to see Giza and the three “smaller” pyramids.  At Giza we were allowed to actually climb the pyramid which was scary!  Imagine lots of people, irregular steps that are very deep and nothing to hold onto.  We climbed up three layers. Here we are sitting on the third level and watching the people go by.  

That’s a lot of stone to carry up a hill.  

Our nest stop was to see the Sphinx.  It sounds weird, but we both were surprised at how small the Sphinx was!  It was carved from one complete block of stone.  You can see Giza in the background.  By this time we were hot, tired and ready to go to the hotel for a rest.  

To see all these amazing things, is amazing.  As we sat in our bus being driven back to the hotel, with all the chaos of traffic, it seemed as if we had been in another time and place.  I guess we were.  

Here’s some information for you.  There are 105 million people in Egypt.  There are 20 million people in Cairo.  That means there are 8000 people pre square kilometer in Cairo.  For reference, there are 2300 people per square kilometer in New York, 4600 in Chicago and 330 people per square kilometer in Seattle.  

We are having a great time and will write again when we can get internet and time!

Love, Vic and Gc