We woke up early and met up with our guide Tarek, a 24-year-old Egyptologist. He was extremely bright, kind, and very professional. We also met Grace and Larry, the other couple who we would be traveling with. We quickly became good friends and knew this trip was going to perfect!
The five of us climbed into a spacious air conditioned van and headed down the road to the pyramids. Once Tarek paid the entrance fees and we walked through security, we walked toward the largest of the three pyramids. I could not believe I was staring at this magnificent creation. I had mentally checked off an item on the "things to see before I die" list.
The sheer mass of them was just amazing. Simple, symmetrical, and powerful. Each "brick" weights around 2.5 tons, and the entire structure weighs in at around 65million tons. The three pyramids are tombs for three generations of kings (grandpa, dad, and son). Tarek described that the pyramids were all originally covered in a smooth limestone (visible only on the second (middle size) one at the top). We could only imagine what these would have looked like 4000 years ago before the erosion and smog. We also learned that the largest pyramid is a wonder of the world because of three huge chambers inside. The engineering feat is still marveled at today. The other pyramids only have one major chamber. They all have storage rooms for tools, offerings, and trick chambers/passageways to confuse burglars.
After numerous pictures, we got back into the van and rode up to a higher viewpoint where we could see all three pyramids at one time. An amazing sight! We wandered over to the camels for a quick ride. It was a really fun experience bouncing on a camel back through the desert sand looking at the pyramids. We all couldn't help but smile and laugh.
We climbed back in the van (cheering for the A/C this time) and rode back down to go inside the middle pyramid. There is a narrow passage through which we had to duck -- it's probably three feet wide and 4.5 feet tall. As soon as we entered the passageway the air was like a sauna. We walked for about three minutes and we were deposited into the large burial chamber (30 yards long, 10 yards wide, and 15 yards high). The room would have been filled with treasures and tools for the buried king to use in the afterlife. Today the only item in the room was a stone sarcophagus (large granite coffin in which they would have placed the mummy). At one point it was just Larry, Allison, and I standing in the oven-like air. I sat near the sarcophagus feeling the awesome weight of the pyramid above us. We could feel the power of this place.
We made our way to the Solar Boat museum. In 1954, archeologists stumbled across a huge pit right next to the great pyramid. The top of the pit was made up of a number of large blocks stacked horizontally next to each other. This pit was hidden for thousands of years by sand and large blocks. Upon removing the sand and blocks, they found a boat in 1,100 pieces. The boat never functioned but is symbolic for the pharaoh in the afterlife, providing transport for him in the next world. They reconstructed the boat using all the original pieces except for the rope which had disintegrated (no nails were used 4500 years ago). Some say this was one of the most fantastic finds since King Tut's tomb was discovered. The museum was built over the location of the excavation, so you can see the exact pit where the boat was buried.
We headed a couple of minutes away and found ourselves staring at the Sphinx. The Sphinx was used to guard the sacred grounds and tombs of the pyramids. I was surprised how close we could get to it. It was really neat to have the Muslim call for prayer sung from the nearby minarets (towers on mosques where the prayer caller sings). The call starts with "Our God is our only God," in Arabic, of course. In the video below, you can make out the call in between the wind and noise.
We had lunch back at our hotel and then went to the Egyptian Museum. Inside, we saw countless statues, hieroglyphics, tools, jewelry, amulets (stones and pendants placed inside the mummy's linens), and many other artifacts. The museum is literally bursting at its seams. They are currently constructing a larger facility with A/C closer to the pyramids. No cameras were allowed in the museum.
One highlight was King Tut's treasures. King Tut wasn't a powerful or almighty pharaoh. He ruled for only 10 years and died when we was young. He is so famous because his tomb was discovered virtually untouched by thieves in the 1920s. There were 1700 pieces in it, including chariots, thrones, guarding statues, servant statues (servants don't receive a special burial, little statues of them are buried with their king so that they can serve him in their next life) jewelry, and of course the gold coffins and funeral mask.
The gold coffins were breathtaking. The detail and artwork along with the amount of gold was ridiculous. The funeral mask was absolutely stunning. Walking into the room, our eyes could not be controlled...the mask was like a magnet drawing your eyes toward it. From any angle in the room, the eyes of the mask were on you. It is hard to put something that beautiful into words.
What is amazing to think about is that for an unremarkable pharaoh his tomb and treasures were so incredible. Can you imagine what King Ramses II, one of the most beloved pharaohs, tombs would have been like?! He reigned for 67 years, was very well-liked and was known as the greatest builder of Egypt.
The second highlight was without question the Royal Mummy Room. It contains the most famous and best preserved mummies (Amenhotep I, Ramses II, Seti I). We could see their skin, teeth, fingernails, hair, wrinkles, wounds -- it was absolutely mind boggling. We were staring down at some of the most powerful men ever to rule the Egyptian civilization. To make mummies, they removed all organs and put them in jars, then removed all liquids and dried the body in the sun for 70 days. They treated it with oils and then put sticky resin on it, which is why the mummy skin always looks black, and then wrapped it in linen. They placed the mummy in a wooden coffin and then placed the wooden coffin in the sarcophagus and then placed the sarcophagus in the tomb.
We headed back to our hotel, driving through the insanity they call traffic in Cairo. We packed up, gave the hotel some of our luggage to store for the week, ate a quick dinner, and headed to bed for a quick nap before we had to head to the airport to catch our flight to the very southern part of Egypt. This was a day both of us will always remember!!
