As many great things as I can say about this tour, this second trip to the pyramids was disappointing. The Guide books recommend a half-day at the Pyramids, which is what our itinerary promised. While that may be satisfactory to your average tourist – for those truly interested in history and\or archeology (like us) - it is simply not enough. I'm not saying this to denigrate the tour, only so that if you are one of those people, you can prepare accordingly. We were very glad that we visited twice, about seven hours in all. In fact, we almost went back on our last afternoon, but I was really too tired to deal with the crowds. And that is the only down side of visiting here; the constant bombardment by merchants of various type, whether souvenir or service. Stopping for lunch after the museum, we did not arrive at the Pyramids till after 1pm. Unbeknownst to us, the complex closes at 5, so we really did not have much time. Milad began by explaining the different dynasties and talking about Cheops, the Pharaoh who constructed the Great Pyramid. He also gave us some specifics: The Great Pyramid towers over 455 feet and contains an estimated 2.5 million blocks with an average weight of 2.5 million tons, though some weigh up to 15 tons each! Once, polished limestone covered both of the larger Pyramids, but later peoples scavenged much of it for use in mosques and palaces. The stuff still gleams from the top of Kahfre's Pyramid, though, and along with its being built on a hill, helps make it appear larger than Cheops's, though in fact it is 12 feet shorter. The third pyramid, built by Mycerinus, is still encased in granite, laboriously brought from Aswan 1700 kilometers away.
Above the entrance to the Great Pyramid that we entered yesterday is another jagged hole. Milad tells us that this was a false door, and when someone tried to gain entry through there (back in 870 AD, if memory serves me, but don't quote me on that!) a huge block of stone dropped from the ceiling, crushing the intruder and sealing the opening forever. Milad said this was merely an accident, but don't try and tell Indiana Iacampo that wasn't a booby trap! ;^) Didn't this guy ever see Raiders of the Lost Ark?
I found it interesting that though modern archeologists searched for years for the entrances, ancient thieves had long ago found their way inside and plundered all the treasure.
THE FUNERARY SHIP
This was one of the highlights of the whole trip for me, and I didn't even notice it on our first visit, focused as I had been on getting inside the pyramids.
While cleaning away sand from the pyramids, workers discovered a pit capped with 42 massive limestone uprights. Upon excavation they discovered 1224 pieces of wood clustered on the bottom! This was the funerary ship of the king, designed to sail his soul to the heavens. Painstakingly rebuilt, it now hangs in its own museum directly above the site where it spent 5000 years underground.
To me, this was mind-boggling. The entire ship was intact, except for one oar that was broken, and even it is still on display. It is literally SEWN together on the inside with ropes. The outside planks are single lengths of cedar each 42 meters long! The entire ship was 43 meters long, 6 meters wide. There are two cabins on board, the larger theorized to be where the body of the Pharaoh would be housed on its journey across the Nile. There were two steering boards as well as ten oars, manned by five men each. Five other pits yawn about the complex where other ships once lay hidden.
An old man latched on to us in the museum, and while you certainly don't need a guide, he did give us a good tour with fairly accurate information. A glass case contained a set of original knots from the ship – so you are looking at pieces of rope that are 4600 years old! Unbelievable! Five other pits yawn about the Pyramid complex where other ships once lay hidden. Their real function is unknown, but it is thought they might be funerary ships used to convey the deceased Pharaoh and his retinue across the Nile.
Check out this short Video!
It's funny, as I write about an Indiana Jones inspired tour – but much of my love of history stems from these films. Specifically, there is a line I have quoted my whole life from Raiders that echoed constantly through my head as we traversed this ancient land. Indy has threatened to blow up the Ark and Belloq calls his bluff. He says, “We are merely passing through history. This...this IS history.”
CAMELS AGAIN
In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, after their car is blown up, Indy and Sallah are looking to steal some mounts. When Sallah suggests camels, Indy vehemently forbids this. So one can surmise Indy's not so fond of these “ships of the desert.” We however, find them delightful, and besides,
Kathryn had bought and worn jodhpurs for this purpose alone, so we told Milad we wanted another camel ride.
He took us out to a panoramic outlook where you can see all 9 pyramids on the Giza plateau at once. Even if you don't want a camel ride, be sure to visit this outlook. The view is spectacular.
Milad arranged a ride for us, but I got a better deal yesterday negotiating on my own. Still, plodding through the sand toward the distant pyramids, with turbaned Bedouins on every side was a blast, and the ride yielded some of my favorite photos of the whole trip.
It also wasn't as long as we were expecting, but we still didn't know that the complex shut down so early, and we had to get back in time to visit the Sphinx.
THE SPHINX
By the time we got down to the Sphinx, an iron gate barred entrance to the compound. I couldn't believe it. I had passed up our close up view yesterday to ensure I got tickets inside the pyramid, and now they've locked us out. Milad redeemed himself for the short camel ride by arguing with a guard who eventually directed us to go around and come in the exit. This took us through a many columned structure which is Cheops's funerary complex, basically a mummification center. Milad said the sphinx himself is some sort of mummification deity.
Some folks find the sphinx less impressive close up. I thought he was magnificent.
A sense of majesty and timeless mystery surrounds him. No one really knows what function he served. Three tunnels cut through his body, but they don't go anywhere. Some theorize that they were dug by looters searching for gold. Called Abu al-Hol in Arabic – roughly translated as “The Terrible One” - the ancient Greeks dubbed it the Sphinx after their own riddle asking mythological monster. Of course, their Sphinx had wings and a woman's head, but who am I to point these things out.
I had wanted to go back to the Great Pyramid and film a bit with "Indy" talking about the booby-trapped entrance, but Milad told us due to the late hour, the guards would not allow people to go that direction. Again, we were disappointed, especially when we left this historic site to go sit in a smoke shop for more than half an hour!
Though tempted to partake of the sheesha or water pipe just for the experience, the bad cough I'd developed due to Cairo's heavily polluted air plus my natural repugnance toward smoking in general kept me from it. It did smell nice though. At the table next to us, I watched a guy exhaling more smoke than I would have believed a person could hold in their lungs. You'd have thought it would have caused spontaneous lung cancer!
On our way to the train station, we swung by a papyrus shop, lured by the notion of viewing how the ancient paper was made. I was determined not to buy anything, but the demonstration with the man actually taking the plant, crushing it up by hand, then pressing it together right in front of us, intrigued us. And the paintings, reproductions of actual tomb drawings, were exceedingly beautiful. In the end, we bought two, but I drove such a hard bargain that I think even our salesman was impressed.
Finally, we headed off to the train station to board our sleeper car for the next leg of our journey.
Join us next time as we visit THE TEMPLE OF ISIS
