Sand, Sun and Pyramids
Today was certainly a packed day. We got up earlyish (okay, so around 8 am) to head out and see the pyramids. Our first stop was Sakkara, where some of the earlier step pyramids are (instead of the smooth walls of the “newer” pyramids, they have several levels to them, kind of like giant steps…I guess a little closer to Mayan designs, than what most people view as Egyptian. A couple of them had not stood well to the tests of time, and from the outside look more like piles of rubble than anything else, but one, Zosa’s pyramid, is still quite intact.
We went in to a couple of pyramids – Titi’s pyramid – as previously mentioned, more like a mound of rubble – at Sakkara and Khephren’s pyramid – the largest pyramid ever built – at Giza. Both were surprisingly plain. Titi’s pyramid had a few decorations – some hieroglyphics, and some stars painted on the ceiling of the burial chamber. Also interesting about Titi’s pyramid was that it had been open to tourists since the first century AD. Visiting Khephren’s pyramid was extraordinarily unpleasant…it was even plainer than Titi’s, no writing or anything, and the number of people visiting made it very hot and damp. Entering both pyramids involved climbing down a long ramp in a tunnel about 3-1/2 or 4 feet high, the it flattens out and you go up a similarly short ramp. The ones at Giza are quite long tunnels too, and due to the number of visitors they let in, there feels like there’s a lack of air.
So that took up most of our day so far. We’ve signed up to go on a dinner cruise tonight on the Nile, so we’ll see how that goes.
– Neil
Tags: Cairo to Budapest and Beyond, Egypt, pyramids
Neil & Kathy
The stepped pyramids are called ziggurats. I’ll see what I can dig up about them in some of my books.