Day 5: Finally! Some Pyramids!
So…like a lot of people I suspect, Bryan and I have been thinking about visiting the great pyramids since we were very little. Finally, today was the day.
Unfortunately, we were both feeling way “none the better” for the 10% beer of last nights gala event, and the early wake up call to pack/eat/load bus was a sorry state of affairs between the two of us. I didn’t feel good at all and Bryan was moving insanely slowly and non-coordinated.
Today was going to be a long day ending with a 14 hour sleeper train and we were off to a fine start.
Kicking myself. Once in a lifetime experience and hungover because couldn’t face 80s prom new years eve sober.
Ah well, food in – hardboiled eggs, flat bread, tang. Coffee. Packed up the bus, and off we went!
The pyramids of Giza are fantastically large. No pictures do their massive size any justice because you have to be so far away to really see them. As we came up through Giza village they loom massively in the background.. and from this distance they look as sharp and as straight as a razors edge. Its amazing.
I think the thought that occured to me most, when standing outside of the pyramid of Khufu (the biggest), is that I wish I could have seen it before the arabs removed most of the smooth limestone sides to build their mosques and palaces. It must have been incredible.
So a little history, to make this blog a little more than idle prattle. The pyramids were built in the 4th Dynasty of Egpytian history, in what is the “Old Kingdom”. This era was marked by extreme belief in the pharoah as a walking god on earth, which enabled a lot of cool things to be done. Namely things like massive pyramids. People really believed, these weren’t slaves. It was a good time to be an Egyptian Pharoah.
All of the pyramids, and actually all the dead people in general are found on the west bank of the Nile, as the ancient Egyptians believed that life followed the Sun (Ra), and rose to life in the East, and travelled to afterlife in the West, with the Nile conveniently seperating the two. Where they thought the Hitites were coming from using this theory of life is beyond me.
So, anyhow, the family unit of Khufu, his father Snefaru and Khafre, built themselves the three great pyramids, to insure themselves of a nice safe journey into the afterlife. Because things were so good during this period of Egyptian history (3200 BC or so) they actually probably got to live in their little afterlife with their mummified cats, baboons and all for about 500 years, when the Old Kingdom came crashing down in a firey heap, and the people, feeling jipped for all their hard work and sacrifices to the gods, went postal on their asses and robbed, defaced, and generally desecrated the places. Never again were pharoahs really seen as walking gods- the next kingdoms had to suffice with “highest servant of God”, which really wasn’t too bad a deal either… though they no longer had free labor, and putting a giant pyramid shaped “X marks the spot” over your worldly treasures lost its appeal as well.
We went into the 2nd pyramid, or under it I should say. The passageway was about 4 feet wide by 3.5 feet tall. Very claustrophobic, and heading downhill. Talk about stale air! When we reached the bottom it opened into a large burial chamber… Which was stifling hot. Couldn’t breath. I had to get out asap.
Directly after the pyramids of Giza, we did the pyramids of Zoser at Saqqara… those are the step pyramids built by the great architectural genius Imhotep. The very first pyramids. The sight was nice too I suppose, but I think I was pyramided out. 5 hours of pyramids and they all start looking like great mounds of rocks. One noteworthy thing though… from the far corner of the step pyramid you have a view of a couple of other pyramids of more rudimentary design, with the pyramids of Giza off in the distance. Its an amazing sight. Again, cameras don’t do it justice. I can’t get over how unphotogenic these things are.
After that, the day just went downhill. We had hours upon hours to waste waiting for our 10pm overnight train to Aswan. Here is one of the very bad things about big tours (which so far had been more enjoyable than I thought…nice people, and generally some useful facts and then time to do our own thing). We were stuck waiting around in place they brought us, which, while super nice if it had been warm out, really really sucked because it was 50 degrees and dropping. For 5 hours we sat there outside freezing. And this kills me because they had us waking up at 7am to enjoy this pleasure. So, that there folks, is the downside of not having to take care of the details. Good with the bad I guess.
Suffice it to say, I have never been more happy in my life to get on a 14 hour overnight train ride than I was then! I jumped in my sleeping bag in my nice cushy first classed seat and was OUT!
Tags: Egypt, Giza, Khufu, Nile, Pyramids, Tag Index
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