Cairo and the Great Pyramids of Giza
There’s nothing quite like waking up after a long journey, looking out of your hotel room and seeing a pyramid. Not just any pyramid but the Great Pyramid of Khufu.
Gazing up at it with my own eyes, I was truly lost for words. Just before Mr D and I left the UK for his big birthday trip, I read up on the latest theories about these wonders. This theory was about the alignment, not with Orion’s Belt but with the Autumnal Equinox
As luck would have it, our visit coincided with the Autumnal Equinox. Lucky us. And as the tourists have yet to return in great numbers, climbing up the inside to the King’s chamber was also possible without a long queue.
This is not for the faint-hearted. You need to be physically fit, agile, and have no fear of enclosed spaces because the climb is steep, relentless, hot, and at times, very cramped. Who knew that daily yoga practice would be so useful?!
Stepping off the ramp/ladder/death-trap (please note, health and safety don’t feature highly in Egypt) into the cool starkness of the King’s Chamber, I was stuck with the amount of granite lining the room. I can imagine teams of stonemasons working to carve the stones, but who built such amazing boats to carry them downstream without sinking or capsizing? They must have been formidable craftsmen.
The chamber is undecorated except for a couple of centuries worth of tourist graffiti! There would be no such behaviour from our group. Take home memories and leave only footprints.
The journey back to the outside world was just as hazardous as the accent, just a different set of leg muscles pressed into action. By the time I reached ground level I’d worked up a sweat worthy of sitting in a hot sauna and was utterly in awe of the ancient builders responsible for the pyramids.
Coming soon… pt 2 The Egyptian Museum and Cairo Traffic
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