To Egypt - Seqqara and the Giza plateau

1/13/18
Had breakfast and Christopher picked us up at 10:45 for the airport.  I really enjoyed Christopher during our stay in Paris.   After waiting for our flight, we boarded for a 4.5 hour flight to Cairo--a much nicer airplane (we actually got fed).  We landed at 8:30 p.m. Cairo time, met up with our tour company, and had to wait for more passengers (6 in all) coming in from other places.  The ride from the airport to the Mena House Hotel in Giza was about an hour, and the craziest drive I have had in a long time---even New York City taxi drivers were calm compared to this.  All I did was suck air the whole time, and all the driver did was laugh every time.  Of course, he put me in the front seat and every else behind us.
The Mena House Hotel is the finest in Egypt.  And it is spectacular.  It was originally built as a private house in 1859.  In 1879, a rich family from the US or Europe bought the property and turned it into a hotel.  It has been added onto several times afterwards.  It also boasts the first swimming pool built in Egypt, and the first golf course.  Here is a picture of the lobby.  Our room was lovely also.

Mena House Hotel lobby

1/14/2018
We actually got here a day early and didn't have a meeting until 4:00 pm, so we slept in, had a late breakfast and wandered around the hotel grounds.  Here is an early evening  picture from just outside our room.

Mena House at dusk--Giza pyramids 1 mile away

a little closer

The Great Pyramid of Khufu is in the background (about 1 mile away), and Khafre's pyramid is to the right (Khufu's son).  Can you see the remaining limestone on the top of Khafre's pyramid?  Since the pyramid angles upward at a steeper angle, the tomb robbers didn't get all the limestone off (the great pyramid is completely stripped).
We got to meet our fellow tourists (about 75 in all) in the hotel lobby.  They assigned us to one of two groups--the Rameses group, and the Horus group.  We were in the Horus group.  We had a lovely dinner.   Everyone was too excited to sleep, but it all started next morning, so we called it a night and went to our room.
1/15/18
Breakfast in the restaurant and onto the buses.  We headed to the Seqqara area, where the oldest pyramids are located.  We stopped at a couple of places that introduced us to the Egyptian hieroglyphics (our first glimpse).  I was amazed at the detail.  Here are some pictures of life in Egypt some 3500 years ago.

Cattle, Fish, Hippos

Fishing, Crocodiles, Preparing food

Look at the detail

Our first tomb had fairly easy passageways, except that they were half height.  Here is Tom and other tour members going through the passageways.

Tom going through a tomb passageway

other tour members

And here is the burial chamber and the granite box that holds the sarcophagus.

The granite sarcophagus

Our first pyramid was the Step Pyramid, the oldest pyramid, built about 4650 years ago.  Only Tom and I, along with 2 other women signed up for this guided tour.  Everyone was getting a tour of the outside.  Here is a picture of the Step Pyramid, which got its name from the stepped up levels they used to move the stones to the top.

The Step Pyramid, and a camel of course

Entrance to the Step Pyramid (I left my canes outside)

This was the beginning of the Egyptians learning how to build a pyramid.  Later, they perfected how to build them with smooth sides and cover them with limestone so the sun would reflect the sun's rays back on the land.  The Great Pyramid of Giza was actually built about 100 years after the Step Pyramid.  The exploration into the Step Pyramid wasn't anything I expected.  I left my canes behind, and it was a good thing.  The tunnels were all filled with scaffolding.  We had to climb over and under pipes, cross over holes via only a 2 x 12 wooden plank, and climb up and down ladders.  One metal ladder was about 20' long.  When we got to the bottom, which was about 60-80' down, there was NO AIR!.  At the bottom we met up with two workers who were still digging.  They had located a mummy - the bones were broken up.  Here is a picture of the arm mummy bone.

Mummified arm bone

Also, at the bottom, we found the burial chamber, which was empty.  There were blue tiles left on the walls (the rest had been removed by tomb raiders).  The blue tiles were used to represent the Nile, and the trip for the pharaoh to make through the underground.
Now came the hard part,  we had to literally crawl out of this tomb--over and under pipes, and climb up a 20 foot metal ladder.  At this point my legs gave out and started to shake.  Also, I could not breathe.  I had to stop.  I told the two ladies who were behind me on the ladder that I had to take a breather before I fell off the ladder and took them with me.  They were happy for the breather too.  Without air, we were all sweating.  We took it slow, and we all got out eventually.  We were so glad to see the buses waiting for us.
We went back to the hotel, got rested and cleaned up, and readied for dinner with Dr. Hawass in the hotel.  He signed his books for me, and we all enjoyed a good meal at the hotel.  Tomorrow will start early.

Dr. Hawass signed his book

Beautiful restaurant in Mena Hotel

1/16/18
BIG DAY!  Wake up call at 4:15 a.m., breakfast at 4:30, and on the buses at 5:00.  We are off to the Giza plateau where 9 pyramids (3 large and 6 small) and the Sphinx are located.  The Great Pyramid and the Sphinx are the big draw for all tourists.  In order for us to beat the crowds, we meet early in the morning.  Our first stop is the Great Pyramid, built by the Pharaoh Khufu, which took about  36 years to build.  Khufu's ONLY statue (his likeness) in existence is about 2 inches tall and is housed in the Cairo Museum.  So why is the likeness of Ramses II everywhere in Egypt, and nothing for Khufu who built the Great Pyramid???
The Giza plateau contains the three major pyramids and the Great Sphinx.  Here is the exterior of the Great Pyramid.  All of the limestone exterior has been stolen and all that is left are the blocks underneath.  It is so large in scope that it is hard to get a picture but I put a car and people in it so you can try and imagine how large it really is.  If you look hard at the center of the pyramid, you can seed a large opening which shows the under-structure of blocks.  A little lower is the actual entrance.

Khufu's Great Pyramid

a close up of the opening below and the interior structure above

The passageways were very high and quite wide, making it easy to walk in standing straight up.  However, everything inside had been stolen by tomb robbers, so no writings on the walls and no paintings.  It was all plain granite--boring!  We climbed upward to the Kings burial chamber and met there while our tour guide gave us a talk of Pharaoh Khufu.  Our group numbered at 37, and with that many people all in one room with  no windows, there was NO AIR.  We all were a little anxious to get back out.  Outside I took a picture of a camel lazily waiting for a tourist to hire him.

Need a ride?

Back to the buses and ride a very short distance to the Sphinx.  Here we have a date with Dr. Hawass, who will give us a talk about the restoration of the Sphinx, which he is in charge of.  These pictures are amazing.

The Great Sphinx

The left paw of the Sphinx

Dr. Hawass explained that when the Christians came to Egypt about 2000 years ago, they did not like that the Egyptians worshipped RA, the sun god.  They deemed the Egyptians to be heathens and tried to destroy their beliefs and idols.  They made a point of destroying all of the noses from statues, including the Great Sphinx, because they believed that without a nose, a face was not recognizable.  The Christians were successful in converting the majority of Egyptians to Christianity, but did so much damage in the process.   Most of the ancient temples and statues have been damaged, and many were completely destroyed.  Only the temples that were covered by blowing sand and dirt over the hundreds of years were preserved. 

Dr. Hawass at the Sphinx

He also told us about the efforts to restore the Sphinx and other Egyptian monuments.  The Sphinx, which has the body of a lion and the head of a Pharaoh, was actually dug out of bedrock and is of solid rock.  The head is believed to be Khafre, who built the second pyramid with the 'icing' on top (limestone).  Khafre was the son of Khufu, the builder of the Great Pyramid.  Winds and floods have damaged the Sphinx over the thousands of years.  To date, they have actually replaced much of the limestone on the structure.

At the base of the Sphinx is a large stone called a 'stele' which is engraved with the story of Thutmosis IV, who fell asleep in the shade of the Sphinx and dreamed of the Sun God Horem coming to him and telling his that if he would excavate the dirt and sand that had built up around the Sphinx, he would be the next King and ruler of Upper and Lower Egypt, so he complied and became King.

 

the 'Stele' at the base of the Sphinx

a close up of the face

A view from the entrance--Can you see Khafre's pyramid in back?

Tom in front of the base of the Great Pyramid

Wow -- 455' high

We bused back to the Great pyramid and walked around it.  In the process, I took the picture above of Tom standing in front of the bottom row of huge granite blocks.  It was bitter cold this morning and we had already been out for 6 hours.  Now that you can see how big each block is, the picture below Tom is looking up the pyramid.  It is actually 455 feet high!

The building housing the 120' long boat

Around the back of the Great Pyramid, there was a building housing a big boat that was discovered buried underground.  Here is a picture of the actual boat. 

Khufu's boat - notice the oars are so big

It was the boat that was to take Khufu on his journey through the underworld.  You see, the Egyptians believed that when a Pharaoh died, who was of divine blood, he must be prepared properly to make the journey with Osiris, the God of the Underworld, through the underworld to meet with RA on the other side and help raise the sun every morning.  If the Pharaoh did not do this, the sun would not come up in the morning and all Egyptians would die!  No wonder mummification, saving of golden furniture and artifacts, boats, and safe tombs were at the top of the list of importance for all Egyptians.  In fact, all of this was so important, that the Egyptian government paid all of the tomb builders---yes, they were government workers, not slaves.  More on this later.

Here are some more pictures from the Giza plateau.

Khafre's pyramid with limestone still on top --the 'icing'

Khafre's pyramid is almost the same height as the Great Pyramid, but it has a smaller base, which makes the pitch steeper to the top.  That is why the tomb robbers did not get the limestone off of the top.
Here is a picture from the side of the Sphinx, with Khafre's pyramid in the back.

And here are all three of the larger pyramids on the Giza plateau as we are leaving in the bus.

Left to Right: Khufu's Great Pyramid, Khafre's Pyramid,
and Menkaure's (3rd) Pyramid 

We headed out for an outdoor lunch, served buffet style under thatched roofs.    The food was UGH awful.  I don't think Egyptians know how to cook meat.  The chicken was undercooked, the fish was served covered in red pepper sauces, and the mutton was deep fried (like it needed more grease).  There was no beef here.  The few cattle we saw were only pulling plows (the same plows used in the covered-wagon days).  I ate only vegetables and drank only water.   After lunch, the bus took us back to the hotel for 1.5 hours of rest.  We were all exhausted.
Back on the bus and off to Cairo, a city of 25 million people.  If you include the surrounding cities, there are 45 million people - - very dense.  The traffic is crazy.  Cars go anywhere they want to go, without any markings on the road, no lanes, no dividers.  The number of cars per road is determined by the width of the cars - sometimes three and sometimes five.  Everyone drives fast and everyone lays on their horns.  It is absolutely insane.
We stopped at the home of Mrs. Jean Sadat, the ex-first lady of Egypt.  Her husband, Anwar Sadat, was assassinated in 1981, after helping to complete the only peace accord between Isreal and Arab leaders in 1978.  Mrs. Sadat has spent the rest of her life as a promoter of peace in the Middle East, and hopes that she might see it before she dies.  She welcomed us into her home and introduced us to her daughter.  She talked about her life in Egypt and her views of our country.  She was very outspoken.  She first told us that she was extremely upset when President Obama, after promising to support Egypt, followed up by sending money to the Muslim Brotherhood, her enemy, and in complete opposition to Middle East peace.  She said she was praying for America and spoke of courage when talking about President Trump.  Clearly, she had chosen her side of the aisle.  She also blamed much of our troubles to the media, especially CNN.  She lives almost half of her time in the U.S. in Virginia, near Washington D.C.  I was extremely impressed of this lady and of her calm demeanor and her wishes for world peace.
She served tea and pastries while signing her books for us.  We spent over  2 hours there.  Here are some pictures.


Mrs. Sadat and her daughter

Anwar Sadat portrait with the three of us

After our lovely late afternoon at Mrs. Sadat's home, we got back on the bus and headed back to the hotel in Giza.  We got back at 6:00 p.m.  Everyone was completely exhausted after a 13 hour tour including lots of walking and climbing.  My legs were screaming!