Our second day in Cairo we visited The Great Pyramids of Giza, Memphis, and Saqqara. Our lovely tour guide planned the itinerary and we loved seeing things that we would not have planned on seeing otherwise. We started our day with a visit The Great Pyramids. From pictures it seems that the Pyramids are located deep in the desert, but this is not the case. They are literally right next to the suburb of Cairo. It is a little anti climatic to get to, as you are driving along and you’re like, ‘Oh there are the pyramids.’ But they are still amazingly impressive. I mean they were built in 2560 BC. That is 4570 years old. And you can still go inside the three big pyramids. So not only are they old but they are in very decent condition which is quite astonishing seeing as you can climb all over them and touch whatever you like. There is basically no active preservation beside a few signs that say not to climb in certain places, but these are largely disregarded. When we were there the Great Pyramid was open so we were able to climb into the kings chamber. This pyramid belonged to Cheops. It was the first pyramid built in the complex, but definitely not the first or oldest pyramid in Egypt. The climb into the Kings chamber made for an interesting but not altogether pleasant experience. These ancient tombs have been empty for about 4000 years but the kings chamber still holds the sarcophagus as it was too large to remove from the pyramid. The tunnel that leads to the kings room are very narrow and you have to crouch most of the climb to the chamber. There is only one route in and out so you are also passing people going in the opposite direction the entire climb which makes it interesting in the narrow, low, and dark passage.
After we climbed the pyramid we took some photos, were mobbed by children, and headed to the solar boat museum. The name is a little misleading, it is really just a boat museum. In the 1950’s archaeologists found a boat buried next to the pyramid where Cheops was buried. It was analyzed and the archaeologist realized that this boat was buried so that the king could have his boat in the afterlife, only unlike all his other possessions that were buried in the pyramid this boat was way too big to fit inside, so it was buried next to it. It was reconstructed and now on display in the Solar Boat Museum. Thankfully the climate in Egypt is dry so the condition of the boat is really excellent. The rope that latched the boat together was still intact (although no usable), and the oars were still there.
