So then I saw the pyramids up close… They are amazing.

I’m not sure what to say about them, really.  They’ve been around for more than 4,000 years.  I still can’t quite wrap my head around that.

It was an awesome experience.  There were all kinds of people there.  People meditating in the shadow of the Great Pyramid, people selling everything from toy camels to camel rides and various items either proclaimed as “very old” or “very new.”

I discovered I’m much more claustrophobic than I had thought when Emily and I went inside the second largest pyramid at Giza – the Pyramid of Khafre.  We had to duck down to fit through the passageway that led us down and then back up to the burial chamber which was carved out of a pit in the bedrock.  The chamber was a big rectangular unadorned room, empty except for Khafre’s solid granite outer sarcophagus.   No photos were allowed so Brandon graciously waited outside with the camera.

The Pyramid of Khafre is the one with the the smooth casing stones still intact at the top of the pyramid.  Thousands of years ago the pyramid would have been completely covered in these smooth stones and the base would have been covered in pink granite.

In addition to pyramids and the monolithic Sphinx, Giza boasts a pretty interesting boat. In the desert. Unearthed in the 50s, the Solar Barque is a 4,500 year old wooden boat that was found in a sealed off pit at the base of the Great Pyramid.  This boat is wood.  It is 4,500 years old.  It was made by tying the boards together with 4,500 year old rope.  It’s pretty amazing.

Around noon, the Mosques project their calls to prayer and on Fridays they project the full sermon over the loudspeakers – making Friday a particularly interesting day to visit Giza.  So we walked around the pyramids to a cliff overlooking Cairo and it was an awesome experience hearing all of the city’s mosques all at once.  And the view of Cairo was breathtaking.

And the obligatory camel photos.

And the Sphinx.  Or the “Sphinkees” depending on who you talk to.

The most remarkable thing about the Sphinx was that it overlooks the sprawl of Giza –  a Pizza Hut, a KFC, and the hundreds of chairs in place for visitors to watch the nightly laser light show.  Poor Sphinkees, guardian of the Pharaohs’ tombs.

I guess all I can say is that visiting Giza was pretty awesome.  Everything from horseback riding in the desert to experiencing the enormity of the pyramids was amazing.  This weekend, we are going to see the pyramids at Saqqara and the following weekend we are going to Alexandria on the Mediterranean Sea!  It should be a  great time!