Although car problems and budget arguments delayed our departure by a couple of hours for Giza on Thursday evening, I did make it to a hotel near the pyramids for the night. I had hoped to stay in the Mena House, but it turned out to be too expensive for just a few hours of sleeping. But if we come back for longer, $130 a night for a 5-star hotel next to the pyramids ain't all that bad. Here's a 3x zoom of the pyramids from my 5th-floor hotel balcony.





My guide book indicated that tickets for going inside the pyramids were limited in quantity and sold for two time slots only. That was completely untrue, as it turns out, although I didn't know that until getting there at 8:30 am. Deciding to go in before the place got packed with tourists, I climbed up and into the Great Pyramid! Woo!

First let me say that the pyramids are VERY big, and VERY old.

The climb inside is not for the faint of heart, and especially not for the claustrophobic! One must first traverse a tunnel carved/blasted into the side of the building long ago. After that, you go up a very steep, very long, very enclosed ramp. You then reach a small platform and have to climb up a long steep second ramp, but at least this one lets you stand upright.


You can call me Indy!



At the top of the second ramp is a short level tunnel -- again, very tight -- and then the great chamber in the heart of the pyramid. Here's what there is to see there:


The red granite sarcophagus inside the well-built "King's Chamber"



The sarcophagus would never fit through the shafts, so they must have built the pyramid around it. The great chamber above the entrance ramps is a wonderous feat of construction. It isn't much to look at -- just plain stone with no painting or carving -- but the precision of the construction and sheer amount of physical work to build the thing amazes me. I stayed inside the pyramid for a good half hour taking photos and soaking it up.

After emerging back into sunlight, I walked all around the three pyramids and made several panoramas. The camel and horse riders bothered me a great deal, but eventually gave up. I didn't go for camel ride mostly because it just seemed like going to the movies alone -- not that much fun unless enjoyed with someone else.

Here's a shot looking up at what's left of the smooth casing on the top of the one pyramid -- they all used to be covered completely this way, so the rising and setting sun would have blasted the smooth white rock with brilliant red light:





Millions and millions of stone blocks make up the pyramids. The amount of people power that went into them boggles the mind. But as *interesting* things to study or examine close up, they're not as intriguing as a good Gothic cathedral, in my opinion. The pyramids are a bunch of stone blocks piled up on top of each other. In some special cases good planning means the stone blocks form chambers and passages. The delicate stonework and arches and tracery and use of light in medieval cathedrals, however, impresses me more.

Everyone should visit the pyramids, but most people probably wouldn't get much out of a second visit. Better to spend the time in Upper Egypt looking at temples at Luxor, they say.





At the base of the Great Pyramid, they found a boat that was probably used to carry the dead pharaoh around on the Nile in a funeral procession. This was found and excavated by archaeologists some time ago, and can be visited in its own museum. This Ship of Cheops is some 4,500 years old, and it's impressive to see wood and rope from so long ago preserved so well, but again, the vessel was just towed -- it was not a working merchant ship or warcraft so worth one visit, but not two.





There are some ten pyramids at Giza, but most are small: queens didn't get much back then. Here are the two of the three biggies plus one small one in one shot:





The Sphinx is just a bit downhill from the pyramids. Its head is wearing away more and more because of the pollution, but it's still fun to look at.





And thanks to American capitalism, the Sphinx can watch people eat western food:





Here's a mystery image for you to ponder (answer below) -- what appears in this photo besides sand?





Continuing the Indy impersonation, here's another self-portrait (the feather in my hat band blew off into one of the boat pits near the Great Pyramid.





Overall, I spent six hours at the pyramids. Thankfull clouds and overcast predominated and kept the temperatures down. I overheard conversations in German, Italian, French, Spanish, Arabic, and Mongolian. Massive numbers of people come through to see the pyramids, so the whole place crawls with people. Walking out just a little ways quickly gets off the beaten path amongst smaller tombs with paintings and deep shafts down into the sand, etc. Some of these areas, however, are totally covered with trash.

The restrooms on site were terrible: just a couple little shacks: it's hard to believe that something better does not exist, given the number of people that come through. Even as one of the biggest attractions in the world, they have one little ticket booth taking only cash, and not even a sign saying it is a ticket booth. That's the one that sells tickets to the whole area. Another little single-window unmarked booth sells the tickets to go inside the pyramids. And they don't tell you that you need another ticket until you're at the door to go in, which could be after standing in line for a while.

At least the price of admission ain't bad: $4 for the whole area, $8 extra to go inside. As I said, everyone should visit the pyramids at least once. Go for a camel ride too... they're not expensive, and camels make some pretty funny noises. :-)

Answer to the mystery photo above: a camel footprint