The next day we woke up and headed put to the Pyramids of Giza in the daylight. I have seen so many pictures of them before, but being right up next to them is completely different. I can’t believe that all of the rock was actually carried in boats down the Nile, and that before the Dam was built the Nile actually ran right up to the pyramids.
I had always just figured that the pyramids were solid rock all the way through. But, we were able to go inside of the biggest one (for 100 Egyptian Pounds or $20) of course. We weren’t aloud to bring our cameras inside so we left them with Atif, our guide. When we walked inside with all of the rock above us, we couldn’t help but think about what would happen if there was an earthquake! It helped to think how long they had been there and been fine though. We walked up a very long and steep ramp inside which left us sore for 2 days afterwards. We ended up in a dark room with an empty tomb. From the inside we could also see just how intricately each rock was laid so they all lined up perfectly.
We spent time at each pyramid and then gave in to the tourist trap of a camel ride. Our camels names were apparently Mickey Mouse, Charlie Brown, and our guide claimed to be named Aladdin. It was pretty cool because we rode the camels into the desert where we could get a much more clear view of all the pyramids together. Some people where on a camel safari, which we could not believe because the 30 minutes was enough for us. It was a little scary on the way back. Jessie and TJ’s camel was tied behind mine and mine was being driven by a guide. Right when the guide told me to quit holding on so tightly, Mickey Mouse bit Charlie Brown in the behind and we all almost fell off! It’s high up there too! Jessie then had to slowly drive their camel the rest of the way back.
On our way out we toured around the Sphinx. After seeing so many pictures of it I still couldn’t believe the actual size of the rock.
After the pyramids we headed to Memphis and Sakkara. Memphis is an open air museum built around a huge limestone statue of Ramses II. Sakkara is the sight of the step pyramid, the first pyramid ever built. It was not discovered until 1924 and it is currently still being restored. It is also the huge cemetery of ancient Memphis. It was an ancient burial ground for over 3500 years for famous people as well as sacred animals.
It was quite the eventful day!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment