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Published: April 18th 2006
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The Red Pyramid of Snofru
Outside the Red Pyramid, you can see the climb to get to the entrance of this great pyramid. Moustafa picked me up at about 8:30am to start my last day in Cairo. I had to start early to get everything in!
We first drove over to the pyramids of Dashur, which are about 20km south of Cairo. Of the three pyramids I ventured into this was by far my favorite! First of all because they are further south than Giza or Saqqara there are fewer tourists, and second of all as a result of the distance they aren't kept up as well and getting inside is much more of an adventure!
There are several pyramids at Dashur, but you can only adventure inside the Snofru's Red Pyramid, which is one of the largest pyramids in Egypt, second in size to the great pyramid of Cheops in Giza! (A brief Egypt history note, Snofru was the father of Cheops.) This particular pyramid was never used, but getting inside was still a great adventure! First you must climb up about a third of the way to get to the entrance of this great pyramid, then you must decend WAY into the depths. It was quite the adventure because there was very little light, so if you did not have
Bent Pyramid at Dashur
This is the final resting place of Snofru. (The car on the right is the car that drove me in and around Cairo) a flashlight it would be rather difficult! Thankfully i had remembered to bring mine along, and helped a japanese man infront of me find his way!
Once you reach the bottom of the shaft there is a medium sized room (where the lights were working) and a passageway to the next room (where there was only one light in a corner) this room was MUCH taller! I would say it was atleast two storeys tall and at one end there was a staircase leading up to the final room. When I reached the final room there was no lights, just a handfull of Japanese tourists and their flashlights... I waited for them to leave, and then proceeded to shut off my own light. What an amazing experience to be inside a great pyramid in the dark, it was easy to imagine what it must have been like for the first pyramid explorers discovering the insides of these great monuments! !
After my exploration of the red pyramid was complete, Moustafa drove me about 1Km south to the Bent Pyramid, which served as Snofru's resting place. You can not go inside this great pyramid, but you can wander around
The Hanging Church
The Hanging Church in Coptic Cairo this interesting looking pyramid. The Bent pyramid is unique in that it rises more steeply, the bottom 3/4 of the pyramid is at a steep 54.3degree angle, and then it tapers to a gentler slope at the top. I wandered around this great monument accompanied by two tourist police, one on camel and one on foot. They weren't watching me to see what I was doing, just looking to make a little extra cash from a tourist. Since I hadn't asked for this service I basically ignored them.
Next it was back to the city, and time to explore Coptic Cario. It was interesting to be in such a muslim city, and yet here is a great Christian portion with beautiful churches! I wandered around the St George monastary, a near by cemetary, and the hanging church.
My next adventure was to one of the Cities of the dead. A place where thousands of people live among tombs, it sounds much grusome than it actually is. If you didn't know any better you would just say its a poor part of town, and you wouldn't notice the burial chambers. Nestled inside this suburb of Cairo, is the Quiatbey
Quiatbay Mosque
The second oldest mosque in Cairo, located in the middle of the City of the Dead. Mosque, the second oldest Mosque in all of Cairo. While it is normally closed to the public, Moustafa talked one of the guys into letting me in and showing me around inside this great place, and he even let me climb the minaret! It was quite amazing!
By this time it was afternoon and it was time to go pick up Chris at school. I finally got to see where he works, it is located in the far eastern part of Cairo, in an area called New Cairo. Its an area where there is more new development. Its a very nice new school.
Chris's friend Krystal joined us and we went back to the great ancient market of Khan El-Khalili. It was a bit overwhelming and I only saw a small portion of it! Its just an area of shop upon shop ontop of shops... you can get just about anything there if you know what you are looking for! I didn't really have an agenda so I was overwhelmed to say the least! But I was able to pick up a few things.
Then it was back to Chris's to pack up and spend a few last hours together. It was a great day, but as usual it went WAY too fast!
I think I got many things crossed off my must see list, but have added many more to see next time! Ah well!
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