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Published: July 10th 2012
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Me and Aziz at the Pyramids
He was a young camel and had a wild edge to him - the boy had to lead him a lot of the way. Last year the highlight was standing in awe under Michelangelo's ceiling in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. But that was Number 2 on my long list of travel goals. Number 1 I did today: the Great Pyramids at Giza!!! By far the best, safest, and easiest way to get to Giza and around is by arranging a driver for the day. The hotel I'm staying at has a set number of drivers they trust and who speak English. You set a price and they take you wherever you want. Luckily, I had the same guy who drove me in last night, Ahmed. He's a very nice, very kind person, who actually just had a little baby boy. For the next couple of days he should most likely be my driver as well.
Giza, where the pyramids are, is across the Nile in Giza suburb, which honestly is one of the many very dilapidated, run-down areas of Cairo, where a large percentage of the boxy apartment blocks have been left incomplete (but that doesn't stop people from living in them). Then you see the pyramids rise up from the horizon. The site itself, the plateau of Giza, is absolutely enormous,
Just Leaving
Setting out from the stables in Giza. and you'd have to be a fool to try and walk through the scorching sand to really get up to them. So I had the option between a horse and a camel named Aziz. I chose Aziz (when else do you get to ride a camel, especially one named Aziz?).
I had a guide and this little boy who led the camel around most of the time from the ground (I gave him a good tip... he by far did the most work). We approached the pyramids from the Sahara desert (most come from the Sphinx), so we could really take in the enormity of the setting. Then able to go right up to pyramids themselves. I climbed up the great pyramid in the middle, Khafre, the one with some of the original siding left on it, maybe a stone's throw up. Then wound down to the Sphinx. Riding the camel was a memorable experience, but extremely painful towards the end. Was walking around bow-legged for maybe an hour or so afterwards.
Then we drove South towards two great sites: Saqquara and Dahsur. This is where the Egyptians learned how to build pyramids. It happened at Saqquara, with
the famous Step-Pyramid of Zozer, where the architect, Imhotep, basically just started stacking mastabas one on top of the other (the mastaba was basically an early rectangular burial area). This method was perfected about an hours drive farther South at Dahshur, where you have the famous bent pyramid, where the architects all of sudden changed angles mid-way up, and the beautifully perfect Red Pyramid. From here the Egyptians were ready to build at Giza. Also, it's interesting, Cairo was never an ancient Egyptian town - it never existed then. The capital was at Memphis, right by Dahshur. Cairo was laid down by the Muslims much later. Of all three places, I honestly think Dahshur might be my favorite.
First of all, there's no one here... I had the whole place to myself. And it's set in the most beautiful desert. Saqquara was brutally, horrifically hot, and a large portion of it was closed. Giza is great, but is all about mass tourism. Ultimately drove back to Cairo and Ahmed dropped me at the Nile Season around five, and I actually just walked next door to the Four Seasons and had dinner. This was like being transported back to the
Taking a Break from Aziz
That's Khufu on the right, Khafre in the middle, and Menkaure on the left. States. A piano-bar, sushi, extremely nice surroundings which 99% of Egyptians could not afford. I thought about this a lot while I was there. Talking to Ahmed today, I learned that the average Egyptian makes 700 pounds per month (that's something like $120!!!). You can't help feeling enormously wealthy in a place like this... but also disturbed by the fact that so many people just look at you as a walking ATM. That's the worst part about being here, and really in all developing countries - dealing with the fact that everyone assumes you can give them some money, and expects it.
Tomorrow I see all the big places actually in Cairo. Need a break from the desert.
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