Blogs from Saqqara, Lower Egypt, Egypt, Africa

Ancient and Modern: Pyramids and Koshary

Africa » Egypt » Lower Egypt » Saqqara September 30th 2016

I'm afraid the party boats won the battle last night. They were crazy loud and kept me awake most of the night, despite the ear plugs, so I got up at 6:30 feeling pretty groggy. We called the desk and arranged to change rooms to the quiet (hopefully!) side of the building, so we packed up our things, and headed down for another good and filling breakfast. We met Hend at 8:30 am, and we were off to Memphis (not Tennessee! - the ancient capital of Egypt) and Saqqara. Today is the first day of the weekend (Friday and Saturday are the weekend here) and so the traffic was comparatively light. We got to Memphis in less than an hour. It was sunny and fairly hot (high of 33 or so) but it is not humid ... read more

The Bent Pyramid and the Red Pyramid at Dahshur

Africa » Egypt » Lower Egypt » Saqqara January 24th 2013

Bent Pyramid

Trabern

Groan, yet another early start this morning for our flight back to Cairo. Wake up call at 6.00am, breakfast at 6.45am and ready to go by 7.15am. Ahmed accompanied us to Aswan Airport and facilitated our check-in. In fact he printed our boarding passes yesterday so we were all seated together for our flight back to Cairo. I can't remember if I recorded that we were seated all over the plane for our flight from Cairo to Luxor? Ahmed asked us if we had enjoyed our trip to Upper Egypt. When we said that we had had a great time he asked us to encourage our friends and acquaintances to travel to Egypt. We have been so well looked after here in Egypt that we wouldn't hesitate to tell anyone who has been thinking about visiting ... read more

Abu Simbel

Africa » Egypt » Lower Egypt » Saqqara February 22nd 2012

Kitch

JamieBrown

The best thing about Abu Simbel is it is situated 40 km from the Sudan border. I love places which seem faraway and Abu Simbel fits that criteria. A supposed police convoy is necessary to travel there from Aswan. We tourists collect together at a certain point and the police meticulously check all the cars, mini buses and coaches. Recording all the details. Finally we line up all ready to go, I’m expecting something out of a war movie. Hummers, soldiers and guns, but alas no I forgot for a moment I was in Egypt. These people couldn’t run a chook raffle. The first bus is waved off and then shemozzle. The vehicles jostle for positions as we squeeze out the gate. The fast vehicles passing the slow as we drive up the main street. Luckily ... read more

Pyramidal Posting

Africa » Egypt » Lower Egypt » Saqqara April 26th 2011

Help! Antiqties Police!

cemkess

When I returned from my year abroad in Cairo, way back in 1995, I was bursting to explain my life-changing experience to anyone who wanted to listen. I had had all these amazing moments in Egypt, and was sure others would be excited to hear about them. However, I quickly realized the only thing most people wanted to know: had I seen the pyramids? I guess the pyramids do sorta trump most things. Even life-changing experiences... One of course can't visit Cairo without seeing the pyramids. The most famous, those at Giza, are basically in the city - the suburb of Giza laps at the very base of these "wonders of the ancient world". On a clear day, you can even see them from various points in the city proper. As part of our Easter weekend ... read more

Gunga- A Memphian visits the real Memphis

Africa » Egypt » Lower Egypt » Saqqara November 2nd 2010

Gunga

Saqqara was the necropolis of the pharaohs who ruled from Memphis starting around 3,100 BC. It is the burial place for kings of the 1st. and 2nd dynasties. The Step Pyramid is the first built in Egypt. It was built for King Djoser by the genius architect Imhotep. He was the first to build stone tombs in honor of a king. The courtyard is vast ( about the size of 4-5 football fields) with a corridor containing 40 stone columns- the first stone columns ever built! Part of a wall has a frieze of rearing cobras- to be honest- very cool. There is a lovely small and sweet museum- well lit, air conditioned, well labeled in 3 languages, and well ordered with jaw dropping dates attached to many firsts in architecture. To be truthful I was ... read more

Saqqara, Dahshur, Memphis, my second little side trip in Egypt...

Africa » Egypt » Lower Egypt » Saqqara February 27th 2010

Saqqara pyramid

Maisondubonheur

My second day in Egypt...after a needed night of sleep...my second mission, discovering the ancient pyramids of Saqqara, Dahshur as well as the ancient Memphis. I'm allergic to huge tour groups. So I went on the internet to try to figure out how much to pay for the taxi ride. First taxi...was a joke and I left him after 200 meters. Second taxi was interesting...didn't speak any english....my arabic is obviously less than basic. I show him a note of 100 egyptian lira and he said ok.....repeated few time the itinery...still ok...the lowest I found on the internet was more like 150-200 for info. It became pretty fast obvious that he never took tourists there...well, good for him, I offered him a glimpse of his own country. But after few minutes, he started the meter....guess he ... read more

getting inside Dahshur...no lights...and 65 meters shaft! Fun!

Brief history of Egypt

The regularity and richness of the annual Nile River flood, coupled with semi-isolation provided by deserts to the east and west, allowed for the development of one of the world's great civilizations. A unified kingdom arose circa 3200 B.C. and a ser...more history

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