Summer Sun 2017 Day 02 - The Pyramids

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Day 02 - Pyramids!

It was the much anticipated day today, as we had planned to visit the Pyramids of Giza!
Aalah, our driver from yesterday, suggested a brilliant idea of converting our half day taxi from yesterday to full day, 24hrs, taxi by paying just the balance amount which would entitle is to keep the taxi till 1600 hrs in which he would take us to the Pyramids. This 'jugad' would save us quite a few pounds and also we had got comfortable with friendly Aalah. Aalah is from Cairo and has 5 kids, don't know from how many wives, and works as a security guard too so carries a gun along Everytime in the minivan. On his suggestion we decided to start early at 0800 hrs so as to beat the crowd and the African sun. However by the time we could meet him at the porch it was already 0900 hrs and the sun was blazing. Scores of groups had already left our hotel for the Pyramids. All of this made Akshay a little off today and was at his grumpy best but I was sure once we hit the track he would be ok.
The Pyramids were just few minutes away as Aalah asked us the disembark the van, take our tickets and meet him inside the Pyramids premises. Inside the premises there are no cars allowed and the only means of transport are horseback, horse carriage, camel or on foot. The Pyramids are on a little elevation like a hillock and there was a pleasant breeze which negated the heat to quite an extent and also there wasn't much crowd, brightening Akshay's mood. The first thing we did was to buy hats as, I wanted them before leaving India and also they would be useful in our sunny trip throughout. Actually, thanks to the movies like Indiana Jones, I had always fancied checking out the Pyramids on a horseback in the Sahara desert with a typical cowboy hat. Now that that was sorted we approached the first Pyramid which is the closest to the car park and also the biggest. Pyramids are mauslems built for the Pharos. We were told it's a staggering 137 meters tall and made up of almost 23 lakhs stones each weighing around 2000kgs! The sight from the base of the first Pyramid was humbling to say the least, considering these were built by men 5000 years ago! There is a small opening in the Pyramids through which one can go inside a long alley and descend into a big hall were the mummy's were laid. Ofcourse the mummy's now lay in museums so we were decided to skip going inside. Instead we climbed a little on the stones clicked photos from every angle till the guide had to remind us there were other things to check also and we couldn't spend so much time at one place. Till few years back one could climb the entire length of the Pyramids but unfortunately that was not allowed any longer.
To see the rest of the stuff we hired 4 horses at extra cost. I was to mount on Laila (no pun intended), my horse of the day. Next to the first Pyramid were small tombs of the other members of the royal family. Passing the ruins we approached the second Pyramid, which was for the son of the of the first Pharos and distinct by a different type of stone on its top, giving it a snow capped look. There was also a deep trench in which we were told a wooden ship was discovered which was used to transport the massive rocks from down somewhere far along the Nile. The ship also lay in a museum now. There is also a third Pyramid a much smaller one for the grandson of the Pharos along with many other tiny ones, mostly of their many wives. We must have rode for almost 20 minutes when our guides asked us to dismount our horses as we had reached what they called the panaromic view point. From here all the 3 Pyramids along with the 6 smaller Pyramids could be seen in a single row. We clicked quite a few photos here also doing the predecided Egyptian dance move. From here we had to descend downwards where lay the Sphinx, a huge statue of a horse with a human head. Akshay and me took control of our horses as both of us know the basics of riding and had a little fun 'horsing'around. We passed by the Sphinx without stopping as we were exhausted by the sun and returned to our starting point greeted by our ever smiling friend, Aalah, in his ac van. It had been an amazing couple of hours, thoroughly enjoyed by all.
We get as if we had spent the whole afternoon there when infact it was just 1100hrs! So again on Aalah's suggestion we decided to check out the Papyrus museum. At the museum we were greeted by a person who gave us information about Papyrus like how it was the first paper known to mankind and also a little demonstration of making of the paper from the Papyrus plant which looked more like a grass. Next hour was spent looking at the the many drawings on Papyrus plants and buying a few as souvenirs.
Next on our way was the essence oil museum very much like our 'ittar' which didn't excite us much. It was almost lunch time so we asked Aalah to take us to some nice restaurant which served authentic Egyptian food. Swati and me being vegetarian weren't too kicked but Akshay was keen as he ordered kebabs, koftas and pigeon which was served with Egyptian bread, soup and lots of salads and hummus.
We still had an hour before our 24hrs with Aalah exhausted but we were done for the day and asked him to drop us to the hotel. Bidding goodbye to Aalah, our friend, guide, driver and gun totting guard the girls went off for spa while we boys along with Anvi hit the swimming pool, sipping on martini overlooking the Pyramids - a true Wonder of the world!

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Comments

[purnima]

lovely photos
Besides the beautifully written blog the photos helped give us a peek into the writing. Did not have to ONLY imagine.

[Sandhya]

Day 2
Looks like day 2 went off well. Now for day 3

[Abhishek raj]

your friend saw Egypt with your eyes
Nicely written, well done. While you were touring Egypt, I was following up on your Facebook update. Now I can relate after reading your blog that not only you visited the place but also enriched yourself with the history and culture of that part of the world. I haven't got chance to visit this place yet but after a going to your blog I lived the day of the Egypt. Thanks for sharing your experience with us. Hope more to come in your blog.

[Festivetraveller]

Thanks Abhi

[Festivetraveller]

Thanks Abhi