Day 11 - Giza

Sunrise in Egypt

We both awoke before out alarms went off, showered, and headed down to breakfast. The choices are somewhat different than we had in Israel. They have many of the same things, such as Asian foods, fruit, vegetables, and all sorts of breads and sweet breads. John was happy to see pancakes. They offered beef sausages, which I did try but could not really identify the beef flavor. The coffee is quite special brought to each table and they leave you your very own press with fresh coffee! Anyway, we had our fill and sat in the lobby area awaiting the start of our day. 

Our wonderful Egyptologist tour guide (Henry) and driver (Osama) picked us up 8:00a to start our tour. Henry is amazing and such a wealth of knowledge! He is a Coptic Christian, married, has 2 daughters and one son, born in Egypt, lived in the USA for 6 months, he is brilliant and kind. We are quite blessed today to have him as our personal and private guide. Our first stops were here in Giza to see the Great Pyramids, including a burial chamber in the small pyramid; the Valley Temple; and the Sphinx. It is so remarkable!  We were given so much information I am sure I have only retained a tiny bit of it. There are 118 pyramids in Egypt, some are small.  The Great Pyramid of Giza (also known as the Pyramid of Khufu or Pyramid of Cheops) is the largest of all the pyramids. This remained the largest structure on earth until the Eiffel Tower was built. The three main pyramids here in Giza were built for the King, his son, and grandson. All were Kings and they vary in size accordingly. These were essentially their tombs holding their bodies, jewelry, food, everything they felt they would need in their second life. Of course these places were robbed early on so after this happened all Kings were buried in the Valley of the Kings to avoid such robbery. No mummy of a king has ever been found inside a pyramid. This largest pyramid in Giza has 2,300,000 stones weighting 2-16 tons each. The very top of this pyramid was destroyed to use the stones by Mohammad Ali, but a Frenchman named Joseph (?) stopped him from destroying more. These pyramids in Giza were completely covered by sand until their discovery. This was just an astounding visit that cannot be fully described. I will add that the the Sphinx was actually carved not built. It was carved in the quarry that had been used to get the rocks to build the pyramids. It is breezy and very enjoyable. I was concerned it would be very hot here but it is just perfect. 

Next we drove to a papyrus factory. We have been warned not to buy any works of papyrus other than from a reputable dealer because you will really be getting banana leaves instead. Fascinating revolution to the first paper made on earth and real papyrus can only be found in Egypt. 

  

Now we had the option for lunch first or our visit to Saqqara (Sakkara) to see the prototype of the pyramids, the Step Pyramid, built for the 3rd Dynasty Pharaoh Djoser by the exalted architect Imhotep. We aren't that hungry so we went to the Step Pyramid first. Another mind-boggling site! They are restoring parts of this pyramid right now. It is painstakingly slow from what we understand. 

A Guest Room  near the Step Pyramid

Writing from 2611 BC

Next we had a brief visit to a carpet school. It is an intricate skill that is taught here. I think the rugs were reasonably priced but really not my taste. 

We stopped for our lunch and such nice conversation with Henry. He shared miracles in this life and we shared some of ours. Our lunch stop was included in our day. We had several appetizers served with fresh baked, warm pita bread (light and airy, not much like our pita bread). This was followed by rice pilaf, then later they brought lamb, chicken, and french fries. Some different customs than we have but delicious food. Dessert was fresh dates, they are so delicious! We ate them with the skin as we did before but Henry told us we should peel them. The skin does slip right off so he said it was more "civilized" that way - who knew? 

Fresh Dates

On the way back toward our hotel he asked if we wanted anything else. We could think of nothing... but then he mentioned on the Nile cruise we will have Galabeyya party night and was I interested in looking at some I might want to wear. A Galabeyya dress is simply a caftan or loose fitting dress. I found one I liked at the Flower Cotton store for about US$15. I did plan to buy one so I am all set now. Mine is very simple, lively material but not very fancy. I believe it was around 2p when we returned to the hotel. We had a relaxing afternoon. In the evening we went down for a glass of wine and sambossek at the pool restaurant again. A sambossek is like an empanada in Mexico or a pastel in Brazil, slightly different but delicious. The weather is so perfect! 

The Pool Restaurant

Sambossek

We came back up to pack because we need to leave with our luggage in the morning. However, we have a late pick up at 10a so we do not have to rush.