Pyramids and GEM

Today was the classic quintessential Cairo day that you have imagined since childhood. We had hired an Egyptologist as a guide and separate driver through Emo tours, and after a bit of an issue finding us, we hopped in and picked up our guide about 5 minutes later. Osama was a great driver through the day, though we were one seatbelt short (unfortunately not a rare thing in Cairo). We drove about 40 minutes through Giza to the start of our tour. Words can’t really express the insanity and terror of Cairo traffic. You spend every minute wondering about the number of traffic accidents and pedestrian deaths. There may be 5 lanes, but 10 cars across, then motorbikes with several people on each, vans, buses, etc. Our driver even had to expertly swerve a woman driving a cart full of cabbage pulled by a donkey going THE WRONG WAY on the highway. Bananas.

We started this epic day at the pyramids of course, and it was stunning. We learned about the kings who built them as burial tombs (Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure); father, son and grandson. Khufu, is the last standing wonder of the ancient world, the largest pyramid, and absolutely incredible in person. It took 20 years to build and weighs over 6 million tons. After walking around Khufu, we went to Khafre, which still has some of the original covering at the top (all of the pyramids were built, covered with a thin stone facade, painted and polished, but only the top bit remains. We had tickets to enter Khafre, which was pretty claustrophobic, with all of us banging our heads on the way in and out.

We continued to walk the grounds, learning about the incredible engineering and mathematical precision that the ancient Egyptians employed to build the pyramids. Each side points to true North, South, East and West, only off by 3/60th of a degree. The pyramids are arranged in a Fibonacci spiral (predating him), and the points of the tops align with Mercury, Venus and Saturn once every 2,737 years. Mind-blowing!

We circled back on the bus to the front of Khafre, which is the location of the Great Sphinx. Also incredible, and looks just as you would expect it to. Our last event was a camel ride to the desert beside the pyramids, and took photos all together. The camels were huge, and their shepherds rather pushy for tips:)

Isaac, our guide, took us to a delicious local spot for lunch, and we sampled so many incredible local dishes - soups, breads, hummus, roasted chicken and kofta. Dessert of backlava and rice pudding rounded out the meal.

After lunch they took us to a Papyrus Institute and we had a lesson about how they make genuine papyrus. Then, we were lured into buying a few paintings to bring home (of course). We declined another shop stop, excited to get to the museum.

The Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), 20 years in the making, opened last year. It is an incredible space. Every detail has a purpose and a meaning. You are greeted by a huge ancient statue of Ramses II, who is a very important king in Egypt’s past, ruling for over 60 years. We ascended the path to eternity (main staircase, filled with important sculptures and landing on a view of the pyramids). To the right on the top level, we entered the entire wing dedicated to Tutankhamen’s artifacts. This collection holds over 5,000 artifacts from his tomb. Though he was an unimportant king in the history of Egypt (a baby king, who ruled from age 9-19, had significant infectious diseases, and suspected to have multiple genetic issues due to a shallow gene pool), his tomb was luckily covered up by another king’s, which is why his was not robbed and held such incredible treasures.

The treasures were incredible. We saw golden chariots, bows used by KT, jewelry, shoes, food containers, even socks and sandles. The most magnificent items were the shrines and sarcophagi - each holding a smaller one (x3), with the innermost being made of solid gold. One of the absolute highlights was his mask of course; all of it, just magical.

We stayed at the museum, spending all of the rest of our tour in Tutankhamen’s exhibit, before heading down to meet the driver and make another harrowing journey back to the Embassy.

A quick dinner in, while we all showered off the dust from the day, hung out for a bit and headed to bed, happily exhausted from a day well spent.Read more