Monday, January 10, 2011

Saqqara and Dashur pyramids

Before flooding this blog with pictures and blabbing about Luxor, let me revise our visit to other pyramids.
   I will just assume that your ignorance level is about same as mine, and you also did not know that Egypt has more than three pyramids in Giza, where all the pictures are taken.
  There are 138 pyramids discovered in Egypt, but the most well-known are these three from Giza: Khufu (also the biggest one), Khafre and Menkaure.
  But the oldest ones are found in Saqqara. This is the shadow of the pyramid build in 2630 BC.

 And this is the pyramid itself. Tada! We climbed inside through the opening in the middle.

I missed working out in Cairo, so the ancient Egyptian gods heard me complaining and gave me a workout in a form of crawling inside the pyramid for 20 minutes. Before you climb in, you are greeted by an ancient looking dude in galabiya who will ask for money on your way back. There was not much to see inside. And the smell of sulfur was strong enough to divert other explorers from going further.

Next one was a pyramid in Dashur, also known as a step pyramid. The tour guide explained all the regular historical chutzpa about how it was built, etc. I remember nothing, and you will not benefit from knowing how tall it is and on what occasion it was built. It is enough to know that anything taller than 20 feet was built to satisfy pharaohs vanity.

  The step pyramid partially obscured by a giant camel's turd and a pretty cloud.

We proceeded to yet another memorable site. Are you excited as I am? Prepare to see Titi Pyramid! Mereruka Tomb! And another tomb!

Alright, we are done with the "must-see" part. And here are sad underfed horses apparently eating cement and dust. I hope in next life they will return as the happiest creatures in the world.

 A group of disturbed Egyptians surrounded this building and kept yelling and pounding on the closed doors and windows. Hope this is where the horse owner lives, but highly doubt it. These people have more important things to be concerned with rather than rioting against animal maltreatment.

This is what we listen to every day on the van while being shuttled back and forth. A sheesha!

Promise to write about Luxor in the next blog. And in the next-next one will be a tour of Islamic Cairo - amazing architecture!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

What is it with a sulfur small? Was it cming from iside of the pyramid?
Do u work out regularly when in the US? What do u usyally do?
Obviously we were excited about Titi pyramid! What does it mean in Arabic?

aryunka said...

I guess the smell comes from the stone itself - exposure to oxygen and human presence, etc. And it is unbearable! My eyes were hurting! Titi pyramid...it's up to you to add meaning to it! Turn your imagination on!