2004 09 – Egypt – Day 4

Another beautiful morning with clear skies and traffic wasn’t too bad. We made our hour long bus ride through the downtown area of Cairo and then along the Nile River Valley into Giza.

Our bus pulls up to the Pyramids and we have one hour to walk around the two biggest pyramids before meeting back at the bus.

One of the many guards in the area. They did not like a picture being taken of them, I had to be careful. In the background near the base of the South side of the Great Pyramid is a building that houses a boat they found buried beneath the surface near the pyramid.

We find it not too busy this morning as we walk along the Western side and then to the North face.

North wall of the Great Pyramid and the entrance can be seen where I went in the other day. Our group doesn’t have tickets to go in as they’re hard to get. It was a good thing I got the chance to go in a few days before otherwise I would of missed my chance to go inside.

Once again I climb up a few of the steps and I'm careful to not climb too high up so I don't catch the attention of the security guards again.

A view of the middle pyramid from the Great Pyramid. Buses are arriving frequently and the area is starting to get busy.

A view from the base of the Great Pyramid which is situated farthest to the North. Looking to the South West

Cairo and Giza are in the distance behind the pyramids.

Many vendors have set up shop where the bus drops us off for viewing.

The group walks over to the smaller pyramid

A hole was blasted in the North face by an earlier exploration group who were trying to get inside. This area is now highly regulated by the government and any exploration of the pyramids in any way is hard to get approval.

The optional climb inside of the smallest pyramid was 10 pounds extra (About $2). The smoother blocks near the base of the pyramid was believed to have covered the entire pyramid at one time. It is speculated that over the years the smoother blocks have been knocked down due to a few earthquakes and from early explores trying to find out what is inside.

Much of the outer shell that has fallen down was taken away by the local people using it to build their houses.

Modern civilization is built very close to the Pyramid of Giza site. The building regulations are quite different than what we are familiar with in Western world. This land of antiquity has not been taken over by the many regulations we are accustomed to and people are free to build and live where they do without all the regulations. The cultural roots go back millenniums and things are the way they are.

Some of the outer layer is still intact at the top of the middle pyramid. Everything has been cleaned up around the base of the 2 bigger pyramids for the safety and ease of access for the tourists.

Next stop is the Sphinx, only around 300 meters in front of the 3 Pyramids of Giza. We had to go through yet another security gate and it was just a short walk over to the base of Sphinx. The open pit near the Sphinx is as close as one can get and you cannot actually go over and touch it. It's a great view with the pyramids in the background and Cairo coming right up to the front of the sphinx along with Pizza Hut and KFC within viewing distance from the Sphinx.