15th Dec
We were going to see the world famous pyramids. As we drove towards Saqqara we met our guide, Nasir on the way. He taught us some basics of Arabic like shukran (thank you), aiwa (yes or ok), laa (no).
The idea of building pyramids did not come to the pharaohs all of a sudden. They wanted to build their tomb for their afterlife. So they started with something called Mastaba which is just a rectangular construction to keep the mummy and their belongings, which was a failure as robbers located them and looted the things in it. So the next step was stepped pyramid which is still present in Saqqara near Cairo and it was the first pyramid. The stepped pyramid at Saqqara does look like pyramid at his early part of evolution. But this too was robbed and the stones used for its construction were not finished. So the next step was the pyramids at Memphis. Memphis was city founded by Menes who united kingdoms of Egypt during the old kingdom. The pyramids there are called as Red pyramid, bent pyramid.
It was lunch time by the time we finished seeing Saqqara so Nasir took us to an traditional Egyptian restaurant which looked quite authentic and the food was very good. We liked the Maze in the Egyptian food which is collection of salad, bread, and houmous - made from aubergine.
We then went to a shop to see the papyrus paintings and finally got one called as final judgement where Anubis and Thoth, the Egyptian gods judge whether the king should be sent to heaven or hell.
The next stop was Giza. Khufu built the pyramid at Giza. The stones here are better finished and quite large, the weight of each stone is 3-15 ton. His son made another pyramid near him which is Pyramid of Khafre this is slightly smaller than Khufu’s pyramid, as a sign of respect to his father. The pyramid of Menkaure built by Menkaure, who was Khafre’s successor, is half of Pyramid of Khafre. It is been said that Khafre built the Sphinx as well. Seeing the pyramids at the first is shocking as it is just opposite the suburb Giza, a densely populated one at that, and the Sahara desert is spread behind it. We decided to take the sunset camel /horse ride behind pyramids and so Nasir took us to a place which was full of stables. There are some touristy things in Egypt which you can’t escape and it’s worth doing. I decided to go on horse and Anand was happy to go on camel. It was very nice to see these wonders at sunset. Anand got some of his best photos there. While coming back the guys who were with us hinted us to give them tip. People ask tips for anything you could think of, which is sometimes very annoying. But it’s best to get used to it and keep enough change with you. Nasir again wanted to take us to souvenir shopping which we politely refused and decided to stay for the sound and light show. The only reason to see these kinds of shows is to take snaps of pyramids at light; otherwise the show is same as any other sound and light show with dramatic story telling. We were so tired at the end of the day that we had some snacks and coffee for dinner and slept.
We were going to see the world famous pyramids. As we drove towards Saqqara we met our guide, Nasir on the way. He taught us some basics of Arabic like shukran (thank you), aiwa (yes or ok), laa (no).
The idea of building pyramids did not come to the pharaohs all of a sudden. They wanted to build their tomb for their afterlife. So they started with something called Mastaba which is just a rectangular construction to keep the mummy and their belongings, which was a failure as robbers located them and looted the things in it. So the next step was stepped pyramid which is still present in Saqqara near Cairo and it was the first pyramid. The stepped pyramid at Saqqara does look like pyramid at his early part of evolution. But this too was robbed and the stones used for its construction were not finished. So the next step was the pyramids at Memphis. Memphis was city founded by Menes who united kingdoms of Egypt during the old kingdom. The pyramids there are called as Red pyramid, bent pyramid.
It was lunch time by the time we finished seeing Saqqara so Nasir took us to an traditional Egyptian restaurant which looked quite authentic and the food was very good. We liked the Maze in the Egyptian food which is collection of salad, bread, and houmous - made from aubergine.
We then went to a shop to see the papyrus paintings and finally got one called as final judgement where Anubis and Thoth, the Egyptian gods judge whether the king should be sent to heaven or hell.
The next stop was Giza. Khufu built the pyramid at Giza. The stones here are better finished and quite large, the weight of each stone is 3-15 ton. His son made another pyramid near him which is Pyramid of Khafre this is slightly smaller than Khufu’s pyramid, as a sign of respect to his father. The pyramid of Menkaure built by Menkaure, who was Khafre’s successor, is half of Pyramid of Khafre. It is been said that Khafre built the Sphinx as well. Seeing the pyramids at the first is shocking as it is just opposite the suburb Giza, a densely populated one at that, and the Sahara desert is spread behind it. We decided to take the sunset camel /horse ride behind pyramids and so Nasir took us to a place which was full of stables. There are some touristy things in Egypt which you can’t escape and it’s worth doing. I decided to go on horse and Anand was happy to go on camel. It was very nice to see these wonders at sunset. Anand got some of his best photos there. While coming back the guys who were with us hinted us to give them tip. People ask tips for anything you could think of, which is sometimes very annoying. But it’s best to get used to it and keep enough change with you. Nasir again wanted to take us to souvenir shopping which we politely refused and decided to stay for the sound and light show. The only reason to see these kinds of shows is to take snaps of pyramids at light; otherwise the show is same as any other sound and light show with dramatic story telling. We were so tired at the end of the day that we had some snacks and coffee for dinner and slept.
No comments:
Post a Comment