And I got to cross "Visit the pyramids at Giza" and "Ride a camel" off of my bucket list =))
It was a fabulous day! I went with two friends from school, Alex and Sophie, and it wasn't crowded. We'd been warned about crowds of people, pushy camel guys, trash blowing in the wind, and inhuman treatment of the animals. So expecting that, it wasn't bad at all. I think we went on a really good day. And it wasn't very hot either (well until we went inside the temple of claustrophobia.
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) The pyramids are on a hill and can be seen from the highway and the even the Nile if you're on the top floor of a building. Even with Cairo's dense (worse than Bakersfield) smog, they are soo majestic on the horizon. Now Ive seen them a number of times just driving around and they still always take my breath away.
Thanks to my Egyptology class, I know the tiny tiniest bit of background on these giant beauties. They were constructed by the pharaoh Khufu somewhere between 2589 and 2566 B.C. Which is... I mean... wow. Nothing is that old. It's incredible. And considering the amount of people who have seen them in the last 5,000 years and climbed all over them, its just... well it's incredible. They took only twenty years to make too. For some reference, the Milan Duomo in Italy was constructed over a period of 400 years ( and it's beyond incredible too, but just saying.) It's impossible for us to imagine what it took to build these pyramids, Egypt was so different then. The pharaoh had an indescribable amount of power because he was considered the son of god incarnate. So with his title "Horus" he could do anything. When he died, he became Horus's father, Osiris, ruler of the underworld, and the next pharaoh picked up exactly where he left off as the next Horus. So that's how a pharaoh had the means to construct any kind of giant monument or temple even in his first week on the throne.
Another thing not often mentioned is that the pyramids were not build in a desert. Cairo/ Giza area was a lush oasis in the time of the ancients. The land is still incredibly fertile along the river. The climate would not have been as harsh as we would think and the workers (not slavesss) would have been treated a lot better than our conception. Ancient Egypt was also ridiculously wealthy, but you probably already knew that.
That's hardly any background at all, but still enough to blow anyone's mind when they stand at the bottom. A weird thing I thought though was the lay out, and the Sphinx. It was all different than I imagined, and the Sphinx is tiny. I actually couldn't find it. When I was standing at the Great Pyramid, I had to ask someone to point it out to me. Everything is build on a slope, so the pictures can't really show the reality. That didn't lessen its beauty or anything, I just thought it was really interesting. Not quite what I expected.
We walked around the pyramids for a while just taking pictures and being silly before allowing ourselves to get hassled by the camel guys. We got an okay deal I guess. I gave him a tip and all together it was 10 american dollars for 15 minutes on a camel and a thousand pictures. He also put a beduin scarf on my head even though I told him not to. Then he asked if I had any husbands and I said yes.. 5.
Camels are tall. They smell really odd, they are bow legged... sitting on one while it stands up is like a roller coaster. But they're calm, and mine was so sweet. His name was Mickey Mouse. When I asked my guide if he was nice to him, he said "oh yes of course he's my friend. He seemed ok. Oh! And camels "sing." They open their mouths (which look like the inside of the aliens' mouths from Alien vs Preditor) really wide and make the weeeirdest gurgling noise I have ever heard. But, they call it the camel's song. I really loved the camel ride, Mickey was good to me.
Next we walked around the Sphinx. He was built by the pharaoh Khafra who most think is the son of Khufu. All that's really left of him is his face (noseless of course( and his paws, the back of his head is warn down along with his back and behind. But still. Its incredible. He has these giant gorgeous eyes, and its incredible you can still make them out.
Then we took our touristy "Im a 20 year old giggley girl picture" and Alex got a lot of "Lucky man two beautiful wives" shouts, hahaa. And he said "thanks" too, that was the best part.
We went inside a little temple too. Sadly it was graffitied and empty, but we did get to see a few really cool hieroglyphics. I was able to recognize where the name of the pharaoh was (with the hieroglyph of Horus) and some other symbols like the pharaoh smiting his enemy and bring order to his kingdom, which is on the front of almost all temples from the Old Kingdom. It symbolizes the gods keeping Ma'at on earth, which means a bunch of things, like Wisdom, Order, Peace, etc. Oh but fun fact: Ma'at is a woman who was there when Ra, the sun god created earth. Which is symbolized by the building of the temple itself.
Im so glad Im taking an egyptology class. =)
The day did not end so well due to some really awful taxi drivers. We managed not to get too ripped off though and we did get home safely, thanks to directions over the phone in arabic from our savior Joe from Bahrain.
But. Im not even going to focus on that.
Let's say the day ended when we left the pyramids, and that ended soo well.
We climbed up a bit and took some pictures, made sure to touch the facade and pick up a few stones.
Then as we were walking to the gate, looking down at all of Cairo, we heard Call to Prayer. And everything else was silent. And the wind blew and brought us the beautiful music from what had to be 100 different mosques, not competing but almost chanting together. It was incredible.
I was blown away. There I stood on the other side of the world, in the largest city in the Middle East, watching wind blow across a desert below the greatest archeological achievement in the ancient world, listening to over eight million people worship god. It was incredible, absolutely amazing. I will never forget the feeling and it will never be duplicated.
Just absolutely amazing, a gorgeous day I will never forget.
<3
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