Egypt Day 7: Dashur/Memphis/Saqqara/Colossi of Ramses

During our long bus ride to the older pyramids Leigh gave her report on Serapis while I tried taking pictures of the different landscapes we passed.

The "bent" pyramid at Dashur was pretty awesome. Some of us climbed up a ways before a guard with a machine gun came by on his camel and yelled at us.

At the "red" pyramid, we explored outside but then descended into the tombs inside.

Despite the poor quality of the one picture I took, it was really neat inside. After we climbed down into a chamber, we had to climb these wooden stairs up into another chamber. The vaulted ceiling was amazing.

Next, we went to see the giant statue of Ramses II in Memphis.

There was also a sort of outdoor museum with other statues outside.

We stopped for a bit to hear Kyle's report then it was on to the mastaba tombs. No pictures were allowed inside, unfortunately. There was a lot of great sculpture and some paintings on the walls. At one point, I tried taking a picture when no guards were around but a creepy guy (but not a guard) came around the corner. He'd been charging people to allow them to take pictures. I stowed my camera in my bag just as he came into the little room we were in and I pulled out my hand sanitizer when he started to accuse me of taking pictures. He then tried to take my hand sanitizer! He insisted he needed it for his wife. I squeezed past him into another room and he followed me. I went outside and then into another tomb and he continued to follow me, still hounding me to give him something. Eventually, when I thought he was going to block my way out a tomb, I gave him a hard boiled egg, which he didn't appreciate, but if he hadn't let me through, I was ready to stomp on his toes and/or punch him in the throat.

Then we had a look at the "step" pyramid (also known as Zoser's pyramid) at Saqqara.

At the nearby funerary complex of Zoser, we stopped in the Heb-sed court for Evren's report.

That's our personal armed guard in the background. You can almost make out the bottom of his machine gun sticking out of his jacket.

We next explored the mortuary complex.

We headed back to Cairo for lunch. Before going back to the hotel, we stopped at the American Research Center in Egypt, located in downtown Cairo. The director told us about the program there and then treated us to wine and snacks.

Since this was our last night in Cairo, I took some pictures of the view from our hotel room. The rest of Cairo didn't look any better than this (and much of it was worse!).

Egypt Day 6: Citadel, Cairo Museum, Pyramids at Giza

Our first stop of the morning was at the Allah Al Din citadel built in 1183. When we got there, it wasn't open yet and it was still a little chilly outside so Rob gave his report on Mamluks (a caste of soldiers who had been kidnapped as children, brought up as slaves, and then granted freedom) in the bus.

Within the citadel was a mosque. In order to enter, we had to take off our shoes. Because of the lighting, I wasn't ever able to get a very good picture.

Exterior of the mosque

We could see another mosque from the citadel.

Then it was on to downtown Cairo so we could go to the Egyptian Museum. We passed Tahrir Square where the major political protests have been leading up to and during the course of the revolution. People whose family members died during the protests live there now in tents. 

From a traffic light post hangs an effigy of former president Mubarak.

And this administration building burned during the revolution still stands as a reminder of the violence that occurred here.

No photography is allowed inside the museum and we only had a short time inside to visit this giant place filled with really cool stuff. I hated to have to hurry through. Some of the highlights included the treasures from King Tuthankhamun's tomb, like the famous gold death mask.

Picture taken from Wikipedia

We had lunch at an authentic Egyptian restaurant, 

and then headed out to the pyramids.

Taken on the bus

Guard on camel back (who charge you a couple Euro if they catch you taking their picture!)

Sliding down a pyramid

The little pyramids

We went inside the middle pyramid but there wasn't much to see. The walls were all white and there was nothing at the end of the long tunnel but a square space.

Next we visited the Solar Boat Museum (located just beside the pyramids) which houses a completely preserved wooden boat which had been discovered in pieces and has since been sewn back together. We had to put cotton covers over our feet, I suppose to prevent from tracking sand into the museum.

The pyramids are just outside the window of the museum

Model of the boat

The boat!

 

Under the boat

We then took a quick look at the Sphinx. We couldn't get as close as we had hoped but we did get close enough to see how much damage pollution and environmental factors have done to the face.

I really like the back legs and tail

What the Sphinx has to look at all day (there's a Pizza Hut across the street)

Now it was time for our much anticipated camel rides!

Self-portrait mid-ride

On the way back to the hotel, our guide offered to take us to a papyrus shop to see a demonstration on how papyrus is made. 

The tour company owns this shop, so it was all part of a gimmick to get us to buy souvenir painted papyri but it was still cool. And it worked. I bought a painting for my parents and here's the lady adding my name to the bottom in Egyptian hieroglyphs.

On the drive back to the hotel, I happened to notice this, which made me laugh. I wonder what the Arabic is for "Pizza!Pizza!"