The last of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World

Day 9  Giza Sunday 13 May    (220 Hours down 668 to go)                                                               

Woke early and pulled back curtains to see Pyramids in the early morning light, off to the Club Lounge for breakfast, only guests there so we grab the prime table and enjoy our breakfast looking over the Pyramids, not a bad start to the day.

Meet our guide in Cairo, Karen, who I found on TripAdvisor, English woman who lived in US for 10 years, then fell in love with Egypt and has been here 7 years, speaks the lingo well. After she reports to the Egyptian Security people at the hotel and gives them a run down on where we are going , first stop is up to the Pyramids for a close look, traffic is absolutely crazy.

It is not until you get up close that you realize just how big they are and what a feat of engineering they achieved 4500 years ago.

There is of course the band of local hustlers trying to sell souvenirs, take a photo with my camel, sit on my donkey mister which we ignore and just have a good look around whilst Karen provides an detailed commentary.

After a good walk around the pyramids it is time to jump onto a camel and ride out into the desert like Lawrence of Arabia to have that perfect view of the Pyramids. It is about this time that I realize that wearing shorts and riding a camel is not a good idea. But the view and perspective of the three Pyramids of Giza is breathtaking and well worth the effort and the risk of chaffed thighs.

In true Egyptian style there we are 1km out in the desert and along comes a little old man on a donkey with a wheat bag hanging off the back full of ice and drinks. Thank you very much.

We ride on down to the Sphinx the silent companion of the Pyramids and is another classic sight that I remember from my history books. At this time we kiss the camels goodbye walk past the KFC and Pizza Hut which are about 150 metres from the Sphinx and return to more civilized transport, air-conditioned van, to make our way down south of Giza to Sakkara and Dashur some 30 kms away to the next group of Pyramids. On the way we stop for lunch of various dips, fresh bread and grilled meats, just like a lunch at Zacs without the lake view, washed down with a couple of cold beers.

The Pyramids in this area are constructed in different styles, Step Pyramid, Bent Pyramid & Red Pyramid, and as very few tourists venture down here we almost have the place to ourselves, all the guards know Karen very well and flirt with her and invite us to kiss their camel, but he wasn’t that good looking. We venture into one of the smaller Pyramids that has a short passage down to the crypt and is one of the few that has hieroglyphics on the walls.

After a good look around this area it is time to hit the road and back to hotel totally knackered looking for an early night.

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