We arrived and purchased our visa on arrival. We booked a room at a hotel very near the pyramids for $60 and I exchanged emails with the owner before the trip letting him know what we wanted to do and coordinating the timing. A driver was waiting for us at the airport and told us it would be about an hour to the Pyramid View Inn.
Along the way, we marveled at how developed the city is, but also the history contained within it. It's an interesting juxtaposition both when compared to Dubai but also just contrasting some new areas of the city with the old mosques or buildings lining the Nile that have clearly been there for centuries. Many buildings are unfinished with rebar exposed on the top floor. We were told this is because the government does not collect property taxes until a building is finished so people intentionally don't finish them. There are families living in them but they purposely didn't build the final/top floor to avoid paying taxes. In addition to our Tour de Cairo by car, we discussed what we wanted to see and do while we were there. Our driver mentioned that there was one thing that he highly recommended that we hadn't included. He didn't elaborate and eventually pulled up outside this small shop and turned off the engine. Ok, I guess we're getting out here.
It was the Egyptian Papyrus Museum. We walked in and there was a very knowledgable gentleman who spoke very quickly and gave us the rundown on how papyrus paper is made. Here's the Cliffs Notes: papyrus is a plant with a long stem that grows along the Nile. They cut a stalk off of the stem and peel off the outer layer exposing the inside of the stem. They them cut this inside into strips and use a rolling pin to flatten them out into long skinny strips. Once soaked in water, the sugars in the plant are ready to adhere the pieces to each other. They are aligned parallel vertically and then another layer is done horizontally, so essentially the front has vertical stripes and the back horizontal. I was surprised to learn that it is not woven like a basket. It is then put into a press to squeeze out the excess water and stick everything together with the plant's natural sugars. He explained that there are many knockoffs around Cairo made from banana stems. He warned us that they are very cheap but do not last because while banana is a decent alternative texture-wise, there is too much sugar in the banana so over time the paper eats away at itself.
We ended up buying two pieces of artwork from the museum, the perfect souvenirs from our express visit to Egypt:
After the museum, we were taken to the Inn where we dropped off our stuff, changed clothes and had a quick bite to eat before heading out to the pyramids. The entrance fee for the pyramids compound is a whopping $11, but you get hounded by people trying to sell you water, horse-drawn carriage rides, camel rides, etc etc. We walked in and past the Sphinx, then turned right and went around the Pyramid of Khufu (aka The Great Pyramid of Giza), then continued past the backside of the Pyramid of Khafre and ended in front of the smallest, the Pyramid of Menkaure. It's about 12km between all three pyramids so not exactly a short walk when it's 110+ degrees outside. By this point, I was overheated and, according to Dan, sporting quite the attractive sunburnt nose. So we headed back to the hotel for a quick rest.
Here are some photos from our exploration up close and personal with the pyramids:
Sphinx and Khafre/Up close with Sphinx's busted face (Thanks Napoleon)
Pyramid of Khafre/Dan with Pyramid of Khufu
For sake of showing how big the rocks are
Us in front of the Great Pyramid of Giza (aka Khufu), and up close with the base of the same pyramid
I'll stop here and save the remainder for the next post! :)
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