Egypt: Memphis, Saqqara and Giza Pyramids (15 December 2020)

 An early start was in order for my day tour to Saqqara, Memphis and Giza.

I had a tour guide and a driver, for $50 for the day - whether this was a good price, I'm not entirely sure. My options were limited due to time so I took the hostel's recommendation. We set out to the first stop of the day to Saqqara. Saqqara is a vast ancient Egyptian burial ground, just outside of Cairo. There are numerous pyramids in the complex, the stepped Pyramid of Djoser is the most famous.

We arrived at the complex which was deserted - there were no other cars in the parking lot and certainly no other tourists. The starting point was the stepped Pyramid of Djoser:

The pyramid was built in 2670 BC and is considered the forerunner of the more famous pyramids found at Giza. The pyramid was awe-inspiring and it still blows my mind that these structures are over 4,000 years old and stood as the tallest man made structures until the Lincoln Cathedral was built in 1311 - some 3,000 years later.

Although we only saw one pyramid, there were many more in the complex. Some resembling pyramids and some looking more like mounds of earth:

The next stop was Memphis - an old capital of Ancient Egypt. We visited an open air museum containing many statues and items recovered in modern day Memphis. The most impressive being the colossus of Rameses II:

This 10m statue is still perfectly detailed and is another mind blowing piece of Egyptian history. It was discovered partially submerged in a river - local thought that the visible part of the statue was a crocodile. The statue is one of a pair, with the other being located in the Egyptian Museum.

At Memphis we had a tea break, and would you believe it - the driver's friend owned the tea place and wanted to show me something out the back. This chap then proceeded to show me numerous ancient Egyptians artefacts and coins that his dad had dug up in the garden. The items looked genuine and I did haggle on a couple of items, ignoring the inevitable antiquity smuggling laws, however the chap was asking for ridiculous prices so we could not make a deal.

Next up was the grand finale, Giza. Giza itself is a city in its own right within Cairo, and the pyramids appear just off the boundary of the city. We arrive and I have to haggle myself a horse or a camel for the afternoon - I was told that I could walk to the pyramids but I would miss the Giza plateau which offered great photographic opportunities. Camel it is. Now, I definitely got bumped on the cost of hiring the camel. I usually pride myself on getting good prices where ever I go, but I'm sure this was a bump. You can't win them all and this experience and the accompanying photos are something I'll remember for the rest of my life, so it was a price worth paying. 

I set off on my camel along with my guide on his horse, a small limpy man who needed a large stone/object in order to jump onto his horse. We took the meandering path to the Giza plateau which was spectacular. 

At the plateau, my guide unexpectedly turned personal Instagram photographer and I ended up with this set of shots:

After my photo shoot concluded, we took the camel further into the pyramid complex. Firstly stopping by a tomb that was 'closed to tourists'. The chap who let me in insisted on taking my photo next to every item within this tomb - so I have dozens of dodgy photos as per the following:

As we were leaving this tomb 'closed to tourists' about 10 foreign tourists also entered. The chap tried hard for baksheesh (tip), he had to settle for 10EGP due to the lack of exclusivity that was promised.

We then meandered to the Great Pyramid and got up close and personal. Although nowadays, the pyramids are blocky in nature back in ancient Egypt there were smoothed over with a white layer of limestone:

The final stop on the camel was the Sphinx. I personally thought the Sphinx was overrated - it was very weathered and barely retained the detail from the original carving:

The final final stop was in the hostel owned by the camel owner. My guide insisted on taking many photos of me on the hostel roof, and to my surprise I wasn't coerced into buying anything.

We ended the day in a little Koshari shop just outside of Giza, and the tour guide, driver and I ate our Kohsari and chatted about life in Egypt. Our guide left us in Giza and refused to take a tip I offered - this could have been down to the kindness of his heart, or knowing Egyptians he probably got a large cut of the camel that I was bumped on.

Back at the hostel I packed my bag for the 7.45pm overnight train to Luxor. Instead of jumping into a cab to the station and paying the inevitable 'tourist' price, I ordered an Uber and was dropped at the busy Ramses station for a bargain 75p. For dinner I had a crispy chicken sandwich (popular in Egypt!) and stocked up on water for the journey ahead.