Day 2: Part 2: The Sphinx

While we were at the pyramids, we obviously went down to see the Sphinx. We were all very excited to finally see it in real life. What we didn't realize was how huge this thing really was....but smaller than you might expect. It was amazing! Come to find out it is 241ft long, 63ft wide 66ft high. This thing would take up an entire football field leaving about 50ft in front and behind it.

The Sphinx and The Pyramid

Again our tour guide was a wealth of knowledge and told us an extensive history lesson on this. The face is believed to be the of the Pharaoh Amenemhet II. It was built around the time the second pyramid was being built. There is a causeway behind that leads from the second pyramid to the Sphinx. There is also the Sphinx Temple next to where the  Sphinx is. This is another large area where there once stood statues of past pharaohs. The statues have been removed since then. You can see the pictures below where they once stood. What was crazy to me is the architecture of how this temple was built. Look at the columns below, if you put lasers to the columns, they would all perfectly in plain with each other. 5000 years ago they didn't have levels or tape measures. How did they do this?!?! It's a mystery! Also the columns are also perfect flat and reflect the sun as it had been polished with alabaster which creates light. Again think about how long that must have taken to get them so perfect. The overhead supports are also the same way. But these are 6 ton granite blocks, how does someone get it up there? These columns are roughly 12 feet in the air.

Columns in the temple

Perfectly in plain!!

Up close picture of the face

After we walked though the temple he gave us a little bit more information about the Sphinx. For example, in 1880 when it was discovered by an archeologist, most of it was buried in sand. The only part showing was just his head and part of his back. Also, Sharif told us about a rumor of what happened to his nose and the cobra that came up from the forehead like other statues of Amenemhet II. It is said that while Napoleon was there, he used the Sphinx's nose as target practice. But if you think about it, if you are using it as practice, he would have been missing other parts of his face. It wouldn't just all be centralized on his nose. There are no other imperfections. Sharif said most likely was happened was.... "Its the desert, there is sandstorms. If your nose was sandblasted for 5000 years your nose would fall off too." The fact is the weight of the nose and all the years of sandstorms, the nose and snake most likely fell off. But no one actually knows for sure and probably never will. Also the other thing that some people don't know is The Sphinx when it was completed was beautifully painted and again age and weather blew it all off. We asked him about the Orion Belt theory, if he knew why the pyramids are built in direct line up with Orion's Belt, he had no answer for that one. I also decided to do some research to find an old picture of the Sphinx, you can see it below.

The Sphinx in 1880

Us in front of The Sphinx

Some fun photos of us with the Sphinx. A young boy posed us almost perfectly for each of these photos! ...and then tried to get 200le from us! Uhhh no! Please, if you are a tourist, do not give them 200le! We gave him 5le. haha. I am sure some tourists fall for the 200le trick! That's $33 for someone to take a few photos of you. Crazy talk.

Day 2: The Great Pyramids of Giza

Day 2 We were off to The Pyramids and The Sphinx. Once again we were guided by our fearless leader Sharif. I now like to refer to him as The Egyptian Encyclopedia. After the tour of the museum, who could have thought he could have more information and knowledge to give us. But we were wrong. He gave us yet another extensive amount of information about the Pyramids and The Sphinx. I am going to try and sum up the five and half hour day we had with him. We again began the day with being picked up by the bus at 8:40am. We of course slept through our alarm and woke up at 8:20.... So getting ready was fun and fast. We drove about 30 minutes to the pyramids. When we got there, Sharif filled us in on how to deal with all the vendors selling stuff and to avoid anyone with a camel close to the pyramids. We were to wait until he took us to a different place to ride camels. When we arrived he first took us to The Great Pyramid.

The Great Pyramid of Giza

The actual quarry that the pyramids were built from 18 miles away.

The Great Pyramid was built for the Pharaoh Khufu. It took over 20 years to build and took roughly 2.3 million blocks of limestone to build. The building of the Pyramid was concluded around 2560 BC. It was the tallest man made structure for over 3,800 years. It was no longer the tallest after The Empire State Building was built. The quarry they cut the limestone blocks from was nearly 18 miles away from the site of the pyramid. You can see the picture to the right is the actual quarry and causeway they used to move the blocks. Sharif told us the process of moving the blocks but because of the other information he gave me I don't remember. I just remember a bunch of angles he was giving us. The Great Pyramid was originally 481ft but after 5000 years of erosion and sand storms it is only 455ft. The pyramid was originally cased with smooth casting stones but erosion made it so now all that is present is actually the core structure of the pyramid. Oh and the base of the pyramid is 755ft long. So to walk around the entire Great Pyramid is just shy of .6 miles around. The picture above is me and Miranda sitting at The Great Pyramid, we are maybe 20ft off the ground and there is still over 400ft of pyramid above us, talk about a stair climber. And look how large the blocks are! Our legs only cover about a third of the way down one block!

A side view of The Great Pyramid

That is a long way up!

The Pyramid of Khafre

The second pyramid we saw was the Pyramid of Khafre. This the second largest pyramid at the complex. Originally 471ft it is now only 448ft due to erosion. The base is 706ft long. In the picture above, you can see at the top of the pyramid the white polished limestone that they used to encase the pyramids with. Now imagine 5000 years ago what that looked like glistening in the sun light. To find out why this pyramid looked like that and to now know that they all had the casing on it amazes me more and makes the imagination run wild to think what it looked like 5000 years ago. Khafre was son of Khufu. Also. we learned that this pyramid seems taller than the Great Pyramid only because it sits on top of 33ft of bedrock, on a higher plateau.

The Pyramid of Menkaure

 This the third of all the pyramids. This the Pyramid of Menkaure. It is significantly smaller than the other two. It stands only 215ft tall and the base is only 339ft long. We found out from our guide this is because the prior dynasties spent so much on theirs and turned the economy upside down, that this was all the pharaoh could afford to build. If you compare all the other pyramids you can see how the quality of this pyramid doesn't compare to the others. This pyramid was my favorite because this is the one I went in. Miranda was not a fan of the closed spaces, so she decided to hang out in the air conditioned bus and wait. But, she came up to take pictures of the rest of us heading into the entrance of the pyramid. On the way to the pyramid, one of the vendors did offer me a million camels for Miranda. But Miranda's family needs not worry, I will not sell her. I have been offered several times different things for Miranda. Upon entering the pyramids we walked down a steep ramp that led to another set of stairs and led to the room where they kept the sarcophaguses. One of Miranda's coworkers decided she wanted to lay in one of those spots and the rest of us in unison went "OOOOOOOHHHH." We all believed this was bad juju. We wandered through a couple other areas. By that time we were all soaked in sweat because it was 100% humidity with no ventilation. So hot, sweaty people breath was everywhere. The air was literally thick to breathe. I have no pictures again because it is not allowed inside.

All of us that went into the pyramid

Me entering the pyramid

Us in front of the door to a burial chamber. If you look close, you can see the writings on the walls and door.

Hieroglyphs on the door.

While we were looking at all the pyramids we went into a mastaba. This is the other smaller building around some of the pyramids. This is the burial site of the social elite of Egypt's ancient period. We went inside and was greeted by a man who grabbed us and started giving us a tour, unknowing to us, he was going to ask for money at the end of it. But we saw many cool things inside. There was the ancient pictures on the wall as you can see from the picture below and also hieroglyphs around one of the doors that led in to one of the burial chambers. The man also took us to  another room with columns. I don't remember what this room represented. All in all it was cool experience to actually see and be able to photograph some of the ancient writing on the walls.

Pictures carved into the limestone walls.

Before heading down to The Sphinx, our tour guide decided to take us up to a higher plateau where you can see a panoramic view of the pyramids. It was an amazing view. You can see by the picture below.

But the highlight for the whole trip is what we were doing while I took this picture.... It was the best moment of the day for me....but maybe not for Miranda....  I think I got more amusement at first though.....

Miranda's first camel ride and me by her side and of course the camel who posed for the picture.

 Yes that's right, that is Miranda on top of a camel. She only wanted to do a picture on top but no one heard that part and we ended up going for about a 10 minute walk in the Sahara Desert by camel. It was so awesome. Miranda was terrified when the camel started to stand up. She let out a lovely high pitched yelp. Don't get me wrong this is no easy feat to do. The saddle she is on, she had to place both her hands and keep her arms locked, pushing herself backwards and then wait for the camel to stand. I didn't go on and neither the other male of the group Amril. I don't know why I didn't, I just decided I didn't want to. Plus I have two years to ride a camel. It was very cool to guide the camel for the short time the handler allowed me to. Remember how Miranda had to lock arms to stand up.....weeeellllll...... she had to do the same thing sitting the camel down. Unfortunately for her the camel decided to take his time. Instead of popping down like he did when he stood up he decided to pause with his front legs down and rear legs up. This left Miranda with locked arms in about a 50 degree angle for about 30 seconds. Could have maybe been longer. It was a fun experience for both of us.

Miranda and her camel

Everyone else on their camel and my fellow walker to the right

Camel enjoying the view too

Miranda's camel.. isn't he just adorable? I like his Elvis lip :-)

Miranda and Jennifer

Day 2 To Be Continued.........

Day 1: Egyptian Museum and Coptic Cairo

My school paid for a tour guide to take us around Cairo and visit some of the touristy things they knew we would all be dying to see! We had three days of tours, so the next three posts will be about each day.

The Egyptian Museum

On the first day of the tours, we were all picked up by our school bus around 8am (which is really early when you are still dealing with jet lag) and after we were all packed in, we stopped to pick up our guide, Sharif. Sharif is an Egyptologist who has been in the field for 30 years. We had no idea what a wealth of knowledge we would soon be fed. When our guide boarded the bus, he informed us that today we would be going the Egyptian Museum and afterwards, to Coptic Cairo. Unfortunately, photography is not allowed inside of the museum, so we can only verbally share our experiences, rather than visually.

 

Our Ticket

At the museum, we traveled through the different eras of Egypt's history. Sharif pointed out key pieces of art from each important time period. It was so awe inspiring to see these ancient artifacts and pieces of art that had such precision....and were still in magnificent shape, as if made yesterday, but were actually made anywhere from 5,000 to 1,000 years ago! Sharif knew everything about each piece of art. For example, when you see a statue from Ancient Egypt with the man's left foot forward and hands at his sides, it means that the statue was made when the man, Pharaoh, or king was still alive. If their feet are together, the statue is a symbol that the man is no longer living. We also learned that statues of Pharaohs were made as art, therefore, they depicted the Pharaoh as he wished he looked. They were not depictions of the Pharaoh as the way he truly looked. As such, a statue of a Pharaoh might have chiseled abs and broad shoulders, but in reality, he could be a fat, short, man. Sharif was also able to tell us about the different symbols represented in the art. I learned that only kings and queens had their names in hieroglyphs written in cartouches and common folk wrote their names without one. We learned that the cobra on the forehead, seen in many statues or masks, is meant to be like a third eye, an all seeing eye. We learned about so much of the symbolism used in Ancient Egyptian art. It is so much information that it is hard to remember it all.

After going through the old civilization, we made our way up to the boy king, King Tut's, exhibit. We learned that King Tut actually did not have very many accomplishment's in his time as King and the only reason he is so famous to us today is because his tomb is the only one that was found un-raided. We got to see his tomb, his solid gold sarcophagus, and his famous mask. (and we learned that the stuff traveling in America is replicas....) It was amazing to see the quality of the workmanship of all of his jewelry and his mask. Breath-taking!

After King Tut's exhibit, we looked through some ancient scrolls written on papyrus. Sharif explained one important one to us, which was a depiction of the day of judgement, as the Ancient Egyptian's believed it to be.

Then.....THE MUMMY ROOM!!!!

Mummy Room Ticket

Sharif was not allowed to follow us into the mummy room, so we only had ourselves to look around and explore. The mummies were crazy. Some of them had fingernails. Some of them had hair! One had a smile! We saw the mummy of Queen Hatshepsut, and King Ramesses II. And several others. There was about 12 mummies in there all together.

If you noticed, there was ticket prices on each ticket. For the mummy room and admission to the museum it was 160le. Which is only $27!!!! They were charging more than that in the states to see the King Tut exhibit....to only see replicas. Crazy! We spent a good 3 hours walking around the non-airconditioned museum...and we only looked at key pieces. Sharif said that if you spent one minute looking at every piece inside the musuem for 8 hours a day, 7 days a week, it would take you 9 months to go through everything!!!!!

Coptic Cairo

After the museum, we headed over to Coptic Cairo. Coptic Cairo is a section of Old Cairo that encompasses Coptic Christian churches and Jewish synagogues. We toured two of the older churches, one Coptic and one Jewish. We learned about the history of each and the design and architecture. In the Ben-Ezra Synagogue, there was a shrine marking the spot where Baby Moses was thought to be found.

The Mosques of Cairo

 Since we have been here we have probably seen hundreds of different mosques. They range in size and age. Some very new all the way to the 4th oldest mosque in the entire world. Mosques here are also different heights. Some hundreds of feet to some of them only being a few stories high. Every time we see a new one it is somehow different. There are even small mosques in malls and businesses here in Egypt. The most famous mosque here is called Mehemet Ali Pasa Camii meaning The Mosque of Mohamed Ali. No not the boxer :-) There will be a separate blog for that mosque. Below is several pictures of different mosques around Cairo that we have seen with all our traveling and discovering the city.

Two mosques only a block apart while we are driving to Carrefour.

One of the larger mosques we have seen, each of those towers the Ima'am would ascend to give the prayer and song at Call of Prayer.

 Most of the mosques here have these tall towers you see in the above picture. Many years ago the Ima'am would have to ascend the tower to do the call of prayer. Years later now and thanks to technology many of these now are rigged with loud speakers and they can do it from a a microphone below.

One of the larger Mosques in Downtown Cairo.

 The picture above and the picture below is the 4th oldest mosque in the world. It has been remodeled several times in those years. This is found after the city of the dead and right before Coptic Cairo.

A view of another mosque from the Mosque of Mohamed Ali. Also you can see Cairo in the background.

This is a mosque just as you enter the market in Cairo, this is used by many to be able to find their way back out of the market. Due to it size you can see it from all the small alley ways.

Sailing the Nile!

Mike and I and many of the teachers decided to go do a Fallucca ride on the Nile. A fallucca is basically just a big sailboat. I was really excited because this was one of the things I was looking forward to! Rebecca, a teacher who has been here for two years and my 1st grade partner, took the lead on haggling a price for the Fallucca. She got us a great price of 75le with a 25le tip. So 100le total. With as many teachers as we had on the boat, Mike and I only paid 20le, which is only $3.33!!! Can you believe we sailed the Nile for $3!? It is so cheap here! We love it!

The fallucca ride was nice. Very relaxing, We went at sunset so we got a great view! It was something I would love to do again. It also has a big table, so we could do potluck fallucca rides or make it party boat style with some booze. So fun!

Here are some great photos from the night! After the fallucca, we went to an Asian Fusion restaurant right on the Nile, so there are some photos from that too. It was delicious!

Traditional Egyptian Falluccas

On the Fallucca

Front of the fallucca

A movie star's villa

The front of the buildings that we see from our balcony

The Fallucca driver on top of the roof unrolling the cover

Sunset over The Nile

Beautiful sunset view!

Group photo of the other teachers on The Fallucca

A soda brand called Mirinda ----on menu, it was spelled Miranda