All Sorts of Pyramids today!

Pyramids Galore!

 

Today was the day we had set aside for some farther reaching pyramid spotting.  What we have discovered is that many people only know about the three large pyramids in Giza.  In fact, there are approximately 118 pyramids in Egypt, and apparently more are being discovered all the time!  Who knew? 

 

I made arrangements with a taxi driver named Aton (discovered through Lonely Planet) who put together a trip as follows:  Abu Sir, to Saqqara, to Memphis and Mit Rahina, to Dahshur.  And if it sounds like a lot, believe me … it WAS!  

 

So first off – last night.  We went up to the Executive Lounge about 6 pm, and this time, actually made dinner out of all the goodies they had on offer.  These included some wonderful chicken shawarma and beef kofta (ground beef kabobs) along with wonderful hummus (yummy!) and bread.  To top it all off, they had slices of red velvet cake that were absolutely incredible … and I do love my red velvet cake!  I know it doesn’t sound particularly Egyptian, but believe me, it was lick-the-crumbs-off-the-fork great!  After that, being the night-time-partyers-NOT, back to our lovely Nile looking room and to bed early.  Problem was, R is having a really difficult time with jet-lag.  He surmises now that he was so exhausted after we arrived on Wednesday night, that he thought it had not affected him this time.  He was wrong.  He was up and down half the night before he could get settled, although I figure he did get 4-5 good hours of sleep.  My problem of the previous night – leg and foot cramping – seemed to have resolved itself by the application of a great deal of water-drinking during the day.  (That’ll teach me to try to go 5 hours without water!)  

 

And, as we needed to meet Aton at 7:30 am this morning, that meant absolutely NO sleeping-in time whether we wanted to or not!  The Executive Lounge opens at 7 am for breakfast, and we had to eat, grab a few more Egyptian Pounds from “our” local ATM and be out on the street on time.  Which we were.  There was quite a crush of tour buses around the entrance this morning (unlike Thursday and Friday), with lots of people milling about.  Fortunately, Aton had brought a sign and we were able to find him very quickly.  Into Aton’s car and on the road!

 

Aton suggested Abu Sir first, which was quite an experience getting there.  Turns out there are sites that have multiple entrances, and sometimes one or another may be closed.  In this case, we got to the Abu Sir parking lot and entrance building, only to find that it was basically deserted!  Closed!  The drive there, though, was truly an experience to behold.  If I ever thought that Tucson had bumpy side streets, they seemed like freeways to what we went through!  Many, many people out on the streets, some vending fruits or veggies, others tending small stalls of goods or services.  Robert was rather taken aback by what he felt was real poverty, more so even, he thought, than in rural Mexico.  I wasn’t so sure, judging from the number and frequency of the satellite dishes we saw on all the buildings.  Note:  As we were heading out, Aton pointed out a large six-lane elevated highway that the government had apparently recently enlarged – it went right through a neighborhood, and if the building was in the way, well, some of the building was quite literally chopped off – to make room for the road!  You could still see where the hallways or windows were just ended – like that!  Families beware!  Incredible! 

 

Abu Sir pyramid

Second pyramid at Abu Sir

On-going archaeological dig at Saqqara; new town!

Step pyramid of Zoser

But back to Abu Sir.  Interesting thing is that there was no notice or signage about why it was closed, or for how long – just – closed!  So, we were able to take some photos of two of their pyramids – much smaller than those at Giza, but nice looking all the same.  These pyramids are from the 5^th Dynasty (2494-2345 BC).

 

From Abu Sir, we wound our way now to Saqqara, which covers a 7 km stretch of the Western Desert.  Saqqara was the huge cemetery of ancient Memphis, when Memphis was the capital of Egypt.  Memphis, founded around 3100 BC, was the first capital of the united kingdom of Upper and Lower Egypt.  Its best-known construction is the Step Pyramid, which is Zoser’s (and that of his architect, Imhotep) first attempt at pyramid building.  It is known as the world’s earliest stone monument, and is 60 m high and is surrounded by a vast funerary complex. It was then encased in fine white limestone, which, like much at Giza, was later removed for other uses.  It’s really fascinating seeing this oddly shaped construction rising out of the desert and imagining what it must have looked like when it was completed!  Blinding in the sun, certainly!  

 

Entry into Step Pyramid

R and me and the 40 entry columns

Unas pyramid and pyramid texts

Incredible decoration

Love the colors; they look so fresh!

Stunning sculpture

Abu Sir pyramids from the rear

Boats in Mastaba of Ti

A few steps away from the Step Pyramid was the Pyramid of Unas, which was spectacular.  Not for its height, which is now only 43 m, but for the decoration in the royal burial chamber.  Its ceiling is adorned with stars and its white alabaster-lined walls are inscribed with beautiful blue hieroglyphs.  These glyphs are some of the earliest examples of the funerary inscriptions that are now known as the Pyramid Texts (later compiled into the Egyptian Book of the Dead).  Very close to Unas was the tomb of his daughter, Princess Idut, which was also lovely.

Mastaba of Ti

Mastaba of Ti

Ti sculpture

Robert and camel!

 

Next up was the tomb of Akhethotep and Ptahhotep, built for the burials of Akhethotep and his son, Ptahhotep.  These were senior royal officials during the reigns of Djedkara and Unas at the end of the 5^thdynasty.   From there, our last stop at Saqqara was the Mastaba of Ti.  This grand and detailed private tomb, the mastaba, is a type of ancient Egyptian tomb in the form of a flat-roofed, rectangular structure with inward sloping walls of mud brick.  Ti was an overseer of the Abu Sir pyramids, and his tomb shows detailed scenes of daily life.  Men and women are fishing, building boats, working on the land, and preparing food.  Really extraordinary!

 

The tomb is about 1 km from the parking area, along a downhill trail.  R reluctantly decided to follow my advice that the hike back was less appealing that the alternative – riding a camel.  Not the most comfortable mode of transportation, R now has new respect for Lawrence of Arabia who spent days and weeks riding camels.

Mit Rahani Open Air Museum

Partial statue of Ramses II

Ramses II and me

Love the God Horus and his protective wings

Double cartouche of Ramses II

 

Ramses Sphinx

Covered portion of the museum; Ramses II

Hope you can tell how BIG he is!

So … now we’re heading out of Saqqara on our way to our third stop, Memphis and Mit Rahini.  Turns out, this is basically an open-air museum given over to the “big guy” Ramses II, who reigned over Egypt for 66 years.  Basically, the museum consists of all sorts of pieces of statuary just left anywhere, but almost every stone in the place marked with Ramses II cartouche.  There is also, under cover, a magnificent fallen colossal limestone statue of Ramses II carved from a single piece of red granite.  This was discovered in a small lake in the area lying face first (and usually mistaken for a crocodile!) in the late 1800’s.  Hard to even imagine the job of turning it over safely, and then moving it even this short distance!  Hope the photos give some sort of scale, because it’s HUGE – 13 meters (more than 42 feet) and 100 tons – and the lower parts of the legs are missing!

 

Our final stop was Dahsur, home to three – or I should say the remains of three more pyramids.  Dahshur is about 10 km south of Saqqara and an impressive 3.5 km-long field of 4^th and 12^th dynasty pyramids.  Although there were originally 11 pyramids here, only the two Old Kingdom ones remain intact.  Pharaoh Sneferu (2613-2589 BC), father of Khufu (biggest pyramid at Giza) built Egypt’s first true pyramid here, the Red Pyramid, as well as an earlier version, the Bent Pyramid.   These two are the same height, surprisingly enough.  The red pyramid derives its name from the red tones of its weathered stone, after the limestone casing was removed.  It is built at a 43-degree angle.  This pyramid can be entered, but it’s truly only for the not-faint-of-heart – with something like 125 step stone steps up, and then down inside the pyramid - we decided to look at the outside only.  The Bent Pyramid is just that – Sneferu’s first attempt began to show signs of stress and instability around halfway up, and the angle of building was reduced from 54 degrees to 43 degrees.  The pyramid to this day is still showing signs of great stress, and is buttressed in places in order to keep it together.  Obviously no going inside that one!  And finally, the black pyramid, again, so called because of its color (built with mud brick instead of stone).  It was built by Amenemhat III (1855-1808 bc) but has completely collapsed.

 

Bent Pyramid

Red Pyramid

Red Pyramid on left; Bent Pyramid on right

More detail on Bent Pyramid

Black Pyramid (collapsed)

After Dahshur, we had seen everything we wanted to see, and decided to head back to hotel.  Got back here about 3 pm.  We were both pretty exhausted, so decided to head down to the Solara restaurant on the 2^ndfloor for a late lunch/early dinner.  Lovely spot, overlooking the Nile!  R ordered a Cesar salad to start (he’s braver than me); I had their caprese salad, which was excellent.  Then, I had U.S. short ribs with mashed potatoes and veggies.  R had Brazilian beef tenderloin, cooked just a shade over rare, but he enjoyed it very much.  Then upstairs and (possibly not a good idea!) about an hour/hour and a half nap for the two of us.  Up now and blogging, and now it’s up to R to get the photos (some taken on cell phones, as strobe lighting not allowed below ground, but cell phones somehow don’t seem to need as much light!). So -we’ll see what comes out!  Too exhausted to even go up to the Lounge for a glass of wine!  When that happens, you KNOW we’re tired!  So much love, and more tomorrow!

 

m

xxx