A jaunt to Cairo

We surprised the kids a few weeks ago and announced that on the way to Japan we’d be stopping in Egypt to see the pyramids. It’s interesting to me that it’s a place they have both heard of and are knowledgeable about at their age, but it wasn’t on our original itinerary. It made sense geographically, and it was a place they had actually heard of. Needless to say, they were excited.

We only had two full days, so we kept things simple. On the first day, we visited the GEM (Grand Egyptian Museum), which is brand new and doesn’t officially open until November, but you can already go in. The only part that isn’t finished is the section with Tutankhamen, which is too bad, but the museum was fabulous even without it. Both kids loved it. When you get in, you’re greeted in the atrium by this huge statue of Ramses II, who ruled Egypt for 66 years. This statue was installed before the building was constructed, then covered and protected so the work could happen around it.

We spent several hours at the GEM, starting with a guided tour, then a treasure hunt and a quick stop at the children’s museum. We had a fabulous guide who kept us interested for a full 2 hours and we all learned so much about ancient Egyptian life and traditions. Plus we gained a huge appreciation for the artifacts and how they have all been preserved over thousands of years.

The next day, we did a tour of the pyramids of Giza, the Sphynx and some local traditional customs like tea and papyrus making.

We went early in the morning and there were already tons of people. Our guide told us that it’s high season right now, but once you get to the area around the pyramids, everyone spreads out and there’s plenty of room. There are so many tour buses and buses shuttling tourists between the entrance and the pyramids, plus dozens of camels taking riders to get a good view.

We got really cool shots like this:

But in reality it looks like this:

There are 110 surviving pyramids scattered around the country, according to our guide. These ones are popular because they are just outside Cairo and they are the largest one is the only surviving original wonders of the world. It took less than 30 minutes to get there from our hotel.

Our guide showed us how they used strong rocks like granite to carve the limestone:

The three big ones in Giza belonged to a grandfather, son and grandson. There are also several smaller ones that are not as well preserved that belonged to the queens. Our guide took us right down the shaft to one of the queen’s tombs. It was hot and stuffy and panic-inducing but we did it and survived.

We didn’t stay long.

It was all a worthwhile experience and a nice way to break up the long trip to Asia from North Africa. It would have been nice to spend more time in Cairo checking out the city and the Nile, but this gave us a good taste of Egyptian history, which is fascinating. The people we met are very proud of their heritage and their ancestors, and it’s no wonder. They built incredible structures, lived in very advanced homes, developed writing and invented the first paper.