Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx on Horseback

It was Ryan’s last day today, so we had to – just had to – make it to the pyramids, the Pyramids of Giza.

I mean, who comes to Egypt and doesn’t see the pyramids?!

My point exactly.

His flight was leaving that afternoon, so off we went bright’n’early to go see ourselves some pyramids.

As per usual, we were some of the only Caucasian tourists, although there were a lot of locals there since it was a holiday for the birth of the prophet Mohammed.

We were told not to have a guide inside, but one of the guides insisted that he would provide us with a tour for no extra cost and proceeded to take our tickets without us realizing, so we went along with him.

In present day, the Nile River is quite far from the Pyramids of Giza. However, back in the day, the Nile would swell all the way to its location, which is how they transported all of the stones to build the pyramids – by boat.

The pyramids actually used to be completely smooth alabaster, but now they look more like step pyramids since most of it has been taken away. They really are ginormous – pictures just can’t capture their grandeur. It’s weird though, because I felt like it was kind of no big deal that we were there. Although they were big, there wasn’t a very big presence in this area. It’s as if there has been so many people trampling the ground that the energy that was once there no longer exists. I don’t really know how to explain it, but it just didn’t felt the way that I had expected.

I told my Momster this, and she agreed. She said that she felt a much stronger presence while she visited the Valley of the Kings near Luxor and Aswan in ‘Upper Egypt’, which is located in the South of the country. I don’t think that I will be able to make it down there this trip, but it’s definitely on my list of things to do at some point in my life!

After a quick photo shoot on the pyramids – we climbed up a bit far and were scolded by one of the security guards – we moved on to one of the tombs underground.

It was a tight squeeze to get down there – we went down tiny stairs backwards into a tomb below, which used to house the lady of the King who built the Pyramids of Giza. Our guide said that the mummy used to be housed in this area, along with all of her treasure and mummied cats, but this had all been taken many years ago by grave robbers.

One of Sherri’s roommates Egyptian friends was with us, and the guide looked knowingly at him when he said this. “Egyptians know why this is” with a wink.

We then realised that we were super tight on time, since we still needed to get Ryan to the airport on time, but we still wanted to see the Sphinx.

Our guide ensured us that it was much too far to walk given our time constraints, and that cars couldn’t take us to where we wanted to go.

Solution: horses.

We had a hilarious ride on horses, which trotted about as they wished – mine didn’t really like being told what to do, so I just let it go and do its thing. We made it to the sphinx in no time, and then were told that our car was coming to pick us up there.

“But…I thought that cars couldn’t drive here?”

Either way, it was fun times and we got a couple of kissing pics with the Sphinx, which is much smaller in person than you would think.

Dinner

Once Ryan caught his flight, we went for dinner with one of the families that was with us in Dahab.

They live in a place called Katameya, which is where my Mom and Sherri work and will soon be moving(!!).

Their bus ride in the mornings and afternoons are quite long going to-and-from Ma’adi, at least an hour each way, so they decided to find a place around the school where they teach.

The villa where they live is beautiful, and even has a heated pool in the back. Paradise.

We had real burgers and chocolate. Pretty much the best meal of all time, and the perfect way to be introduced to my Mom’s new area :)