Author: Ian C.

There are many more than just the three Giza Pyramids, and today we visited what might be my favorite, the Bent Pyramid. This pyramid changes slope angle partway up, suggesting that the original steep angle was realized to be too much (stability? asthetics? time?) – whatever the reason for the angle change, this pyramid makes it clear that early design was somewhat trial and error …

We later visited the Djoser or Step Pyramid which we were told was a very early design, perhaps initially just a stone platform that then had multiple smaller platforms put on top to give the final stepped pyramid shape. This pyramid is part of a big complex with a colonnade entrance, walls, temples and tombs …

I also spotted the Giza Pyramids in the distance – in this view you can’t see Cairo and it makes those pyramids look much more alone as they might have been many thousands of years ago when they were built:

Of course the biggest attraction in Egypt is pyramids, and Cairo has the famous Giza Pyramid Complex right on the edge of the city. There are three big pyramids there, and a number of smaller ones – and there’s also the Sphinx. The complex has recently been redeveloped and we felt that the visit was well organized and not crazy crowded as we had expected, all good! We began with camel rides to a pyramid overlook …

We then took one of the shuttle buses (which ran regularly, we didn’t have to wait long) down to the pyramids, and spent a long while walking around them and being amazed!

Then a longer shuttle down to the Sphinx; this area was quite busy and it wasn’t possible to get right up to the Sphinx (I think there’s more development needed here to make things better for tourists) …

A few days later we visited a museum that had aerial photos of what the Giza Pyramid Complex looked like back in the 1930s; I thought they were interesting so here they are:

Margaret has planned a big vacation tour of Egypt and Cairo – and Cairo is a huge and populous city where the traffic is always crazy but the views are amazing. Our drive took us past so many mosques, churches and other interesting buildings, past so many apartment buildings, and eventually to our goal of pyramids! The sky as you see in the first photo is also often not clear, but I think it might be sand/dust rather than smog …