Hello! This post has been written two days later while we are at sea cruising to our second last port of call – the island of Malta in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea.
Day 8 of the cruise (but the ninth day of our holiday) began with a smell. A foul odour which permeated through the balcony and stateroom from about 4am in the morning. It was enough to wake me early from my sleep and at first I thought it was a problem with our stateroom. It was not. The pungent smell was from outside, and thankfully it was short lived. In a couple of hours we arrived in Alexandria.
Fog. The entrance to the great western harbour was handled with precision despite the heavy fog which blanketed the coastline, although it was not without consequence. We went to the Windjammer Café at 6:30am for breakfast to find it packed. Royal Caribbean (you would think) could have potentially opened main dining at 6am to help with the overflow of people looking to disembark at 7:00am, but it was not to be – Windjammer was as full as I’ve seen it all trip.
It took an additional half an hour before we cold leave the ship, at which point we located our private tour group. It was an additional half an hour waiting on the mini bus before we could leave Alexandria (at 8:30am) and our next stop was the famous Giza Plateau on the west bank of the mighty Nile river, separating Giza from the Egyptian capital of Cairo.
Rob and Toni in Giza
We swooped onto the desert highway and made decent time; however the damage was done – we’d already lost an hour of our day which would harm our itinerary in Giza. The journey was incident free, and the terrain somewhat unremarkable – many buildings on the outskirts of Alexandria before falling away to the odd building as we hit the highway. Incidentally, the highway is being presently expanded thus, roadworks slowed our progress.
Our tour guide, Islam was a graduate in Egyptology and very knowledgeable. Our bus driver, Hassan, was a skilled driver and navigated our entire trip with precision. On the first day our security guard Ramadan joined us for the trip to Giza – he was quiet and serious looking but displayed character and humour as the day passed. Our trio of guides led us into the heart of the old kingdom.
We had ten people in our tour group – eight from the US plus the two of us Aussies. A mixture of folks from Missouri, Michigan, Texas and California and a good range of ages from early thirties to the golden years. As a group I think we worked very well together and maintained a pace which allowed us to maximize our time as best we could.
Our first stop in Giza was, of course, the Khufu Pyramid or Great Pyramid. Islam, who had been giving us excellent background on the ancient Egyptian civilization throughout our journey, jumped out and bought the tickets. We walked as a small group up to the mighty icon and walked along one base. We were around many children and hawkers trying to sell us cheap souvenirs. We were advised to say ‘Nein, Danke’ as the Germans apparently don’t take anything from the annoying people – which the locals respect.
Rob at Khufu’s Pyramid
Shortly after our arrival we were allowed to climb up one block onto the side of the Pyramid. Touching the massive structure was very surreal indeed. It is hard to fathom such an amazing collection of stone which soars over 100 meters into the sky. The fact that it has been standing for some 4,500 years is impressive beyond description.
The original limestone blocks which used to cover the entire surface still reside along the base. The top of the Khufu Pyramid is not as complete (or pointy) as Khufu’s son’s Pyramid (Cheophren) which sits close by. For the record, at Giza, there are a total of nine pyramids – and more than 90 throughout Egypt.
After the awe-inducing introduction to the Great Pyramid we were lead into a subterranean tomb or ante chamber about 20 meters from the base of the Pyramid. It is in excellent condition and contained many detailed hieroglyphs. We exited the chamber and resumed our walk around the site. Our next stop was a pyramid belonging to one of Khufu’s Queens (Henutsen). Here we entered the much smaller pyramid and climbed down into the basement chambers.
Being from an early pyramid there were no decorations of hieroglyphs – this did not happen until later in history for other locations – however it was impressive nonetheless. In the main burial chamber were three people sitting in the center praying in different languages – possibly English, Yiddish, Arabic and Latin.
Inside the ante chamber
Most of the group descended including Toni, although she banged her head on the pyramid. Who can say they’ve done that?
Original external stones (on one of the Queen’s pyramids) | Inside the Queen’s Pyramid
Side view of Khufu’s Pyramid | Toni inside the Queen’s Pyramid
After we exited, we made our way to Khufu’s solar boat.
Come back for Part 2 shortly!
@Deepak: The security (I found out) is supplied by the US Govt whenever US citizens travel in tours of 10 people or more in Egypt – since 9/11.
You had to get a security guard? Why?