Second day in Egypt: Pyramid Schemes

Do I have to explain what it is you are looking at?

Ah, the Giza Pyramids, the last surviving wonder of the ancient world. They've stood for 4000 years on the edge of the desert, only 9 kilometers (5.6 miles) from the Nile's waters. We know that they were built as massive tombs for pharaohs, and that instead of slave labor, they were constructed by an organized workforce of farmers, who had time on their hands during the flood seasons ("an ancient job-creation scheme", as my Lonely Planet guidebook puts it). I, for one, am willing to give the ancient Egyptians full credit for their astonishing achievements, and not to alien engineers. On our first full day in Cairo, my family and I set off on a Saturday morning to gaze upon these awesome structures.

The first of several surprises is how close the pyramids are to the city. It took our Uber driver just over half-an-hour to pick us up from our hotel in the central Doqqi area, and drop us off at the ticket gate below the Sphinx, in the village of Nazlet As Samaan (much less busier than the main entrance at the end of Pyramids Road). We bought our tickets, went inside and there they were, the Sphinx in the foreground and the Pyramid of Khafre looming in the background:

From left to right the Pyramid of Khafre, the Sphinx and the Great Pyramid of Khufu:

The Sphinx, known in Arabic as Abu Al Hol (Father of Terror). It's purpose has been lost to time:

The nose was lopped off sometime between the 11th and 15th centuries:

From the moment we stepped inside the pyramid complex, we were bombarded with touts wanting us to ride camels or horses. My wife couldn't resist the hustle, and off she went on camel back, leaving my daughter and I to explore the main pyramids on our own. More on her later:

Your intrepid explorer, wearing his Frank Lloyd Wright Fallingwater T-shirt and armed with his LP Egypt guidebook:

Speaking of guidebooks, according to the LP guide the pyramid complex was a massive one, and tiring to explore solely on foot. It is huge and spread out, but the three main pyramids and the Sphinx were much closer to each other than Lonely Planet and the camel touts had led me to believe. Of course, it helped Amber and me that we were there in winter, and not on a scorching summer day. The morning was warm, however, and the skies brilliantly clear. Thank you, ancient Egyptian deities.

Pyramid of Khafre:

Pyramid of Menkaure:

Amber and I did get hustled by one souvenir seller who had placed keffiyehs on our head as a "gift" despite our protestations. Of course, we had to give him something - he initially wanted dollars or euros, but in the end settled for LE50 (around $3.10):

The Pyramid of Menkaure is the smallest of the main trio, at 62 meters (203 feet), only a tenth the bulk of the Great Pyramid. The pharaoh Menkaure died before the pyramid was finished. The gash in its exterior was caused by Sultan al-Aziz Uthman, who tried to have it dismantled in 1196:

The Pyramid of Khafre stands 136 meters (446 feet) high, and is the only one still capped with its original polished limestone casing:

Shielding her eyes from the glare within Menkaure's Funerary Temple:

The star of the show is the Great Pyramid of Khufu, standing proudly since circa 2570 BCE, initially at a height of 154 meters (505 feet), though wind erosion has reduced its current height to 146 meters (479 feet):

A final look back at the Pyramid of Khafre:

In front of the entrance of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, where we met up with Shu-E following her camel ride:

My wife shared these photos of her Lawrence of Arabia experience:

We didn't go inside any of the three main pyramids. If you're wondering why, it's because of our (or more accurately, my) experience inside one of the tombs at the Queen's Pyramids, the tombs of Khufu's wives and sisters. My knees were quite sore after just a brief time inside, and my leg muscles would ache for several days afterward:

It would be easy to spend the entire day at the complex, exploring all the assorted smaller tombs in addition to the three giants, and to venture further out into the desert on camel- or horseback, as my wife did. But we were satisfied with all we had seen, lunchtime was beckoning and the city was close at hand:

We lunched at the nearby 139 Restaurant, on the grounds of the Mena House Hotel, with a view of the pyramids from the outside seating area:

The hotel has a history dating back to 1869, when it was built as a hunting lodge for Khedive Ismail:

After lunch it was back into Cairo's traffic for the return trip to our hotel, courtesy of Uber:

My daughter and I took a walk around the Doqqi area. I'm not sure what the young man was doing in the photo below - I suspect he was trying to photo bomb the shot:

One of the city's numerous mosques, though there are also a fair number of Coptic Christian churches:

Back in our hotel room, and admiring the different denominations of Egyptian pound notes. Missing is the LE50 bill and the LE1 coin. One Egyptian pound is equivalent to roughly six American cents - you're gazing at just under $42 here:

In the evening, the good folks at the Safir Hotel organized an outing for the three of us: dinner and a show during a two-hour cruise on the Nile:

The curvy belly dancer was a highlight:

The father-and-son whirling dervish tanoura dancers were also a big hit with the crowd:

It was all very touristy, I couldn't get outside to admire the view while the boat was cruising the Nile, and the food caused me some intestinal distress the following morning. Still, it was an experience, and the fact the belly dancer was an actual Egyptian was a fortunate occurrence, or so I was later told. And in answer to the question from your Uncle Bob back in Wichita - "Did you see any of them there belly dancing girls!?" - why, yes, we did!

Shu-E took several videos of the evening's entertainment with her mobile phone:

I'll leave you with a couple of similar examples of what we saw, courtesy of YouTube: