I had my first visit to egypt during a 3-day business trip beginning of
August 2002. Unfortunately we had only one free afternoon which has just
been sufficient to see Cairo and its vicinity. However, as you can see, there
are many attractions close to Cairo - the pyramids of Giza are situated in
the outskirts of Cairo, Sakkara and Memphis are just about 20 miles from
the City center.
Recommendation: Have the hotel organize your sightseeing tour. For just
30 USD per person we had a van with driver and a local guide who showed us
around and explained everything from noon through sunset.
Here are my photos:
On the hill in front of the 3 pyramids of Giza, from left to right: Cheops,
Chephren and Mykerinos.
The pyramid of Cheops is the biggest (145m high and 215m length), it just appears to be smaller because it has been built at a lower level.
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Together with our guide in front of the pyramid of Cheops. In the middle
one of the entrance caves can be seen. The right photo demonstrates the dimensions
of the cubes - the lower one weight 9 tons, the upper ones 2. The ancient
egyptians have used 2.3 million of these rocks for this pyramid - scientists
still don´t have a good explanation on how they did that. Presumably
with a Sky Crane Helicopter or the new "Cargolifter" !!??
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The colleges Harry and Stephan have been as enthusiastic as I. The right photo shows the Sphinx.
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The colossus of Ramses II in Memphis. (13 m high).
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In the Open-Air-Museum of Memphis: The alabaster Sphinx and Ramses II.
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Our guide encouraged us to this typical egyptian attitude. The stepped pyramid of king Djoser in Sakkara.
In the Necropolis of Sakkara: Marvelous colored relief's in the Mastabah
of Ti. Unbelievable that these colors are still visible after thousands of
years.
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Scene on one of the Nile channels. Right photo: According to our guide the
kids contribute to family´s income. I assume this is called "children´s
labor" in our country.
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In a factory for papyrus. Examples of beautiful paintings (prices between
10 and 30 USD depending upon size, there are some for over 100 USD).
In the Souq you can get them for 20% of the price - however, not on papyrus
but on banana leafs. Behind glas this may look the same !!
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Seller of water in front of the Al-Azhar Mosque.
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Smoking shesha in a street cafe. Right: Hotel Le Meridien directly at the river Nile.
Further info is available in the internet under (as of August 2002, links are not updated):
http://www.egypt.com/
http://www.egypt.net/