Egypt 2022: Giza

Second day in Egypt. Leaving the Sheraton at 7h30 in the direction of Giza Pyramids. Rigorously speaking, we are already in Giza, as Giza is one of the three cities/districts that form the Great Cairo, but you know what I mean.

First stop, after buying our tickets, it the Great Pyramid of Keops (or Khufu, in his Egyptian Name). Actually, the Great Pyramid is not that much greater that the Khafre (Khufu's son), having almost the same height (146 m). It's simply that it has a larger base (it's sides are less steep), so it's volume is larger. The third of the royal pyramids here, MenKaure's (Micerino), is sensibly smaller. 

Visiting Khufu's pyramid is an experience. Not so much an adventure as with the ones in Dashur that we visited yesterday, but still. After climbing to the entrance on the side of the pyramid, there's a low ceiling tunnel, then the long climb along the Great Gallery to the (wrongly) called Queen's Chamber (wrongly because the queens were buried in their own pyramids), and after some more climbing one arrives to the King's Chamber, where the stone sarcophagus still lies. 

The ceiling of the Great Gallery is an amazing ensemble of granite blocks, 8 m high and 47 m long, some of those blocks weighting over 400 tons. Instead of forming an arch, they are placed in rows, one slightly narrower than the previous one, until closed by the roof. 

At the time of our visit, a large group of extremely spiritual people were conducting some sort of ritual, chanting and holding their hands against the King's sarcophagus, so it was impossible to take a picture. 

After Khufu's pyramid we head for Khafre's. On the way we have the chance to admire the basalt floors of a now vanished temple, as well as the pits where Khufu's solar barges were buried, including the one that was left buried and now is being transported to the new Egyptian Antiquities Museum, scheduled to open in a few months time. 

Khafre's pyramid presents a similar planning and distribution. The King's Chamber is somewhat larger, and it stands up the graffiti made by Belzoni on one of the walls. 

Khafre's funerary complex also encompasses the Valley Temple, that used to hold a statue of Khafre for each hour of day and night, as well as the Sphinx (known in Arabic as Abu Al Hol, Father of Terror).

After the visits and a stop to take pictures from a distance, it was finally time to rest a bit, have a delicious lunch, and also celebrate the birthday of one of the members of our expedition!

After lunch we head for the airport and on to Luxor. We shall be back in Cairo in about a week.