Seeing the Pyramids in Egypt- Khufu, Khafre and Menkare

This past Spring Break the kiddo and I journeyed to Cairo, Egypt and Rome, Italy. And what a journey it was. We had no idea what to expect from Cairo, but I made sure to fit in as much as possible without overdoing it physically, as well as, financially. This was going to be a 12 day trip and I needed to make smart budget decisions so that we wouldn’t be in any kind of uncomfortable situations, you know…like unable to eat. Lol. Nonetheless, Cairo did not disappointment and we had a great time.

We arrived late the first night, so we didn’t do much, but as we approached the hotel and the pyramids came into view, I screamed. No, literally, I screamed. I couldn’t contain my excitement over the magnificence that lay before my eyes. Can you imagine? A structure that is over 5000 years old and still standing and I was able to see it directly in front of me. It felt surreal. Our airport transfer driver, Hamid, was amazing and full of information. He shared details of every significant place we passed and was kind enough to take us to a shawarma spot just a short walk down from the hotel that turned out to be absolutely amazing. We had the best shawarma and falafel of our lives (2 of each) for a grand total of about $2.50 USD.  We went to sleep full and content. And the best part was we had a view of the pyramids from the hotel.

We were up bright and early the next day for our tour of the Giza Pyramids, lunch and tour of the Imhotep and Saqqara pyramid and tomb. So we booked a camel ride thinking that the ride would begin once we arrived at the pyramids. Well, that’s not what went down. We actually went to the camel stable (I use the term “stable” very loosely) and rode the camels from the stable to pyramids. And let me tell you, riding the camel was my least favorite part of the entire tour. My camel was ornery and just not in a good mood. After I saddled him, I understood why. The poor thing had a wound on the top of his head from the saddle’s straps and I don’t know what was oozing out of that wound, but the flies were having a field day. I felt horrible and guilty. I tried rubbing him and whispering soothing things to him, but I know he was like “B&%$# shut up and get off of me.” Well, after I reached the pyramids I did just that. We were supposed to ride the camels back to the stable, but I opted out of it. No thanks.

Anyway, the pyramids were truly a sight to behold, but the history behind them is even more interesting. I won’t get into that during this post, but I’ll link to it here. I think the saddest part of all is that it was someone’s final resting place. I mean, it is literally a gravesite. I couldn’t help but worry that Pharoah Khufu may not necessarily appreciate scores of people traversing the tombs of his family. And we won’t even talk about how they were robbed. Anyhoo, I loved laying my eyes on the only remaining ancient wonder of the world and I’m grateful that I had the opportunity to do so, but in the future I’m going to be more cognizant of how I admire and appreciate someone’s resting place. At the very least, I can do something to honor his magnificent contribution to the world.