In November 2022, Tate and I met up in Cairo after he attended the COP27 international climate conference in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. We enjoyed a brief stay in Giza/Cairo visiting the pyramids, Sphinx and Egyptian Museum then flew to Luxor for a few days of sightseeing (tombs of the Pharaohs and a few temples). We booked an all day Cairo/Giza tour with Tours by Locals and had two guides instead of one as our original Egyptologist guide, Ereen, had to cancel due to an emergency. Madeline Fathy is fairly new to Tours by Locals so she brought along  her esteemed colleague, Ramy Elameir, to provide expertise in Egyptian history. Ramy (who I dubbed the “Mayor of Cairo” due to his propensity to say hello to everyone we encountered) and his colorful commentary were the perfect accompaniments to our packed 8-hour tour. He even brought a piece of chalk to give us a primer on how the Egyptians built the pyramids!

This travelogue is dedicated to my mother-in-law, Rita, and my Aunt Suzy, who are big fans of ancient Egypt. My aunt traveled to Egypt in 2017 and was very helpful in planning our trip.

In Giza, we switched at the last minute to the Elite Pyramids Boutique Hotel and what a fortuitous change in plans! We ended up hanging out with Zico, the manager, over welcome drinks of delicious Egyptian hibiscus tea in the rooftop terrace. Zico even invited me to sit at his desk in the lobby as we looked at a few issues with his email account. Suffice to say, we are now dear friends and I look forward to returning to Giza and spending more time with him at this darling hotel. The pyramids are actually as close as they look!

RAMY EXPLAINS THE PYRAMIDS, PART 1

[Prior to the  clip above, Ramy explained the early efforts to create pyramids, including step pyramids. By the time of the building of the Great Pyramids, they had figured out how to engineer these massive marvels out of stone blocks.]

Ramy: There were Egyptians nearby (i.e., slaves) and the Pharaoh brought them to the site to work. They first built the bottom level, 230 meters in length.

RAMY EXPLAINS THE PYRAMIDS, PART 2

Ramy: The pyramids were built with sand and rocks. This means they depended upon the causeway (a man-made channel to divert water from the Nile to the entrance of the pyramid complex) to get the cut stones from the south (Aswan) to the north. Basically, they sent the sand and rocks up a stone ramp to form the second level, third, fourth, etc. Around this point, they built a second burial chamber. Before that, they had tunneled down 120 meters to build the first burial chamber. They built the pyramids this way, level by level, until they reached the top (where the four sides came together in a final stone).

CLIMBING THE GREAT PYRAMID

Our climb seems impressive… until you pull back the camera and see how close to the ground we actually are!

9 PYRAMIDS LOUNGE

After a lovely late afternoon lunch at 9 Pyramids Lounge, we headed down to visit the Great Sphinx.

THE SPHINX