Ancient Wonders

On our second day in Cairo, we visited the Giza Pyramids. Our driver, hired through the hotel, insisted that we go to the stables outside of the pyramids site, even though we told him we wanted to walk, not ride, around the pyramids. The man trying to sell us a camel or horse ride at the stables was particularly disappointed when we said "no" for the tenth time and he finally gave up on us. The ticket booth and "security" was particularly unimpressive, especially when they got change for us from another man on the street. The guidebooks we had read warned us to be sure to take our tickets back from anyone we have to show them to as it is not uncommon for someone to take your tickets, attempt to be your guide, and then demand a fee. We had not even left the tiny security building before an ancient man with hardly any teeth took hold of our tickets and attempted to convince us that we needed a guide. We demanded our tickets back but it took a while to pry them out of his hands. He was very persistent. Inside the site, every few minutes someone was asking if we wanted a camel ride or if we needed him to take a picture of us.

Despite being bombarded by people trying to make a dime off of us, it was truly amazing to see the Pyramids. After seeing them on tv and in pictures so many times, it was surreal to actually be there. Camels, horses, and stray dogs roamed the sand dunes. To enhance our desert experience, it was a really windy day and we ended up covered in desert sand.
After a few hours with the Giza Pyramids and Sphinx, we continued on to Saqqara, an ancient Egyptian burial site, where we saw the first step pyramid and visited a small, but nice, museum dedicated, to of course, ancient Egyptian architecture. Our final visit for the day was to Memphis, the first capital of ancient Egypt. There wasn't much to see except a few statues of Ramses II. Surprisingly, everything in this "museum" was in an open courtyard, unprotected from the weather.

While in Tanzania, we had debated whether it was safe enough to go to Cairo. We're glad we decided not to change our plans and think it was actually a great time to visit the Pyramids. There were not nearly as many other people as I imagine there would be if tourism had not declined since the revolution. When we walked over to the smallest of the three pyramids, we had it all to ourselves. If things were different, I doubt we would have a single picture without outher tourists in it. Overall, we've felt pretty safe in the city. The biggest threat to our safety is probably being run down by one of the crazy drivers.