Egypt Travelogue - Pyramids from the Old Kingdom

Wow, second day in Egypt.  We woke up early in the morning with all excitement for a long day  tour to Memphis and Giza. The pyramids of Saqqara at Memphis belong to the Old Kingdom of Egypt. The remains of the colonnade leave us to imagine what a massive structure it would have been in its heydays.  The step Pyramid is the predecessor to the big pyramids at Giza. 

The majestic alabaster sphinx greets us in Memphis.

The colassal statue of Ramses II is in the Memphis museum. The face and the broad shoulders are intact eventhough parts of the limbs were mutilated.

With the tour of the Memphis museum we concluded our trip to the Pyramids of the Old Kingdom. 

There were other pyramids around Saqqara and excavations are still going on. Some of the artifacts from the black pyramid and others are now in the Cairo Museum.

Saqqara is about 25 Km from Giza. On our way to Giza we visited a carpet factory which employs the locals and the carpets are hand made.  The arist who runs this factory told us that they do follow the child labor laws of Egypt. The smiling children looked happy which made me think that learning a craft is also a part of education and we should not immediately jump into conclusion that these children must be in school.

The country side looks green and our tour guide reminded us the famous saying "Egypt is the gift of the Nile".  We found children and adults use the donkeys as a means of transportation along with carts and cycles. 

Next stop is Giza.