Wednesday, January 06, 2010

Egypt Travelogue - Pyramids of Giza

Next morning we began our journey to Giza. The traffic was heavy but the driver was smart to glide through the maze.  The famous Sahara desert holds the ancient Pyramids in its nest.  The three Pyramids looked glorius in the western desert side.  The Pyramids of Giza belong to the Middle Kingdom somewhere between 2000-1700 BC. The most famous and the largest Pyramid belongs to the Pharoh Cheops. The second largest one belongs to his son Khafra. The enormous stone blocks were aligned with such precision and master craftsmanship. In the Saqqara Pyramids  the chambers still retain the writings and the paintings but the Pyramid at Giza is empty as it was again and again looted for centuries. 

The highlight of the trip was the camel ride.  It was fun to have our guide haggle with the camel keepers.  My sister and I decided to take a ride. With a mix of fear, bravery, adventure, and laughter we manged to climb the camel and instantly felt like a Queen! It was quite a comedy when the camel owner's son asked us to hold on to the camel and my brother seriously videotaping the fun.
The Pyramid complex also has the Solar Boat exhibit. The ancient texts found in the Pyramids always mention about a solar boat to take the souls to their God Amun-Re. 

When we completed marveling the great Pyramid, our guide took us to the Pyramid built for Khafra. This is where the majestic great Sphinx sits and guards the valley temple. Ancient Egyptians believed that life begins in the east along with the rising sun and ends with the setting sun in the west. Hence, the Pyramids and the mortuary temples are all located in the west towards the desert and the temples dedicated to Gods were built in the eastern side facing the sun. The great sphinx looks magnificent inspite of the disfigured face. Still excavations and renovations are taking place in this side of the plateau.

The valley temple was built  with  massive granite slabs and limestone. The remains of the temple suggest to us that how this temple would have been in the past with a large square courtyard and offering place for the god Horus. A small dove perched on the column looked at us as if reminding that life must goes on even after the mighty Pharohs!
The sun was slowly descending into the western horizon. Tired, but happy and contented we walked in silence towards the bus. I was thinking about the tales of the Pharohs, their concept of life and death, significance of the pyramids and temples, the integrated life and civiliation with the river nile and ofcourse the question "What happened? Can we ever find the real facts?"

"Well Ladies and  Gentlemen, we have concluded our tour to Giza and the first stop is Ramses Hilton", our tour guide announced.

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