"CAIRO - OCTOBER 2003" Cairo by GandalfOnTour

Like most people, I grew up wanting to visit Egypt and see the Pyramids and other architectural wonders for myself. When I finally had the opportunity to visit Egypt in 2003 I was naturally incredibly excited. Proir to my trip I did a small amount of investigation into what to expect and I was dismayed to read that people were warning against expecting too much from a visit to Cairo and that the pyramids were not as big was what they had expected. After reading some of these reports my enthusiasm was undeniably curbed abnd my expectations a little low. Boy was I wrong!!

Cairo is an amazing and vibrant city. Apart from being huge in size it has the look of chaos about it, but it all works. I went out to Cairo with my girlfriend Kerry and 2 other friends, Claire and Brendan. The 4 of us only spent 2 days in Cairo itself and thought that the best way to get the most out of our short stay was a guided tour. OnTheGo provided a guide and a mini bus to take us around the sights. Obviously I was eager to head straight out to Giza but instead we went off to Saqqara. Saqqara is a vast necropolis or cemetery South of Cairo and it is home to the Step Pyramid of Zoser, the oldest major stone structure in the world dating from 2630BC. It was here where we were taken down into the tomb of a pyramid. It was quite an experience as it was cool and dark and incredibly interesting. The amount of hieroglyphics in the tomb was astounding and I emerged from the tomb humbled by the experience.

The Great Pyramid of Khufu

From Saqqara we made our way to Giza and the famous pyramids and Sphinx. I had prepared myself for small pyramids and when were emerged at the complex I was absolutely blown away by the sheer size of the Pryamids, they were fall bigger than what I was expecting. The size of the task of building these monsters came sharply into focus when I walked up to and touched the individual blocks used to build the structures (see in the picture).

The Beautiful Sphinx

It was at the sphix where our guide brought to life the amazing building feat that was achieved at this complex. In the temple next to the Sphinx he showed us the perfect join lines of the huge slabs of rock which had been transported from quarries miles away. The joins were absolutely flat and smooth with no cracks, I couldn't get any purchase on the crack with my fingernails. How this was achieved is still a mystery today. The Sphinx is a thing of beauty in itself and it was sd to see the damage that the impressive structure has endured over the years.

I think that I walked around with my mouth open for much of the day. From Saqqara to Giza and then on to the Cairo museum it was just one amazing place after another. Far from being dissappointed with the it all I was in awe. A trip to Egypt is a treat of a lifetime and everyone should get to experience this mysterious and magical place.