Travel Tips

Beside each of the three large pyramids are smaller pyramids which were for the queens.
Behind that of Khufu is a tomb built for Sheskemnuefer IV who was the Inspector of Physicians in the V or VI Dynasty.
All of the pyramids would once have had a mortuary temple and a ramp connecting it to the river.

Alongside the pyramid of Khufu and others were discovered boat pits. When these were opened the huge boats that once carried the king were discovered. They had been covered with large slabs.
When the slabs were removed, the 5000 year old boats were revealed.

After the solar boat of Cheops was removed, workmen from Wadi Halfa in Sudan were sent for to reconstruct the boat. The wooden parts were joined by rope [examples remain intact] from the inside. The boats would absorb water and then the ropes would swell, causing them to seal and close up.

There is another solar boat still buried on the other side of the pyramid, according to our guide.

Some Solar boats have now been reassembled and one is on display in the Boat Museum at Giza, others are in the Egyptian Museum.
They are really enormous and must have been a majestic sight when sailing on the Nile.
The ticket to get in is expensive,35 E pounds for non-Egyptians, but worth it as the whole story is displayed in photographs, and two model boats, one of which has parts that the guide removes to show the inner detail, like the ropework,.
The museum itself is well constructed with good parquet flooring, which is why you have to cover your shoes with large ugly slipovers and shuffle around.

The boat itself can be viwed upstairs from walkways all round it.

Beside the Great Pyramid are three small pyramids belonging to women of Cheops' family.
In front of one is a pyramidion, the cap of a pyramid.
The pyramids are tiny compared to that of Cheops - rather like the statues of pharaohs with their tiny wifes at their feet.

The sphinx, which often disappoints because people imagine it to be much larger than it is, is still a massive statue when all is said and done. It is at a lower level than the Pyramid of Chephren.
I never managed to go into the Temple of the Sphinx because people with me didn't want to pay the extra fee, were tired, or the temple itself was closed. Aother promise I hope to keep one day.

The first time I went to the Pyramids, I felt quite let down. I think I had expected too much , and had seen too many pictures of them.
But the more I go, the feeling changes. I like going there. I like the wide open space of the plateau, and even the proximity of Cairo does not detract from it.