The Pyramids & Sphinx
Located half an hour or so by taxi from central Cairo, the Giza Pyramids are the most famous of the 100-plus Egyptian Pyramids to be found around the country. The burial mounds of ancient Pharaohs of Egypt, they stand sentry over the city – the oldest of them, the Pyramid of Cheops (Khufu, to locals) has done so for over 4,000 years. Visiting the Pyramids is easy by taxi, which will drop you off near the ticket booth (50LE, at the time of writing, with a 50% discount for students). From there a short walk will take you to the pyramids themselves where you'll get your first grasp of their sheer scale. You can also visit them by horse or by camel, which you'll collect in a nearby street – note that you'll still need a ticket which you'll purchase on foot from the front gate, though you'll enter by a side gate. It is possible to enter both the Pyramid of Cheops and of Menkaure, though an extra charge is levied for doing so (100LE and 20LE respectively, at the time of writing) and numbers are limited – the Cheops pyramid in particular usually sells out around mid-morning, so if you visit in the afternoon the smaller Menkaure pyramid is your only option. There's also a small museum attached to the side of the Cheops Pyramid (which also has an extra entry fee).
The Sphinx is very close to the Pyramids – literally just a few hundred meters – and you'll see it from a small distance as you walk around. At the time of writing, the Sphinx itself is off-limits while it's repaired and shored up – it's carved from a single piece of limestone, and the weather (and pollution) is taking its toll.
An evening sound and light show is very popular, during which the Sphinx narrates the history of Giza and lasers map out events on the walls of the pyramids. Shows run three times a day (twice on Fridays) and are offered in Arabic, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese and Russian, but not all languages are offered on each day (Japanese and Russian get just one date per week), so check in advance that your language is offered. If your route dates don't match with the show schedule it is possible to pre-book private narrators for the shows.
Another set of pyramids including the Step Pyramid (a mid-way phase of construction predating the “smooth” pyramids at Giza), along with a collection of tombs, is found at Saqqara, around 20 miles south of Cairo.
Gizeh Pyramids
The pyramids seen in all the photos. They are on the edge of the city and the must do in Cairo .
Pyramid of Zoser
Outside Cairo at Saqqara is the Step Pyramid of Zoser and other tombs.
|
