Finally back in Egypt

Giza--Sphinx and pyramids

We were in Egypt in January of 2011 when the revolution that ousted President Mubarak began.  Out in the Western Desert, a heavily-armed guard got into our Range Rover at a remote desert police checkpoint and rode with us all the way to Aswan, on the Nile.  Several days later, after inhaling a bit of tear gas wafting over Luxor, we managed to get a flight out of Egypt to Kuwait and canceled our planned trip to Egypt for 2012.

patient camel and hut near pyramids

Now, we're happily back, with a group of friends.  Tourism, however, isn't back, though it's growing again slowly.  We visited the Pyramids, Sakkara and Memphis today with far smaller crowds than we've seen in the past.  The Sound and Light show at the Pyramids, which used to have 3 performances a night for 300 people each, now has 1 show for only about 150 tourists.  This is a major hit to a country in which tourism used to make up 11% of the economy.
The Western Desert is closed to tourists right now, which is really unfortunate, since it is beautiful, so we are going to the Eastern Desert and the Red Sea after our cruise down the Nile from Aswan to Luxor.  Egypt is mostly desert; we don't want to miss experiencing it for a couple of days.  We are likely to do another trip to Egypt next year because the timing is very good, given the lack of swarms of tourists, and interest in visiting this remarkable country is growing again.

view of pyramids from our hotel room at night

Today, we spent the morning at the Great Pyramids, the place every world traveler wants to see.  It was a typically gorgeous Egyptian morning with the pyramids rising out of the desert landscape against a bright blue sky.  The 3 pyramids at Giza were constructed for the pharoah, his son and his grandson, each succeeding one slightly smaller than the Great Pyramid, to reflect the importance of the father.  The 3 very small pyramids were for the royal women--at least they got something, I suppose, which isn't saying much since the big buys wouldn't have been there without them.  There is still a lot of archaeological exploration going on here, now with high tech cameras and tools that are finding more chambers and passageways inside these enormous structures.

the Sphinx

The Sphinx sits below the pyramids, guarding what once was a temple in this huge burial complex.  It has lost its nose, reportedly to target practice launched by nineteenth century British soldiers.  Nonetheless, it is a stunning masterpiece of Egyptian artistry and technology.

40-ton block that is Ramses II, Memphis

We drove through the traffic and rapidly expanding city to the ancient capital of Memphis to see the second Sphinx and Ramses II's enormous statues of himself.  The largest statue was found face down in the sand, so is well-preserved.  Our guide told us that farmers are constantly finding more ancient buildings and statues, but don't want to notify the government because they fear the government will take away their land to protect the pharaonic legacy, with minimal compensation.
Nearby is Sakkara, with the Stepped Pyramid, the oldest of the pyramids.  A series of tombs with beautiful carved walls, brightly painted so long ago, is nearby.  We scooted, doubled over, down a long corridor into one of the tombs to see a sarcophagus, long ago robbed of its human and ornamental contents, and the hieroglyphics carved into the walls.

men in boat with hippos on wall of Sakkara tomb

Stepped Pyramid at Sakkara

Tomorrow, we will tour Cairo and get a briefing at the U.S. Embassy, so expect to learn much more about Egypt, ancient and modern.