There's nothing like Egypt's pyramids (except its tombs in Luxor)

Stepped Pyramid, Saqqara

The first time I visited Egypt was with my family nearly 40 years ago.  My kids were 10, 11 and 14, and that trip remains one of the highlights of our lives.  The skies were clearer and the crowds, much smaller.  We rode camels to the pyramids in Giza.  Today, despite Covid, there are more people, more vendors, more smog, and more camels.  I've visited the pyramids 5 times and am awed by their grandeur each time.  And would go back to see them in an instant, given the opportunity. 

Giza pyramids

The huge size, perfect geometry, intricately cut facing stones and mechanics of construction speak to the power and wealth of the pharaohs.  

facing stones on the pyramids

Though our guide insisted that slaves did not build the pyramids, and some Egyptian archaeologists agree, Herodotus wrote that 100,000 slaves built the pyramids.  It is hard to imagine that a society that relied on slaves for countless tasks to keep their economy going didn’t also use slaves for its greatest construction projects.  

hawkers in front of Cheops' pyramid

There are dozens of pyramids, besides the 2 or 3 we see in all the photos.  Above is the beautiful Stepped Pyramid, at Saqqara, within sight of the famous Giza pyramids.  You can crawl down a long set of stairs to one of the tombs under Saqqara and, much more easily, walk upright into other tombs to visit the beautifully carved and painted rooms inside.

offerings to the gods, Saqqara

I learned something new and very appealing on this visit.  The Sphinx has a tail!  The tail was buried by sand but emerged as the sand was cleared away over the years.  I guess the tail should not be a surprise, given that the Sphinx has a lion's feet and claws.  

tail of the Sphinx

Legend says Napoleon's troops shot off the Sphinx's nose, but apparently that may be little more than just a legend.  Erosion seems to have been the culprit.  Work continues today to stabilize the Sphinx. 

Sphinx with pyramids

The Giza Sphinx is only the most famous of dozens of known sphinxes.  They guard the entrance to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and what remains of Egypt’s ancient capital of Memphis.  What was once a large city, Memphis is now a Cairo suburb, but you can find remnants of its glory days in the mounds of earth and rubble that abound in the area. 

Sphinx at Egypt's ancient capital, Memphis

Sphinx in front of Cairo Museum