MONDAY, JULY 26: GIZA PYRAMIDS, SPHINX, SAQQARA

• Breakfast onboard
• Visit Giza Pyramids and Sphinx
• Lunch onboard
• Visit to Saqqara
• Dinner onboard
• Overnight in Cairo

Timelessness and eternity intersect with ambition and project management on the Giza Plateau. Today visit the Great Pyramid and its Old Kingdom royal kin.

In our individual ways, we’ll experience these sole remaining Wonders of the Ancient World: the Great Pyramid (of Khufu), the second Pyramid and Sphinx (built by Khafre); and the third Pyramid (Menkaure). Ponder the massive effort and resources involved in their construction. (You will have seen Khufu’s Solar Boat, built to transport him to his hereafter, in the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) [slide show] two days ago.)

After lunch, we drive to Saqqara (slide show) to learn about the ancestors of the Giza Pyramids. The Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara (at right) is among the oldest, if not the oldest pyramid in the world. (Could Peru’s Caral Pyramids be a little older? Smithsonian: First City in the New World?; Sacred City of Caral-Supe) We’ll take a look in the painted mastaba tombs of the nobles Ptah-hetep and Ti, and venture into a pyramid to see some of the world’s earliest pyramid texts.

General Info / Wikipedia

»» Wikipedia: Cairo »»

»» Wikipedia: Egypt »»

»» Wikipedia: Giza »»

»» Wikitravel: Giza »»

Maps

»» Diercke: Schematic Map of Giza City »»

»» Wikipedia: Giza pyramid complex »»