Cairo - The Pharaonic Period

The day started at 8:30 with me being collected from my resort-style hotel by Ray and my tour guide for Cairo, Abdul. We jump in the car with our usual driver (whose name I've finally discovered is Bikhat, or just Bak for short) and drive out to Memphis, about 40 mins on Cairo roads. My broad expectations had been to visit a site of ruins with various displays. Not so! Memphis was built of mud bricks, so there are no ruins! We arrive, instead, at an "Open Air Museum" with a range of examples of statues and bits of old stone buildings, plus the obligatory hawkers' huts. So, perhaps a little uninspiring on first look, but it was definitely worth the visit.

Alabaster Sphinx

Ramses II

There were three key things from the Memphis visit. A beautiful alabaster sphinx which had its features completely preserved. It was a majestic sight and gives a really good sense of what these things looked like in their hey-day. There was, too, a standing statue of Ramses II in red granite, which was imposing and awe-inspiring. And, finally, but not least, a colossus of Ramses II lying in a separate 'museum' building (a purpose built shed, really) that was also exquisite. Abdul summed up the colossus perfectly: Here lies Ozymandias!

Ramses II (Ozymandias)

All three statues showed extraordinary precision and detail, even the colossus at over 10m long, and that without lower legs and feet, or some of his crown!
The other memorable thing of Memphis was having a large, toothless vendor selling me alabaster figurines. They are apparently genuinely hand-made from a local village. As Abdul was present through the whole thing and offered some guidance on bargaining, I took that to be true. He also commented on the tacky 'Made in China' souvenirs being pushed at the pyramids later, so that reinforced my view of their authenticity. So, I have three cute little alabaster figurines as souvenirs! (Now I'm home, only one survived the journey; the other two were damaged by being poorly packed.)
We then got back into the car to travel to Saqqara (say, Sa-kar-a). On the way, the car just stopped and wouldn't re-start. Our fearless driver jumped out and fiddled with the engine for a while, with his bare hands, and got the thing started again. It was a blocked fuel line, apparently. Abdul later admitted that he as "scared" when that happened as it would be 90 minutes for a car to come out from Cairo. I was never scared, but I was curious to see how such a problem would be dealt with. But there was never any doubt with our trusty driver on hand.

The Stepped Pyramid

In due course (15mins, perhaps, not counting the repairs), we arrived at Saqqara, which has a stepped pyramid of considerable size. It is set in the desert on the edge of the Nile corridor of green, on the plateau that stretches along the Nile and houses the necropolis. This site is laid out over an acre or more deliberately designed to reflect the palace and surrounds so that the dead king can continue with relevant celebrations and rituals in the afterlife. This is a recurrent theme in Pharaonic lore about death. And largely seems like an extravagant waste of resources by the self-important rich, but perhaps that's just me.

Pyramids, as far as the eye can see

A particularly ancient pyramid

The Nile

Explanation of the tomb

One of the pits

The site has a range of fascinating structures including pits or shafts, that illustrate most of the formal arrangements for burial sites in the necropolis. It also has sweeping views along the plateau and there are pyramids as far as the eye can see. Apparently, there are 108 pyramids in Egypt. I'd not been conscious of that but here I could see dozen without turning my head.
The most impressive thing in my mind was the tomb of a Princess (no photos!), where you could see close up (and indeed touch, although I resisted) typical hieroglyphic details carved into the walls. There was even some of the original paint left on some of the figures. It was fascinating; detailed, engaging and skilled. Abdul pointed out that this style of dressing the tomb was abandoned in later dynasties when the moved to inscribing the sarcophagus, or later including papyrus scrolls with the mummy.

"No Money" he said,
so that's what he got

Much of the wonder of this site was brought out by Abdul's patient and quiet monologues. He's a very experienced guide and as I reflect on the day, he did exactly enough for me to make the whole experience quite memorable. He even warned me that I'd fallen into a trap when I photographed a beggar on his donkey "No Money!", who then proceeded to convince me of things I might do that I would give him money for. I declined all his ideas and kept telling him, "you said, No Money!"

Making a silk carpet

We left Saqqara to visit a Carpet School. This is one of many institutions that take local illiterate children and teach them basic literacy in the morning and how to weave carpets in the evening. The product of their work is sold to support the school and distribute back to the children's villages. I saw two young men (early teens, I would reckon) weaving (actually, knotting) a rug. They worked fast and surely and rocked gently in a rhythmic way. Fasial (sp?) guided me through the school explaining the different materials they use and their various properties and finally why hand-made rugs are better& and how to tell it's genuinely hand-made, etc. Ultimately, one is expected to buy something, although they are careful to say that they are not pushing and it's not obligatory. The silk rugs are exquisite but do not suit anywhere I live. I found a couple that might have gone into Bundanoon, but I'm not putting that valuable an item in a house I'm renting to strangers. In the end I settled on a very small rug with the face of Tut Ankh Amon (Tutenkhamen, to the uninitiated ;) and I will work out somewhere to display it.

Streetscape in Cairo

We then drove into Cairo for lunch at an open air place that specialised in Spit-Roast Chicken. That was very pleasant as the day had been hot and sunny all day. I tried to engage Abdul in light conversation, but although he's polite and friendly, he's not as engaging as Ray.
So, that's part one. More to come, including the pyramids and me in a tomb under several million tons of rock!