The Sphinx and Pyramids Are Even More Impressive in Daytime…..

I have Friday and Saturday off and walked around the area of the hotel around the Nile River this morning then took a day trip to the Pyramids. They are impressive at night but far more so during the day. There are three major pyramids and lesser structures in the Giza Plateau but the most imposing and famous is the Great Pyramid pictured to the right. Built nearly 5,000 years ago the picture shows only one side of the nearly two million stones that weight an average of 2.5 tons each. The four sides of this pyramid are so perfectly constructed that at the base there is only a variance of less than 2 inches on any given side. There are openings on two sides and numerous “air shafts” or small openings from the interior. Experts aren’t sure exactly what the air shafts symbolize but many of them do line up with the constellations at certain dates so one theory is that they were designed to send the king’s spirit to the stars. I did get to go underground and then into a shaft to the interior—it was far more claustrophobic than I had anticipated, the air was stagnant, and the temperature was extremely hot despite the fact Egypt is in winter now. The interior was actually a disappointment—the only shaft we could explore was basically a tight tunnel down then back up towards the interior into a hollow chamber with a lidless sarcophagus. I’m sure the good stuff is off-limits to tourists but it was a brief “Indiana Jones” moment and I’m glad I did it.

The Giza Plalteau gives a beautiful view of the Pyramid Complex with the three huge structures and some smaller pyramids for various queens. In this photo, the pyramid on the left is the Great Pyramid, built for King Khufu. The center pyramid was built for his son and is about 3’ shorter out of deference. The smaller pyramid on the right was built for his grandson—three generations of royal family and these three pyramids were built in less than 100 years. One of the smaller Queen’s Pyramids can be seen on the very right side of the photo.

The Sphinx is actually smaller than I had envisioned but is still awe-inspiring. It is the “Guardian of the Giza Plateau” and has seen a lot of history pass by. Like the Great Pyramid it is thought to date back to around 2,500 BC and is not built of stone but was carved out of solid stone. At the base is the Sphinx Temple—the oldest known temple in Egypt—and rumors that Napoleon’s army used the Sphinx for target practice are just that—myths. The dark spots on the face are roosting pidgens.

Like they told us today, the pyramids and Sphinx have witnessed it all—Anthony and Cleopatra, Alexander the Great and Napoleon have all stood below them. Now I have too.