A day at the Great Pyramids of Giza, one of the wonders of the world, and a place on everybody's bucketlist...
Before you read this, make sure to check out my full blog on EGYPT to see what I got up to in Cairo before visiting the Pyramids!
It was an early start to the day as we made our way to the Great Pyramids of Giza! The Pyramids complex opens at 8am so we made sure we were there early, since all of the tourists buses arrive then also. At the ticket office you are shown with a variety of prices:
120LE Site
300LE Pyramid of Khufu (Main Pyramid)
60LE Pyramid of Khafre
60LE Pyramid of Menkaura
80LE Cheops Boat Museum
100LE Pyramid Sound & Light Show
FREE Cheops' Queens Pyramid
All you need to do is pay the 120LE fee for the site and add anything else you would like to see. The site fee includes visiting the Sphinx and you can go to the exterior of all pyramids. If you wish to enter a pyramid you need to pay the extra fee. In my opinion I recommend entering the Pyramid of Khafre: it is not the main pyramid but it is the most distinguishable with polished granite on the top stones, and obviously it is a much cheaper price but for more or less the same experience.
(1) Me comparing the size of the stones at the Pyramid of Khufu (2) Me standing at the bottom of the Pyramid of Khufu (3) At the corner of the Pyramid of Khufu (4) Maria and I in front of the Pyramid of Menkaura (5) Me sitting in front of the Pyramid of Khafre
We explored around the complex first, first at the Pyramid of Khufu, then towards the Pyramid of Khafre. Our 3 objectives that day were to go inside a pyramid, see the Sphinx and go on a camel ride. So to begin I went inside the Pyramid of Khafre, like I said before this only costs 60LE to enter. You start off by descending down a narrow set of stairs before being able to stand up shortly to walk along a corridor. Then you climb another set of stairs to enter the main tomb. There's not much really in the tomb room, just a large open space with a tomb at one side. It was incredibly hot inside the pyramid, bearing in mind it was maybe 9am or 10am in the morning or so and 28°C in November. It wasn't as small and as enclosed as I imagined either. If you are slightly claustrophobic, you have the opportunity to enter the smaller Cheops' Queens Pyramids for free.
The whole time you're there, especially as a white tourist, people will come up to you all the time asking if you would like a camel ride. Here is where you need to negotiate! We were first asked 350LE each, then 250LE, then 200LE each and then finally we spoke to one guy and whittled it down to 200LE for both of us! He took us to all the pyramids, all of the best viewpoints and took some excellent photos! In the end we decided to give him around 300LE including his tip, because it really was a great experience! So in total we paid 300LE for over an hour and we were really impressed by this!
(1) A camel laying down (2) A camel owner looking for customers (3) Me riding a camel for the first time (4) In front of the pyramids (5) In front of the Pyramid of Khafre on a camel
Finally the next part was to see the Sphinx! As you probably know the Sphinx is a limestone statue of a reclining sphinx, a mythical creature with the body of a lion and the head of a human. With the Area Site ticket, entrance to see the Sphinx is included. You'll enter through the lower part which almost looks like an Ancient temple, and soon it will open up and you will see the Sphinx. The viewing area is mainly to the side so it can be quite difficult to get a view directly facing it. However we left the Sphinx complex and went a little bit further away where we had the perfect view! We'd seen quite a few photos on Instagram with this view so we knew we were in the right place to take great photos!
(1) Me infront of the Sphinx and Pyramid of Khafre (2) In front of the Sphinx (3) Side view of the Sphinx outside of the complex (4) Me kissing the Sphinx (5) Inside the complex with the Sphinx in the backround
TOP FACTS!
The Great Pyramids of Giza are the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
They are over 4,500 years old
There are 9 pyramids in total on sight
The main Pyramid, the Pyramid of Khufu is 146.7m (481ft) in height
It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site
The pyramids were not built by slaves but by workers, since they have their own 'Worker's Cemetery'
The Sphinx was not assembled piece by piece but was carved from a single mass of limestone
The Sphinx at one point was buried up to its shoulders, it wasn't until the 1970s where they discovered the rest of the body
The nose of the Sphinx is in the Louvre and the beard is in the British Museum
Like I said before, you have the opportunity to enter the smaller Cheops' Queens Pyramids for free, so we went to take a look. In my opinion this pyramid was very cramped, hot and quite small, so for someone who doesn't have claustrophobia, even I struggled. However going inside the larger main pyramids there was not this problem. Also you can enter the Cheops Boat Museum (of course if you pay extra). All it is is the boat that they used to transport the stones down the River Nile from Aswan to Cairo.
During the night there is a Sound & Light Show for 100LE which basically explains dramatically how the pyramids were created and the stories behind the kings. We didn't go because we had saw some videos on YouTube and thought it wasn't worth the price. I'll post a video down below as an example (I do not own the Copyright):
Our time at the Great Pyramids of Giza was coming to an end however it was only midday, so we continued the rest of the day back in the city. We arrived at 8am for when the complex opens; I recommend getting there at that time otherwise you'll probably have to queue up for a while competing with the other tourists. Once you're inside, the area is so huge that you barely notice people and they don't get in the way of photos too much.
Now to find out more, make sure to check out my full blog on EGYPT to see what else I got up to in Cairo...
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this blog as much as I enjoyed the trip!
Take care!
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