Sphinx

The Sphinx is not far from the Pyramids of Giza.  The statue is bigger than I had imagined and an awesome vision to see in the vast desert from which one can observe the Pyramids standing behind in the distance.  Our visit to the Sphinx was the highlight of my time in Cairo.  Words can’t describe the Sphinx’s beauty; the statue is eloquent and masterfully chiseled.

We concluded our time in Cairo with a visit to the Egyptian Antiquities Museum, where we saw the vast collection of jewelry, gold-plated coffins and treasures found in King Tut’s tomb. 

Pyramids of Giza

Whereas Luxor is a sleepy but organized city (it has traffic lights and sidewalks, and automobiles and rickshaws are the favored forms of transportation), Cairo is as exactly as our guide described it: “organized chaos”.  Twenty million people live in Cairo; it is a busy, loud, and dense city with tall skyscrapers covered with hundreds of satellite dishes like candles on birthday cakes. 

Whizzing by the livestock, buses, bicycles and motorbikes with whom we share the streets, I caught a glimpse of the Pyramids of Giza which were obscured by the fog.  The only way to describe visiting the Pyramids is “surreal”; they are even bigger than I had imagined, inspiring me to ask a question as old as the Pyramids themselves, “How were the pyramids built?”