Can’t complain about that view.
Before I dive into our trip to visit the pyramids of Giza I wanted to share a little history behind them. The Pyramids of Giza are likely the most famous and recognizable structures in the world. Located in northern Egypt, the Pyramids of Giza are on the west bank of the Nile River, just south of modern day Cairo. They are said to have been built between 2575 and 2465 BC during Egypt’s 4th dynasty. The three pyramids, Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure, all correspond to the kings they were built for. Each pyramid serves as a royal mausoleum and, when the first and largest was built c2575, it was one of the first times the Egyptians buried their royalty this way. Before the pyramids, throughout the Early Dynastic Period (c3150-2686 BC), Egyptian royalty was buried in a Mastaba, a rectangular structure that also served as a mausoleum. Though the traditional use of the Mastaba for burials continued throughout Egypt’s non-royal population for thousands of years.
Camel ride at the back of the pyramids
While most know of these three pyramids, many people are unaware of the fact that there were actually dozens of pyramids built in the surrounding area, some of which contained other members of the royal family. A total of 118 Egyptian pyramidswere built during the 4th dynasty, though many were located further south in what is now modern day Sudan. While you can still see some of the other smaller pyramids, they really are nothing like the Great Pyramid positioned behind the slightly smaller two. It’s hard to imagine the technology, skills, and manpower necessary to create such a structure, especially over four thousand years ago.
Joseph with the Pyramids Of Giza
We came on the perfect day at the perfect time not many people around.
One aspect that is hard to ignore when learning about the history of the Pyramids of Giza, is that so many periods and empires followed their creation. A significant aspect of the Pyramid’s history, is the centuries of looting that followed their creation. Originally, the pyramids each had casings of smooth white limestone at the top of all three, almost all of which was eventually stolen by looters, along with all of the grave contents that were buried with the deceased kings.
Our Room Marriott Mena House
We went to the pyramids twice on our stay since it was pretty much at our doorstep from the hotel we stayed at was called the Marriott Mena House Cario in the king deluxe pyramid view rooms and the view even there was spectacular of the pyramids. Every morning waking up looking at the pyramids from our bed was just so surreal and overwhelming that we finally made it here after all the ordeal from the pandemic of our original trip we had booked being postponed for 3 years. On both occasions we went at opening time with a guide we found this way it wasn’t over crowded and we didn’t get hassled as much with a guide by our side. We found a photographer on instagram Egypt Eye who captured some amazing photos from our visit to the pyramids of Giza highly recommend them if your chasing a photographer to get some travel photos rather than the selfie stick or tripod most of us travellers use.
Photoshoot in Giza
On the exit of the pyramids you have some stalls you can buy gifts from but if you have the time we recommend going to the markets as they are marked up in price and most things there can be purchased elsewhere. Overall the pyramids of Giza were fantastic and an amazing part of history the downside that nobody seems to mention is the scams that you need a tour guide or the hassling to buy things do get a bit annoying when all you want to do is just embrace this magnificent place and not have someone approach you every 5mins in saying that we didn’t get to experience this like our fellow travellers we met along our way we done our research and we knew of all this before going hence why the early morning wake ups to be there when it opened. Our goal is to go back to Egypt in the future when hopefully Kaimani is older to visit the new museum and a few other things we would have liked to of visited. One thing we have learnt with travelling there’s always more you want to see and still so many more experiences to have.
We was very lucky to get this photo at the helicopter pad.
