Arriving in Giza, we were surprised how close the site was to crowded Cairo. The pyramids and Great Sphinx were almost exactly as I imagined, other than their proximity to Cairo. The Great Khufu (Cheops) pyramid took 23 years to build, with over 100 thousand laborers working for the 4 months each year that the Nile was flooded. The laborers got food and shelter for their efforts.
Egypt has 108 pyramids, but the ancient Egyptians quit building these for tombs and moved the funerary process to the Luxor mountains because of problems with tomb robbers. One of the two large pyramids in Giza was open to tourists, and my mother and 4 others in our group made the hot, cramped trek into the interior. You couldn't see much, but they can now say they were "inside" a pyramid.
We next rode back to Cairo and toured the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. This is a very large museum, but the most famous pieces are those from the Tomb of Tutankhamen and some of the well preserved mummies.
The next day we drive to Port Said and join the Silver Whisper.
