Weekend trip to Cairo

Today I want to tell you a bit more about our short trip to Cairo.
Since we currently live within wonderful weekend distance, we recently decided to finally visit the famous pyramids in Giza.

The view from our AirBnB alone was worth the trip - and combined with a nice cold beer + the whirlpool on the expanded balcony, it was all very luxurious :-)
It was especially great that the pyramids are illuminated during a light show in the evening - a really beautiful photo opportunity.
And when you sit there, in the 21st century, and even take a photo with your mobile phone of these incredibly impressive buildings that have been standing there for almost 5000 years, it's a very venerable moment.

On the first full day of our trip, we went straight to the pyramids in Giza. These are not only among the most famous, but also the oldest surviving structures of mankind, as they were built in the 4th dynasty around 2620 to 2500 BC!
The largest and probably most famous pyramid is the one of the pharaoh Cheops, the middle pyramid is the Chephren pyramid and the smallest one is the Mykerinos pyramid.

We found the entrance to the burial chamber of the Cheops pyramid a bit too expensive (besides, there are no artifacts to see there because they were probably stolen during the time of the pharaohs). That's why we decided to visit 'only' one of the nearby queen's pyramids - and I can tell you, it's definitely not for people with claustrophobia..

The next stop was the famous Step Pyramid or Djoser pyramid in Saqqara. It is even older, dating back to the Old Kingdom around 2650 BC, i.e. the 3rd dynasty.
By the way, this grave, built by the famous high priest Imhotep. (Maybe it's just me, but when I read the name, I immediately have the sacred Imooooteeeppp chants from 'The Mummy' in my ear..)

Our last stop on the first day was the city of Memphis, which was the capital of the empire until the end of the sixth dynasty, around 2200 BC.

Among other things, we found an impressively large stone figure of Ramses II here - it's hard to believe that it's only about half the size of the largest of his statues in Abu Simbel.

On the next day, we had the next highlight and we were able to see the artifacts in the famous Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

Actually, the museum itself is already worth a trip and you could easily spend days there, there is so much to see. Luckily, our guide had so much background knowledge that she could cleverly guide us to the most important exhibitions so that we 1) didn't get lost and 2) weren't completely overwhelmed by the number of exhibits.

In a few years, we actually have to go back there, because at the end of next year, the new museum is supposed to open (we've already seen the building). It's supposed to be the largest museum in the world!

Our last destination was the Muhammad Ali or Alabaster Mosque. It was built in the 19th century in the Ottoman style on behalf of Pasha Muhammad Ali, and a little bit copied the Yeni Cami, the New Mosque in Istanbul during its construction.
Funniest story here: On the west side of the courtyard, there is a clock tower, a gift from the French king Louis-Philippe I from 1846 as a thank you for the Luxor Obelisk, which is now located on the Place de la Concorde in Paris. However, the clock never worked :-)

As always, we send greetings from the Orient,
Felix and Susann