So... the journey continued on. Azadeh & I met up again after leaving Nuweiba. I traveled northwest heading up to Cairo, and A went deeper into the Sinai to hang for a few days. We met back up in Cairo. The next few days we traveled to Giza and south along the Nile River to check out the pyramids. My first impressions: Giza sucked. Going deeper south, towards Luxur, is where it's at. Saqqara was excellent and felt remote.
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| read da sign |
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| in da big guys tomb |
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| prehistoric graffitti |
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| sunburst to set the mood |
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| it's a long walk so we invested in alternate forms of travel in order to save ourselves for what would lie ahead... |
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| Roar! |
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| Der Sphinx |
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| trotting around Giza |
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| we were fortunate enough to realize to get da hell outta there & head south. Giza was exhausting. Hawkers everywhere detracting from the experience. Begging you to let them take you around. Peeps saying they worked for the govt. & were archaeologists- hah! Men telling you they want to marry you... exhausting & annoying... |
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| this stretch of road was spectacular w/village upon village dotting the roadside |
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| the day was beautiful & sunny & warm! |
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| nearing Saqqara |
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| lots of carpet factories in the middle of the country along the Nile River Valley |
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| some oases too |
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| the famous Saqqara step pyramid. Saqqara was an ancient burial ground. It was the necropolis for Memphis. This is the step pyramid of Djoser- from the 3rd Dynasty. |
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| there are various stages of preservation going on at Saqqara |
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| cutie-pie, or beast of burden- whichever you prefer... |
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| this was a fantastic view |
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| there wasn't many people at Saqqara. I don't know if it was just an off day as it was in the middle of the week, or if it is just not as popular as Giza. At any rate, it was way more fantastic than Giza |
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| yep |
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| even the camel renters were very relaxed & just chatting with us & not even caring that we didn't want to ride a camel. They were so polite. They couldn't believe that an Iranian woman and an American women were traveling not only alone together, but were even friends. They were all amused by this and kept complimenting us in this respect. It was odd because it happened the entire time we were traveling together. We were speaking Farsi, Turkish, Arabic & English so it was quite an amusing time getting our ideas across to one another & somehow we managed to every time. |
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| nap time until show time... |
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| these serpent details were cool |
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| driving was... a thrill to say the least |
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| really enjoyed the scenery of the interior |
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| time seems to stand still out here. Worlds away from Cairo- which is quite close at this point |
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| peek-a-boo |
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| some of the scenery reminded me a bit of Tunis in the outskirts- just a bit |
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| pits stop |
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| what you don't see is the front of the picture w/bot on their cell phones chatting away! |
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| well irrigated fields just outside of Cairo |
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