Visiting the Pyramids at Giza

In the morning, we had breakfast at the Greenery restaurant, a buffet with standard fare + falafel balls, which I found quite tastey.

After breakfast, we went around the corner to the pyramids (literally, around the corner). Our first stop was the Great Pyramid. We were allowed to climb up a little bit and then we came back down and took some photos. In the past, people were allowed to climb to the top, but this no longer allowed. The pyramid is massive, the stone blocks that make up the pyramid are each massive. Photographs simply do not do it justice, you can only get a true sense of the size by being there. Of course, what makes it even more amazing is that this huge structure was built 4,000 years ago, with the technology of the day.

We then drove to the 3rd pyramid, which we entered. There were several steep and cramped staircases, but the interior did not feature any writing or decorations on the walls.

After that we drove in the bus out into the desert, to get a more distant perspective of the pyramids, as well as to take the standard pyramids photo. This is the one you see in National Georgraphic and Discovery channel, which features desert sands in the foreground and the pyramids rising out of the sand. This contrasts with the photo from the other side, which features tour buses and a KFC. Even out here in the desert, we were confronted by locals selling merchandise and offering to take photos for tips. We got suckered and tipped one guy for a photo.