Day 26 - Wednesday November 19, 2025 - Our lady day in Egypt

By Ellen Outten

 

The alabaster Sphinxat Memphis

We set out today at 7:30 for the last of the pyramids our guide wanted us to see.  Our first stop was at a site of many pyramids, Saqqarah.  It is a huge burial ground with many pyramids in different states of decline.   Weather and the water table have done considerable damage over the centuries.  

We all went inside, one tomb, and our guide, Sam, showed us all of the hieroglyphs on the wall and the painted scenes that have withstood time
















We were able to access the pyramid of Teri and while I didn’t crawl into the Great Pyramid, I was told this would be much easier to crawl through.  Given my height, crawling wasn’t necessary.  

This was the tomb of a nobleman; not a king or queen.  
Entrance to the tomb 

Going down down down

This gives you an idea of how you had to hunch over to get into the

Not a great picture. Hard to see, but this is the actual coffin or sarcophagus.

Looking at the ceiling in the tomb. I’m guessing it was supposed to represent the stars so when the nobleman woke up in the afterlife, he would see the evening stars.

From there we walked Around the most famous pyramid in this complex, the step pyramid. Weather and time have not been Kind to the outside of this pyramid. The actual pyramid is solid.  Egyptologists Doug, 100 feet down underneath the base of the pyramid noted to find the antiquities. They found over 40,000 alabaster pieces of pottery along with many other items.

This is the pyramid you would most recognize from pictures.



North side of the pyramid is always worthy opening is., On every pyramid. There were two holes drilled in to the pyramid, and we were told to go look in the holes and take a picture of what we saw. This is what was staring back at us.

Next to the step pyramid was this store room. These walls Are the oldest stone walls still in existence, known to mankind anywhere in the world?



The view from the step pyramid. I already had my camel ride one is sufficient.

We left Saqqarah And drove a short distance to another site, Memphis. Here we found a very large 100% alabaster sphinx.




Wayne’s on the left

Also, there is a stone carving that is massive. It was found there and never moved. In fact, the British tried to move it and take it to one of their museums, but was unable to find a ship that could carry the weight. They built the building around this statue

Seeing people near the statue, gives you an idea of the size





We were driven to lunch afterward. There was a woman baking bread in a woodfired oven. She sits on the ground, pretty much all day long and baked bread. I wonder what her knees look feel like.


Walking down the steps to the restaurant

Here she is baking bread. It was similar to a pita pocket but thinner. It only took about 2 to 3 minutes in the wood-burning stove.

Lots of chickpeas here in Egypt. Hummus, baba ghanoush, eggplant, and pickled vegetable vegetables, all on the table family style.


This wasn’t the food for the table. This was my plate. Three pieces of chicken and at least three pieces of beef, rice, and of all things french fries. I left most of it.


Our last stop of the day and this portion of the trip, was to a store that sold only 100% Egyptian cotton. Their prices were pretty good but each space did not allow me to bring home an instead of 100%.Our last stop of the day and this portion of the trip, was to a store that sold only 100% Egyptian cotton. Their prices were pretty good but each space did not allow me to bring home an instead of 100% Egyptian cotton sheets. They also had these beautiful quilts on display and for my quilting friends you should be able to see that they’re all handstitched. No, I did not ask for the prices. That just leads to a discussion I didn’t wanna have. They have a hard time taking the word no for an answer.  But they were gorgeous.




We are back at the hotel about 130. At farewell dinner and drinks were scheduled for 545. Tomorrow morning we have to have our luggage outside the door at 4:30 AM and we leave for the airport at 5 AM. There are 12 people from this group, including ourselves, heading to Jordan. Our flight leaves at 8:40 AM. 

Some pictures of street life and houses as we drove today. Noticed the people on the interstate. They are waiting for their public transportation, or Van pool as we would call it in the US to pick them up and take them to appointments or to work. I don’t know how they don’t get killed.

No windows, #MIN no taxes to be paid yet as the building isn’t finished.


People waiting alongside the interstate for their ride








.













 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day. 25 - Thursday, May 22, 2025 - Amsterdam to Phoenix

By Ellen Outten
The day started at 7:30 with a ride from the hotel to the airport. NOTE to myself:  always order.rhe taxi for 1/2 hour earlier than you need it.. it showed up at about 7:35 am and traffic was heavy on the way to Schipol airport.  We had plenty of time, but regardless, it's better to be there early. The flight boarded a little late, but there's so many checks for international gates.  Immigration to leave the country, security for baggage.  We made it to the gate about an hour in advance.   I flew first class home.  There's nothing like it.  The seats are sooo much better.  And if my flight had been an evening flight, I know I would have slept.  God bless lay down seats.  I paid for the first class upgrade and what happens, Wayne gets an upgrade at the airport for free.  He didn't even know he had been upgraded until we were at the gate We arrived 25 minutes late but still had two hours to get to our new gate.  It took abou...
Read more

Day 3 - Wednesday April 30, 2025-Bucharest Romania

By Ellen Outten
Image
Parliament building, the third largest building in the world. Today, with perfect weather (high temp was about 77 degrees with a light breeze and all sun), we left the hotel at 9:00 a.m. on a tour of Bucharest. Our first stop was in the parking lot across the street from the third largest building in the world. This is their Parliament building. The first largest is the Pentagon and the second building is in Thailand. While we didn't go inside it was interesting to stand across the street and see the immenseness of this building. Interesting streetlight and the iron work Across the street from the Parliament is a pretty street with 44 water fountains running down the middle of the street. From there we went to the "Dimitrie Gusti" National Village Museum.  The outdoor museum is  devoted to Romanian village life, with hundreds of peasant farms & homes. The fence is so intricately woven  Typical entrance to a farmhouse.  The opening on the left is for people, the o...
Read more

Day 2 - Tuesday July 18 - Lake Lucerne

By Ellen Outten
Image
   Our hotel for the next two nights. We arrived at the Zurich airport at 7:45 am Tuesday which meant 10:45pm Monday in Mesa AZ.  We had been traveling since 7am. We were fed very well on the plane (9 hour flight from Chicago), both with a dinner 2 hours of boarding and then about 2 hours before landing, we were served breakfast.  The flight was uneventful which is a lovely word when it comes to air travel.  Odyssey Tours sent a driver to pick us up and drive us the one hour to Lake Lucerne.   We met a very nice couple, Patty and Joe from Kentucky that were on the same flight.   We walked around the property, which sits right on the lake, and since it was only about 9:30 am, we had to wait for our rooms.  So, what else is there to do?  Out of whack on time zones, we had a few local beers.  After all it was still 2 am AZ time!                        Snow on the mountain...
Read more