The OTHER Pyramids

As our first day approaches (finally!?!) we took one last opportunity to go exploring around our area. Instead of hitting up the more famous, and far more crowded pyramids of Giza, we decided to go a little further south and see some the lesser known, but still very impressive, tombs. Admittedly, we are now even more excited about seeing The Great Pyramids of Giza, because these were pretty great, and it makes me appreciate how grand they must be to be termed 'great'.

Our first stop was to Saqqara, Egypt's largest archeological site, covering nearly seven square kilometres - one French archeologist spent an astonishing 75 years here!! What Saqqara is, is a massive grave yard of ancient Memphis, once thought to be the capital of ancient Egypt for a time.

The centre piece of Saqqara is the Step Pyramid. It is considered to be the earliest stone built monument in the world - it is thought to have been constructed in 2650 BC!!

The Step Pyramid

From just north of the Step Pyramid, the Great Pyramids of Giza (the famous ones) can be seen in the distance.

As part of the funeral complex, we were able to go into one of the crypts where we came across these hyroglyphics which I am pretty sure say, "Learning to read is fun so we can read to learn!"

From Saqqara, we drove a little further south to Memphis, the ancient capital. Not much remains of the place, but the open air museum is built around the huge fallen statue of Ramses II, one of the most ruthless and successful(?) leaders of antiquity.

Massive limestone statue of Ramses II.

From Memphis, it was a short drive a little further south to the sites of the Red Pyramid and the Bent Pyramid. Building upon the success of the Step Pyramid, ancient architects wanted to build a smooth faced pyramid. Their first attempt was the Bent Pyramid, which given away by its name, didn't quite live up to their hopes as they had to change the angle to get it finished. Their next attempt was far more successful, and the huge Red Pyramid is considered the oldest 'true' pyramid.

The Red Pyramid - too big even to fit in the picture!


Inside the Red Pyramid - hard to see, but truly something to experience. Staring up into, and standing underneath, thousands of pounds of ancient rock carved perfectly to right angles. How'd they do that?

Looking back over the desert at The Red Pyramid.

The tiny Bent Pyramid!!

Kidding, it is huge!

The interesting thing about this Bent Pyramid, is not only its shape, but that it is one of the last remaining pyramids with it's some of its smoothness intact. At just about everywhere else, including The Great Pyramids, the limestone used to create these smooth sides was removed for the building of ancient Cairo!

Next up - SCHOOL!!!