Giza Plateau — Pyramids and Sphinx

The Giza Plateau is just west of Cairo, about 18 km from the Nile on the edge of the Sahara. It's a 25-piastre minibus ride from downtown. The complex there includes:

• Pyramid of Kheops, now 137m tall and built around 2600 BCE
• Pyramid of Chephren, about the same height
• Pyramid of Mycerinus, 62m high
• The three relatively small Queens' Pyramids
• The Sphinx

Yeah, yeah, the Sphinx is cool. But next to a 137-meter-tall pyramid, anything else is underwhelming.

The pyramids are enormous. Think those are just steps up the side? Compare them to the people you can almost see in this picture.

You can just barely see the people — the blocks are from shoulder-high to head-high.

This is the Great Pyramid of Giza, also called the Pyramid of Khufu or Pyramid of Cheops, Khufu being the Fourth Dynasty pharaoh's name and Cheops being how the Greeks described his name.

It is the oldest and largest of the three major pyramids in the Giza Necropolis.

It was completed around 2560 BC and was the tallest man-made structure in the world for over 3,800 years.

But the really cool thing to do is to walk out into the desert. It's the Sahara. There is nothing but sand for hundreds of miles, so it's not like they worry you're going to tear anything up. And you would have to walk maybe 30-40 kilometers before you could no longer see the two largest pyramids to find your way back.

Just remember to walk without rhythm so you don't attract the worm.

The sandworms known as Shai-Hulud live in the deep desert and fiercely pretect their territory.

And surely you aren't wandering around the desert without at least one full canteen of water, right?

Not too far south of Giza is Saqqara with its Step Pyramid, an easy day trip out of Cairo.

Interested in using any of my pictures? I have high-resolution versions of all of these. Contact me if you are interested in using any. The answer is generally "yes" as long as I get credit and a copy of the result.

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