Day 3 – Sunday, March 10: Sakkara, the Pyramids, and Sphinx, Egyptian Museum
Today was our first full day of the trip, and it was a great one! We spent the day in the Cairo/Giza area. The sun was bright, with perfect temps in the low 70s. Following breakfast we left at 8 a.m. We read Genesis 12 as we started out for Sakkara.
Sakkara
We got a quick taste of Cairo traffic this morning as we left the hotel. We drove directly to Sakkara, the ancient necropolis of Memphis and capital of the Old Kingdom. Here we saw the impressive Stepped Pyramid of Djoser (or Zoser). It dates to around 2,700 BC (or 2,650), predating Abraham by almost 700 years! Sakkara, the necropolis of the Old Capital of Memphis. We view the Step Pyramid of King Zoser and a mastaba (the tomb of Seshseshet Idut, c. 2345-2323 BC). The pyramid is the oldest of the 126 pyramids discovered so far throughout Egypt.
Great Pyramids of Giza / Great Sphinx
Leaving Sakkara, we made a brief stop at a local carpet school en route to the Pyramids of Giza. The Great Pyramid (also known as the Pyramid of Cheops or Khufu and constructed around 2,600 BC), with the Pyramid of Khafre (or Chephren) and the Pyramid of Menkaure built shortly after. Two of them are around 500 feet high. Most likely it took 200,000 men 20 years to build. The Great Pyramid was built with 2.3 million stones, with the average weight of each stone around two-three tons (the stones weigh between one and 60 tons). Twenty one in the group went inside this pyramid. We also enjoyed a panoramic view of the pyramids as well as a short camel ride. We also saw the Great Sphinx, some 240 feet in length and 66 feet high.
“Today was our first full day. Cairo did not disappoint! This large city of 22 million provided opportunities to see amazing things from the past. This included the Pyramids and Sphinx! There were Biblical connections in the Egyptian Museum too!”
National Egyptian Museum
From the Sphinx, we battled the afternoon traffic back to Tahrir Square where the old National Egyptian Museum Is located. While the new Grand Museum is still not complete yet (three years delayed now), we saw many artifacts here. This included some of the artifacts of the King Tutankhamen collections (including his gold masks), a few mummies, statutes of Ramses II, Amenhotep II (the likely pharaoh of the Exodus), Thutmose III, the Merneptah Stele, the Amarna Letters, and the head and sphinx of Hatshepsut, to name just a few. The colors of some of the artifacts (e.g. the “sitting scribe”) were astonishing!
After completing our visit of the museum, we drove back to the Sheraton Hotel for an early 6:30 dinner, followed by an early bedtime. We get up at 3 a.m. tomorrow morning in order to catch our 6:30 a.m. flight to Luxor 480 miles to the south.
Day 4 – Monday, March 11: Morning Flight to Luxor, Luxor/Temple of Karnak, Temple of Luxor, Overnight in Luxor
