Day 3 – Monday, February 17: Memphis, Sakkara, the Pyramids, and Sphinx, New Grand 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 cool temps to begin the day (50s) but perfect temps with highs in the mid 70s. Following an early breakfast we left at 7:15 a.m. We read Genesis 46 and 50 (about Joseph and his brothers) as we started out for Memphis & Sakkara
Memphis & Sakkara
We got a quick taste of Cairo traffic this morning as we left the hotel. We drove directly to Memphis, the capital of the Old Kingdom of Egypt. Here among the scattered ruins we saw an impressive statue of Ramses II (from the New Kingdom actually). We drove a short 10 minutes to Sakkara, the ancient necropolis of Memphis. Here we saw the impressive Stepped Pyramid of Djoser (or Zoser). It dates to around 2,700 BC (conventional dating). It is the oldest of all pyramids (now totally 124), predating Abraham by almost 700 years! Sakkara, the necropolis of the Old Capital of Memphis. We view the Step Pyramid of King Zoser before entering a small pyramid for Unas from the 5th Dynasty (about 2350 BC). We also entered a mastaba (the tomb of Seshseshet Idut, c. 2345-2323 BC). Leaving Sakkara, we made a brief stop at a local carpet school en route to the Pyramids of Giza.
Great Pyramids of Giza / Great Sphinx
Next, we drove to 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). Many of us walked completely around the 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 here in Egypt. We saw a lot of things, including the pyramids and Sphinx. We ended the day by visiting the Grand Egyptian Museum, just recently opened!”
National Egyptian Museum
From the Sphinx, we were delighted to spend about two hours inside the brand new Grand Egyptian Museum. While it doesn’t officially open until July, we had access as a group. While the artifacts of the King Tutankhamen collections (including his gold masks), the Merneptah Stele, and there Amarna Letters are still in the Old Museum, we walked through this newly-designed museum on our own. We made many biblical connections. We saw statutes of Ramses II, Amenhotep II (the likely pharaoh of the Exodus based on conventional dating), Thutmose III, 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 dinner at 7 p.m., followed by an early bedtime. We get up at 3:30 a.m. tomorrow morning in order to catch our 7:15 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
