Cairo

Cairo - Giza
The long straight road from Cairo passes through the built-up suburb of Giza and finally curves sharply to the left and mounts the desert plateau into the Giza Pyramid complex. This is home to the world famous Giza Pyramids, the Sphinx and Chephren's valley temple.

Pyramid of Cheops: Once all the pyramids had smooth sides of polished stone, but the casing on the pyramid of Cheops has entirely gone and you see instead the underlying tiered courses of 2,500,000 limestone blocks.

Pyramid of Chephren: Chephren's Pyramid is almost as large as Cheops'. It has intact casing stones towards the top.

Pyramid of Mycerenius: At 66.5 M in height, this is the smallest of the three main pyramids. A 9th century caliph attempted to demolish the pyramids altogether, starting with that of Mycerenius. eight months and 170,000 blocks of stone later, he gave up, leaving a gouge you can see on the north face.

The Sphinx: A limestone outcrop was left standing in the quarry from which many of the blocks for Cheops were cut. His son Chephron had the idea of shaping it into a figure with a lions body and a god's face.

Valley Temple of Chephron: By the south flank of the Sphinx, Chephren's valley temple has been well preserved by its long burial under the sands. Majestically and simply assembled from pink Aswan granite, its square monolithic pillars support massive architraves.

Entrance Fees: (Please see at the bottom of this page)

Cairo - Saqqara
Saqqara is on the desert plateau above Memphis and contains a complex of Pyramids and Mastabas, including the famous Step Pyramid of Zoser. The sands wash your feet nearly everywhere in Saqqara, which has a much more desert feel than Giza. Named for Soqqar, the Memphite god of the dead, this was a necropolis for over 3000 years, though most of its greatest monuments belong to the Old Kingdom.

Mastaba of Akhti-Hotep and Ptah-Hotep: Belonging to the priest Ptah-Hotep and his father, the vizier Akhti-Hotep, this Fifth Dynasty double mastabe is outstanding for the variety and quality of its colored reliefs.

Mastaba of Mereruka: Mereruka was vizir to a Sixth-Dynasty pharaoh and his 32-room mastabe is the largest at Saqqara.

Mastaba of Ti: The reliefs in Ti's beautifully decorated funerary chamber rival those of Ptah-Hotep's, and exceed them in variety. the highlight here is a relief of Ti sailing through the marshes.

Pyramid of Unas: Unas was the last pharaoh of the Fifth Dynasty and the 350 years from the Step Pyramid through the Great Pyramids at Giza to this heap of rubble mark the rise and fall of the Old Kingdom sun cult. The tomb chamber is entirely covered with inscriptions celebrating eternal life and the newly-popular resurrection cult of Oris.

The Serapeum: The Serapeum, where the Apis bulls were buried, is the strangest place at Saqqara. Long, gloomily-lit, rock-cut galleries beneath the desert are lined with gigantic vaults, each vault containing a bull sized black sarcophagus.

Step Pyramid of Zoser: The Step Pyramid is the central piece of an extensive funerary complex built for the Third Dynasty pharaoh Zoser, who lived around 2700 BC. Surrounded by an enclosure wall probably built in imitation of the city walls of Memphis, the first pyramid, 62m high, was created by placing a series of ever smaller mastabas one on top of the other.

Entrance Fees: (Please see at the bottom of this page)

Cairo - Dhahshur
Just about 1/2 hour from Saqqara, lie the Red Pyramid and Bent Pyramid of Dhahsur. Both were built by a 4th dynasty pharaoh, together with another collapsed pyramid.

Entrance Fees: (Please see at the bottom of this page)

Cairo - Memphis
Most probably beginning as a fortress from which Menes controlled the land and water routes between the upper and lower Egypt, Memphis was the capitol of the country throughout the Old Kingdom. Though New Kingdom Egypt was ruled from Thebes, Memphis remained agreat metropolis until taken over by Ptolemaic Alexandria. Today, however, centuries of Nile mud has swallowed Memphis entirely.

A Museum has been built to display the Collosus of Memnon and other sculptures found here.

Entrance Fees: (Please see at the bottom of this page)

Cairo - Egyptian Museum
The Egyptian Museum is the most famous museum in Egypt and is home to the grandest collection of ancient Egyptian treasures. The arrangement is more or less chronological, so that starting at the entrance and walking clockwise along the ground floor you pass from Old kingdom through Middle kingdom and New kingdom exhibits (the highlight on this floor is the Akhenaton room at the rear), concluding with Ptolemaic and Roman exhibits.

The first floor contains prehistoric and early dynastic exhibits and the contents of several tombs, most notably the magnificient array of wealth from Tutankhamun's.

In the Mummy Room lie the bodies of such great pharaohs as Ramses II and Seti I.

Entrance Fees: (Please see at the bottom of this page)

Cairo - Mohmmad Ali Mosque
A Turkish delight on the Cairo skyline, the mosque was built in imitation of the Ottoman imperial mosques of Istanbul. Half domes rise as buttresses for the high central dome, while two thin minarets add an ethereal touch. Mohamad Ali's tomb is on the right as you enter the vast and opulently decorated interior.

Entrance Fees: Not applicable

Cairo - Khan El Khalili
Though not strictly an archeological site, Khan-el-Khalili has been the heartbeat of Cairo since the medieval times. The wealth of Cairo was built on trade, and caravans from all over Africa and Asia disgorged their cargoes for sale at the numerous bazaars that make up Khan-El-Khalili. Much of that medieval atmosphere still survives among the narrow covered passageways where you can join throngs of Cairenes to bargain over spices and perfume oils, gold and silver jewellery, leather goods and fabrics.

Entrance Fees (Regular/Student)

Cairo
Egyptian Museum - LE 50/25, Royal Mummy Room-LE 100
Citadel - LE 40/20
Coptic Muséum - LE 35/20

Pyramids
Pyramid - LE 50/25
Entry to Great Pyramid - LE 100
Entry to 3rd Pyramid - LE 25/15

Saqqara
Zhoser’s Step Pyramid- LE 50/25

Memphis
The open Museum- LE 30/15

Dahsure-
The Bent and the red pyramid- LE 25/15