If you like old things, Egypt is a good destination! My trip there with my friend Viraj (who you may recall from September's Kilimanjaro posts…or you may not) started with a vain attempt to beat Cairo's legendary traffic to get to Saqqara, site of the famous step pyramid, the pyramid of Djoser. Built in the 27th century BC, the pyramid was ground breaking in its day for its size and use of limestone as opposed to mud brick.
As you can see from the scaffolding, the pyramid is being restored and preserved–very slowly. Work has virtually stopped since the revolution 2 years ago. But I'm getting ahead of myself. To reach the step pyramid, you first pass through a colonnade.
The colonnade leads to the south court where kings would complete a series of tasks after ruling for 30 years to renew their reign.
There is a number of ruins in the complex.
From here, Viraj and I opted to visit the red pyramid, so named for the reddish hue of the sandstone. It's generally thought to be the first smooth sided pyramid constructed. Itsbaseisso wide that I gave up on trying to fit the whole thing in my shot after walking a good ways off!
The real draw of the red pyramid for us was to go inside it. You'll see some scaffolding halfway up the pyramid. At the bottom of the scaffolding is the entrance. From here, it's a long, steep way down to the tomb.
The steps lead to 2 connected, vaulted chambers before the final chamber where a mummy was found.
The 3rd chamber differs from the first 2 in that it has rough walls which are oriented in the opposite direction from the other chambers.
It was thrilling to be in our first pyramid! Our glutes were seriously aching from the steep descent and, after the bright sunshine outside, it seemed so dark. This, combined with the distant echoes of voices and footsteps from the other 1 or 2 tourists visiting and imagining ancient mummies and grave robbers, made it fantastically eerie!