Mohamed Ali (not the boxer) was the first ottoman ruler to decide to stay in turkey and become king. The ottomans used to send a different person every 3 years and they got greedy so only worried about getting gold.

Lost of reconstruction to restore Cairo to its origins. Walked down the main shopping strip. Started at the square where the revolution began in 2011.

Cairo is the 3rd capital of Egypt. Egypt was in the Roman Empire until 600’s. Cairo was built in 996. The original capital was called Al Fulstat (meaning camp/tent).they are also building a new Cairo in the north east near the airport

Driving through Cairo you can see all the different types of markets. There are also beautiful mosques. I have heard the call to prayer many times but never actually then seen the masses flock to the mosques afterwards. Or maybe I just wasn’t paying attention before

Complex consists of tomb school and mosque from 13th century. Sultan means powerful and strong king

Markook

Cairo gate. Only 3 left

Church in the cave, sits 21,000. Not used in winter. 2 alters.

Went out for dinner with my adopted Aussie friends Lauren, Louise and Sam.

Lathe great pyramid is the only wonder of the ancient world left. There were 2 in Egypt, the lighthouse of Alexandra being the other that no longer exists. It has been around for 3500 years and was the tallest building in the world at 147m tall. It was only taken over in Africa, in Egypt in 1961. No one knows where the capstone went or what it was made of. Or how many stones there are. Estimates are 3 million blocks and each block is between 3-7 tonnes. Someone then said there was NOT 3 million because an archeologist said they built it around a small amount. They think 1.7 million blocks. Then it was scanned that there was a space inside, not accessible. So basically no one can say how many blocks there are. There used to be a white shiny polished outer wall with maybe gold writing. The wall was recycles so they don’t know how many blocks were taken. It used to be 8 sided. All entrances facing north.this is because they believe the kings are stars. So the pyramids faced the north stars, but the position is different now. The great pyramid has 3 levels of burial chambers. The sarcophagus never ft through the door or corridors, so how did it end up in there? The burial chambers are quite different which is very interesting cos no one knows how.the blocks were cut straight and silt from the Nile helped to stick them together. Blocks travel on rams to get into place, so it was built from the inside to the outside in a spiral way.

Who built the pyramids? In the 90’s, a tourist got stuck in a whole and found skeletons of the workers who built the pyramid. They found an underground city where the workers lived while they built the pyramid for 25 years. A papyrus scroll was found to say how much food the workers they were given, and they were given lots of food and beer and wine and therefore they weren’t slaves. Weeks used to be 10 days so they would work for 9 and rest for 1. The architects name was Kem iono?

Built by king Khufu?

The second pyramid was built by his son Khafre. It was built 6m shorter to be respectful to his dad, but it was 10m higher so looks like it is taller. The blocks are smaller. Granite blocks from the bottom are from Aswan, 950km. The second one was the one we went into.

Typical tourist

Next we went to the panarama view of the pyramids

Following that we went to see the great sphinx in the valley temple

The temple itself was made of granite and slit from the Nile. The holes in the ground used to be statutes of the kings that built the temple but with them exposed they were Pilidged. There was one statute made of the toughest stone that was found underground and we will see that tomorrow at the museum.

Imhotep was real but movie is historically shit.he was with the kings wife, who was king tuts wife who was 1500 years difference in life.cleopatra is closer in age to Mac Donald’s than pyramids

After lunch we went to Saqqara Archeological site. Apparently they call the Giza the cemetery of Saqqara?

Saqqara is 4700 years old

The entry to Saqqara was built to be like a palace. In life. Palaces were made with mud bricks so no remains are left. Because their afterlife palaces are made of stone they have remained.

The great pyramid is double the height of Saqqara but Saqqara is the original.

We had some free time around Saqqara where we went into the pyramid to see the shaft.

We then walked around the pyramid to find a room with a statue in it (it’s a replica, the real one is in the museum).

After that we walked to see the other 2 pyramids that were built after Saqqara but before Giza.

One of them is red. We then walked into the ruins, but got told to go by guards with guns, but then one decided to walk us through the ruins. So glad we got to. He took us to a shaft that connected other tombs in the area, and then walked us to a ruin that had ancient Egyptian hyroglyphics! It was sooo cool!

Then we went back to the hotel

After we went to the Cairo museum. People used to be buried with their belongings so there are lots of tomb robbing. One coffin was left and it was from 800BC.

This goes in a stone one like this below called the sarcophagus. It has a lock.

And then put in the box like this

The curve at the bottom on the gottee means after life.

Each tomb had a door the identified who was in the tomb. The spirit could then find the door and the mummy by reading the name son the door and sarcophagus.

We also saw how they would make the drawings so precise, by using grids that were later erased.

We saw the statue of Khufra which was under the well at the sphinx yesterday and the little statue that was his father Khufo, who built the great pyramid, and then his grandson. Khufu has the smallest statue and they weren’t sure why his statue wasn’t made. When found, the head was missing so they made people sift through sand until they found it.

We also saw the difference between a statue of living and an afterlife statue afterlife have the little ball at the bottom of the beard. Amount other changes

We saw the narmur plague which has a side of war and a side of victory.

We also saw the statue of the guy who built Saqqara

We walked around a lot of the museum. Saw Kings tut’s gold room and jars that were used to keep the organs. King tut was 9 when he vacate king and 18 when he died. Not much was known about him, but he became famous when his tomb was found at the valley of the kings and it was the only untouched tomb. It had 700kg of gold and 5400 artifacts. He was married to Ankhsenamun. We couldn’t take pics of his gold mask and coffin and sarcophagus, but I may have sneaked one it .

He also had a shrine for his organs and Anubis for protection.

Sherif shows us statues that had eyes that were “in-something” and they were curved and reflected an dhonestly creepy.

This one above is famous as it’s on the 200 pound note.

I also saw the mummy’s Yuya and Thuya

And this.

So much interesting history!

Luxor temple. 2 parts. Outer part by remses 2 and inner part by amenhotep the third

We arrived at Valley of the kings.

The first tomb we went into was Ramesses 4. This was one that was already opened and was used as a shelter. Some of the faces were scratched off because they only worship one God and they didn’t like anything that reminded them of the old times.

The snakes represent chaos. But cobras are good!

We visited (in order) ramesses 4, ramesses 9, ramesses 3, then I visited Sety the first, which was amazing and big but expensive. Then ramesses 5 and 6, and then tutahnkaman. Those 3 were all optional. We left at 10am and it was so busy there! Glad we got an early start for the day

Ramesses 9 - my least favourite

Ramesses 3

This one had chambers off the side of the main walkway. As seen in the pics above and below this note.

Next was Sety the first. This was my favourite

After the valley of the kings we went to Hatshepsut temple. She was a woman who ruled as a king and was a very profitable time in egypts history. She did this because she wanted to be king so she exiled her step son for 20 years to be king. The temple has 3 levels. One for life, and after life and one for the holy level. Bottom level was closed for restoration.1500 BC. She represented herself as male but her statue face looks feminine.

KARNAK

A very large site build upon by many kings. The Nile used to go all the way to the front.

Akhneten king tuts dad

Sety the 1st started the column hall at Karnak, finished by ramesses the 2nd (his son)

Hatshepsut father was thutmoses the 1st, she married thutmoses the 2nd and her stepson was thutmoses the 3rd. She kept her step son away for 20 years and when he became king he destroyed a lot of her images and work. The obelisks are still standing because he built around them and so they survived the earthquake and floods that destroyed the Pylons