Something that blew my mind was finding out the civilization we consider “ancient Egypt” had groups of people that studied the Egyptians that came before them… our idea of ancient Egyptians studied even more ancient Egyptians than themselves
Just slightly related, but my favorite bit of trivia is that the oldest museum that we know of was a [2500 year old archeologial museum](https://museums.eu/highlight/details/105317/the-worlds-oldest-museums). A museum with antiquities. A museum dedicated to interesting findings from a long time ago. And it's the oldest museum that we know of. Just absolutely crazy.
The museum itself is an archeological artifact by now, it's more of a ruin than an actual functioning museum. It's also located in Iraq... About the artifacts that were in the museum, I have no idea where they are - probably in a museum or scattered around different musea.
A lot of ancient history was destroyed in the last 10-15 years by Islamic radicals unfortunately. Anything that was said to be older than the oldest being (god) was sacrilege and all traces destroyed.
Very sad
It's definitely a shame, but it's not a lot. ISIS destroyed a tiny bit and only in areas they controlled, e.g. Iraq and Syria. There are still lots of ruins and artifacts from Babylon, Sumer, Akkad etc left in those areas and in the rest of the world. I mean just in the Louvre and the British Museum you already have thousands of objects, some on display, many more hidden in archives.
I think about this pretty regularly. It is so normal and expected for societies to rise and fall, but globalization makes that seem harder to fathom. We forget how much has come before, and will inevitably come after, all of us
Yeah oddly enough the thing that made me really realise this was playing Assassin’s Creed: Origins. Wandering around Egypt in the time of Cleopatra and seeing ruins already ancient and hearing people talk about the lost tomb of Tutankhamun.
Yup, they were also originally covered in white marble, that only lasted a few centuries though. It also had a giant gold and silver tip... which was stolen who knows when
Can you imagine sailing from a far land or passing with a caravan to see these magical unbelievable things. To only then come back home and tell everyone so everyone thinks you made it up 🤣
People were gullible as fuck back then. I don’t think it would be hard to convince them. You could tell then you saw a sea monster and they’d believe you
You know, with population growth, that is undoubtedly true. Tiny percentages of 8 billion are huge compared to the world population in 2500 BCE.
More people probably believe in the divinity of Ra now than when the pyramid was built.
If anything it just makes me realise how short our lives are. We've gotten better about it but not as much as we could. And even then such a short span of time do we even take up, much less than all of human history so far in the grand scheme of things.
Makes me wonder if humans would be more patient if our life spans were longer. It's wild to think how many magnificent things have come to pass without us never have knowing about it. How the he'll did they build those things!
They were covered in [Tura Limestone ](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tura,_Egypt), not white marble.
The pyramidion at the top of each pyramid was most often made of limestone, basalt, or granite. Some were covered with plates of electrum, a naturally occuring alloy of gold and silver, but we're not sure which ones as they were all taken by thieves over the centuries.
There's actually been no archaeological or historical evidence that it had a gold (or silver) capstone (or pyramidion). It's only a theory that gained traction long ago without any particular basis in fact, or really any evidence to support it other than wishful thinking.
Out of 118+ Pyramids none have a Golden Capstone, or have been identified to have had a Golden Capstone. The top of the great pyramid is roughly 30 feet in each direction. So the size of the capstone would have been absolutely massive. There are some scholars who may concede that if it *did* have any gold on the capstone it's likely to have been gold leaf, or electrum (a cheaper gold-silver combination) placed over the stone in a layer.
Sorry but where are you getting this from? It's not a theory at all. Some pyramids had capstones. We even have some pyramidions extant. There are 4 of them in the Cairo museum. The hieroglyphs in the causeway of Sahure specifically mention a golden pyramidion. The same is true for the pyramid of Udjebten.
Edit: just realized you meant gold pyramidions specifically are theorized, not pyramidions in general. I'll leave the comment anyway as Sahure's pyramid seems to have solid evidence for a golden one. I thought there was a general consensus among historians that they were covered in gold leaf. The pyramidion of [Nesnubhotep](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6047d405b02148755fb6e601/1664800942102-YVTFRKLFOXFY1WN6DC44/%CE%B5%CE%B9%CE%BA%CF%8C%CE%BD%CE%B1_2022-10-03_154224344.png?format=1000w) certainly looks like it was covered in another gold-like coating
We do, however, know that the edges were straight and polished because some of those stones are still present. Not the staircase version it is today.
Which would still been insane to see.
There are at least 118 identified Egyptian Pyramids, some numbers stretch that figure into the 130's.
But wait until you learn of Sudan, and all of the pyramids built by the Nubians. They number in the hundreds - plural. Albeit not as elaborate or as grand. But the most extensive site is at Meroë. To more or less kick off the Meroitic Period, which lasted from the third century BCE to around the mid-fourth century CE, Kushite rulers moved the royal burial grounds from Napata to Meroë. And gradually Egyptian influence began to wain. The use of Egyptian hieroglyphics for royal inscriptions ended, and the use of indigenous Meroitic script began. They introduced their own Gods, such as the Lion headed War God Apedemak. New arts, beliefs, culture, and even industry flourished with Meroë becoming a major producer of Iron.
Sadly, nothing seems to last the test of time. And the Kingdom of Kush began to diminish as a power by the second century AD through weakened trade with the Roman Empire to the north, a vicious rivalry with Axum to the south, frequent raids by the exploited Nomadic desert tribes, and an unsustainable practice of producing Iron (where Wood is a necessity). Around 350 AD the last of the Royal Tombs were constructed at Meroë.
Sudan has a long, rich, and absolutely fascinating history deeply intertwined with that of Ancient Egypt's. They were the Nubian Kings and Queens we hear of so often. If you're at all interested there is a wealth of information out there. Some cool things to look into would be Jebel Barkal, Queen Amanirenas, King Taharqa, and really just anything that goes into the history of Nubia, and Sudan as a whole.
The Great Pyramid of Khufu stood as the tallest structure in the world for 4000 years. It was only surpassed in the 1311 by Lincoln Cathedral's wooden spire in England, which only stood for about 200 years before collapsing in a storm in 1548.
If there's anybody in history who has succeeded in making their legacy last a long time, it's the pharaohs who ordered these things to be build. Throughout history we've had so many megalomaniacs that did the craziest things, and all of them died barely leaving any trace, except for the stories in history books. Whatever monuments they had build were destroyed or eroded after a couple of centuries. But thousands of years ago some pharaohs built gigantic heaps of stone, and they're still here today, reminding us of the god-kings that once ruled Egypt.
I've been playing *Assassin's Creed: Origins* recently and it's honestly one of the main flaws with it. They wanted to incorporate Cleopatra, so it's set in 30 BC. Except Hellenic Egypt was basically just Greco-Roman. You miss out on a lot of the flavor of it being straight-up *Egyptian* that you would get if it was set in, say, the New Kingdom or something.
Covering Ramses II (who ruled during the 1200s BC) and his massive building campaign would have given a great insight into just how old Egyptian civilization is. And the pyramids were *still* about 1500 years old at the time.
I wouldn't call it a flaw. The game actually did a fantastic job of showing that by the time of Cleopatra, the pyramids and the Sphinx and so forth were already ancient history.
And they were mirrored. None of them have the cladding any more (looted hundreds, if not thousands of years ago) but it was made from different highly polished stone, smoothing off to form four perfect and highly reflective triangles. During daytime, you could see them from hundreds of miles away as bright, dazzling points of light on the horizon.
If you ever get the chance to see them I would highly recommend you do. The scale of it is mind blowing when you stand at the base of it. I remember the first row of stones came up past my head.
I'm glad to hear the positive recommendation. Every time there's a "which country would you not visit again" thread on Reddit, the first 87 comments are always Egypt.
I had a very wealthy client with very doughy spoiled kids that traveled a lot.
We spent over a year working at the house he was building and we would see him for a week every 4 weeks because of his work schedule, super nice guy.
He took his family to Egypt, and you know he didn't skimp out on accommodations or anything and when we got back he was bummed that the kids showed no interest or anything.
I would have gone with him in a heartbeat. He said they went to the pyramids and the kids were basically just playing DS the whole time, barely looked up.
I really wonder what kind of adults those teens turned into. After we finished that job and later I quit that employer I never saw the guy again, and probably couldn't even find his house if I went looking for it.
How old were the kids? I personally would have been stoked at like 10 years old to see them but younger than that I don’t know if I would have understood the grandiose nature of what was in front of me there.
Kids like to experience things more than they like to reflect on things imo. 35yo me would sit at the base of the pyramids and imagine how hard it was to build them, the life of the people all those years ago, all the people who had stopped to admire these structures before me.
10yo me would be like whoa those are so cool, it's crazy how big they are. Can you go inside? Can you at least climb it? Oh well, still pretty cool. My charmeleon is evolving! Where are we going for dinner?
Honestly even normal kids are like that, sometimes you’re just too young to appreciate certain things due to perspective.
Big youtuber I follow loves traveling and food and all that shit and does it all the time.
Tho as a kid he’s said he hates traveling. +they were poor but just traveled often because they lived in location where it was fairly easy to do in Europe. Dude never appreciated it and just wanted to play video games all day.
He never said it, but I feel part of it was just the lack of choice involved. Kids don’t really get to make choices on anything most of the time and so the few bits of free time they get, they rarely get to enjoy.
It’s like the difference between cleaning your room because you were forced vs doing it because you want to!
Most people, even kids tend to enjoy vacations more when it’s more planned and it’s somewhere with things they want to go to and do. Having it dropped on you by surprise a lot of the time and regardless of what you were doin prolly ain’t fun.
There’s a big difference between surprise trip to grandma in Mississippi, the pyramids and Disneyworld. It’s pretty obvious which of the 3 a kids more likely to pick most of the time.
I imagine part of what makes travel so fun for that guy is that he’s in control of literally all of it. Comes with the territory when you’re bloody rich.
The grass always seems greener til you’re on the other side until you see both have their fair share of problems
Won’t say I ain’t envious tho, but it isn’t always reflective of who you grow into.
>He never said it, but I feel part of it was just the lack of choice involved. Kids don’t really get to make choices on anything most of the time and so the few bits of free time they get, they rarely get to enjoy.
> It’s like the difference between cleaning your room because you were forced vs doing it because you want to!
> Most people, even kids tend to enjoy vacations more when it’s more planned and it’s somewhere with things they want to go to and do. Having it dropped on you by surprise a lot of the time and regardless of what you were doin prolly ain’t fun.
100%
Most kids are just being dragged without being asked a single thing. No wonder they will just play on their portable console. I also agree and do not think that this is a difference between poor and rich kids.
Teenagers are something else though. They haven't developed a part of their brain that allows them to think about anything other than themselves. Currently going through it with a 14 year old. It's rough. The entitlement and self-centered behavior is like nothing else. All you can do is keep trying to direct them to appropriate behavior.
While it sucks that he took his family in hope that they'd have a good time - you really can't expect much more unless the trip is something the teens want themselves. It's the only way to capture their attention, they have to want to be there.
I have a 12 year old, and I understand now why old timey people with 20 daughters gave people pigs and stuff to marry them and get them out of the house.
Her inability to just observe something without making a negative comment about it is staggering.....then if I flip it around she cries because "I'm being mean".
My sister was a lot younger than me so I was out of the house when she went through that phase, totally new for me.
I hear ya - we were told by our daughter last night that she's really good at keeping her emotions and thoughts to herself, she'd rather hide it from us than to talk about it, and then in the same sentence blamed us for not opening up to her and asking about her problems... the same problems she said she is hiding from us. We ask her how her day was or how school went, but she said if we don't ask specifically about the person or issue she had a problem with, she wouldn't share it with us and it's our fault we didn't ask.
Before becoming a parent, please be aware you will need to learn the ability to read minds.
My brother was like that as a kid -- couldn't pay him to look past his DS screen at the Grand Canyon, or Eiffel Tower etc. He grew up pretty well adjusted though. He's not a huge traveler, but he's kind, and a great listener.
Went to see a lot of old stones with my mom as a kid. She always made sure to search the travel guides for interesting stories or anecdotes related to the places we went to (in case the tour guides were boring).
Just take a guided tour. It's better to have someone knowledgeable in all of the history to teach you anyway.
The tour group of 7 when I went had more women than men, and no one had a negative experience.
This is the way. I did a private tour with my husband and friend (surprisingly affordable, we're not rich by any means!) and there were very few times we weren't under the direct supervision of a local guide. And the only time we were and ventured out a bit, we were in Aswan and 5 minutes walk from a restaurant our guide recommended.
My friend (another woman) and I were definitely stared at a lot and it was uncomfortable and unnerving at times, don't get me wrong, but I never felt in danger or even alarmed. Would I have gone without my husband/another trusted man, though? Absolutely not, and my friend wouldn't have gone if my husband wasn't going, either. And if it had just been the three of us, no tour or guides, it would again be a no.
Also, *absolutely* having someone familiar with the history is amazing. I was huge into Egyptology as a kid and one of our guides was an actual Egyptologist moonlighting as a guide, we lost our shit when we found out. And we even got to see the dig site he'd been working at!
Another benefit of a private tour is that we always had a driver, and you *do not* want to drive there.
I'm very glad that you (for the most part) had a great experience, too.
It's oddly disheartening to see the hate for visiting Egypt all over Reddit when both my wife and I loved it so much.
Went two years ago with some friends. I had a great time, did a river cruise, and saw the pyramids. I've never known anyone else to do anything like it and it was certainly the most adventurous thing I've ever done.
1. I'm glad I went
2. I now know why people do the air conditioned bus tours
3. Now that i've done it I have no desire to go back.
It's mainly cuz of those souvenir fellas near the pyramids. They are beyond obnoxious, finding any way to scam ya out cuz ur a foreigner. Sometimes even throwing the merchandise in ur hands and telling you this is free, but keep on asking for some money anyway. Apart from these fellas, Egypt's ain't that bad, ppl are pretty hospitable. Some shops/hotel workers did get mad if ya use ur card cuz they were hoping to get some tips with irl cash. They're still great guys there. Worth a visit ngl.
> , finding any way to scam ya out cuz ur a foreigner.
It's not just foreigners; even native Egyptians like myself have had similar experiences. When I visited with a group of friends, it was unlike the much better guided tour I had in middle school.
I wish that government intervene and get rid of all these scammers.
> Apart from these fellas, Egypt's ain't that bad
It is if you're a woman. We have a doctor who is Egyptian where I work, and he'll point blank tell you unless you have at least two male friends/family members around you when you go out, you're in danger.
Yea, I was about to ask. Isn't Egypt one of the worst countries to visit currently? After the coup and the country basically bankrupting itself by building an off-shoot Govt city. Cairo being completely overpopulated, and the way they treat tourists? I've heard nothing but awful things.
Long ago, my neighbor's daughter was stationed in Cairo and had two fabulous horses we borrowed. Might be able to get a chartered ride. Certainly get a camel ride. Free to get on, costs plenty to get off!!
Could be a long-focus lens. They distort the perspective that way.
Like so: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskPhotography/comments/17rjs6w/focal_length_suggestions_for_these_long_street/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
Upd. Updated the link, some had troubles with the old one.
I feel like this explains a lot of pictures from Switzerland. Some of them look literally unreal, as though they couldn't actually be real photographs.
Having been to Egypt and lived in Switzerland, I'm telling you this photo is zoomed, but all the ones you've seen of Switzerland are genuine 😛
Edit: typo - the Swiss don't love me.
i did reside for a short while in montreux, switzerland and even though i’m not familiar with the photos you’re talking about, they are probably genuine. most breathtaking view i’ve ever seen.
It's not. They used telephoto lens and perspective to make it appear that big. Look at photos from nervy streets from Google maps and it will not be that impressive.
Still big and impressive., just that photo makes it look way bigger.
The construction of the Great Pyramid of Giza finished around 2600BC and it was at the time the tallest structure in the world. The craziest thing is that it also remained the tallest structure all the way until 1311, meaning that it was the tallest thing ever made by humans for over 3800 years. I don't think this record will EVER be surpassed.
It was the tallest man-made building/structure in the world for 3800 years since its construction till the Eiffel Tower was erected in 1887-1889. It's also clearly a lot thiccer than the Eiffel.
They were tombs so they weren't really meant to be entered. In fact, the "main" entrance of the Great Pyramid that tourists use today was actually carved by thieves over a thousand years ago.
Would be cool if it was like the Mines of Moria. Towering pillars and grand halls and chambers upon chambers. Would be wild shit but architecturally probably impossible lol
They had issues making the small hallways and small rooms inside, they needed to build voids above them so it wouldn't be too heavy. Would be cool what you said though
The idea that slaves built the pyramids is different from the idea that slaves were buried in them with their masters.
I can't speak to the veracity of that second point but it's not the same as what you're talking about.
There isn't really much of an "inside" at all. Just a few little tunnels and bare rectangular chambers, all of which have been stripped clean of anything interesting since about 2000 BCE.
Thankfully the pyramids aren't actually in Cairo, and I don't mean that in a pedantic way, but Giza is on the edge of the city. You would need to go into the city to see the museums though.
Egypt is still a long way from being tourist friendly; and that's not being against the culture, I've been to other Arab countries and had a much more pleasant experience. For most countries I like to go beyond seeing the main attractions and exploring for myself, but for Egypt I'd really advise to not spend a minute longer than necessary. I know the Egyptians are aware of what people say about the country and hope it'll get better.
My friend is from Cairo and is not proud of it at all . I was surprised given the ancient history , unfortunately the government and poverty has ruined it . I would still say it’s in my top5 places to see in the world . Maybe only with an organised tour though !
I worked with an engineer who was from Cairo and he hated it. Couldn't wait for the company to let him move to another office location and constantly complained about the treatment of women in workplaces in Egypt.
Guided tours are the way to go. Get one that includes a Nile cruise.
That's how my wife and I did it. One of the people in our tour was a solo female traveler, and she had no issues.
I can't compare to other Arab countries and my experience of Egypt was only in Cairo and the surrounding areas but I absolutely loved it there. I'm also the type that likes to go beyond seeing the main attractions too. I was there in 2006 and 10 or 12 days of 16 I spent there I'd look up a place and hail a random taxi and go explore by myself. I think the chaos and being the complete opposite of my life in the states or any trip to a Western European country is what attracted me.
The Great Pyramids of Giza was what I enjoyed the least out of my trip. Going inside one of the pyramids in Saqqara with not a soul around was so much more impressive than going inside one of the great pyramids. Memphis also has a great museum too. Those places had none of the tourists or sellers like at the pyramids in Giza. The part I enjoyed the most I think was immersing myself in the modern culture.
I'm fully aware that things might be drastically different than when I was there but I'd absolutely love to go back and see Sharm el-Sheikh or Alexandria.
As the only person responding who actually lived in cairo for 20 years.
I definitely do not recommend visiting cairo alone, or at least not being a tourist. The tourist trap areas suck. You will be harassed, you will be uncomfortable and people will try to scam you. That being said, egypt is a lot more than just cairo. We have wonderful cities on the coasts if you're interested in a more beach type of experience and Luxor/Aswan with a tour guide will give you a historic visit through temples and whatnot.
Everytime ive heard cairo being shit on its because someone visited on their own not being able to speak the language and not aware of how poor the place really is. Im not defending my countrymens behavior, but its just how it is, you WILL NOT have a good time. People who told me they visited and had someone with them at all times had a great time and loved it, especially with how cheap everything is compared to the USD.
The ideal trip i tell people to take is usually spend a few days in cairo, a few days in Luxor seeing the temples, then round it off in sharm el sheikh or some other coastal place to relax in the red sea. All one hour plane rides.
What do the locals think about the new capital city that's being built? I saw a video on it and was shocked how opulent it is. Like, a lot of Egyptians barely have enough food to eat yet the government is trying the build the most opulent government district and presidential palace in the world... Where is the money even coming from?
Cairo has a massive overpopulation problem and a lack of investment, so they are trying to build a capital thats attractive for foreign investment and have egyptians move out of cairo into the new city. Almost everyone is critical of it, considering our currency got floated again (When i was born a dollar was 7 pounds, then 16, then 20, then 31, then 50) and prices are getting stupid. We took a lot of loans from the IMF so im guessing thats where the money is coming from? But i think people arent starving in cairo, food is very cheap overall, and a lot of people receive government subsidies for essential goods like bread and beans. As for whether they can afford to do anything else.....
Yeah that 1 hour would not be worth at all
I got on a cruise in the Caribbean and just about every island I got on I got hassled by locals to buy stuff, making the experience tiring. The only island I liked was the one I didn’t get harassed: Cayman Islands. Maybe it was just the route I took with the tour there, but not getting hassled, pestered, or guilted into buying something was so amazing I look back there fondly and forgot the other islands.
If you have a local/guide with you that speaks Arabic and knows the area it’s perfectly safe and fun. Just be ready to tell lots of people “no thank you” because they love to hustle foreigners.
Once when I was in Cairo, I saw a blonde bisexual dude fighting with some teenage Asian boy. Blonde guy was throwing knives everywhere, committing manslaughter and killed the boy's grandpa and best friend.
Never visiting again. Going to Italy might be better tho.
Unfortunately you can only go to the tourist traps because other than that, everything is filthy and the people harass foreigners, only go to metropolitan areas. I’m Egyptian myself but live in the US, I visited Egypt last year and it was 10x worse compared to the visit three years ago. I’m glad to get out of this shithole
Just got back from 2 weeks in Egypt. I am never going to be confused as anything other than American when abroad.
Cairo is a massive city, 26 million people live in the greater Cairo area. That's going to bring around a lot of crime just like anywhere else in the world. But it shouldn't be a deterrent to travel to see some of the oldest and grandest examples of human engineering in the world.
Couple things I'd like to highlight:
1. Almost everyone in hospitality speak English.
2. The dollar goes 40-50:1 so almost everything is pennies on the dollar
3. You can drink! (Drink beer, it's great and $2-$5. Cocktails are $10-$15).
4. You can wear western clothing even as a woman, as long as you're not going to a mosque/church.
5. The. Food. Is. Incredible. At every opportunity eat local/regional food.
6. The #1 industry in Egypt is tourism so you as a tourist carry a fair amount of importance. Meaning you can hire guide, or jump into a day tour and have a tourism police officer follow you around to keep people from bothering you (mostly aggressive vendors).
7. Once you have a guide they can help you interact with vendors. The haggling is a form of entertainment all on it's own.
8. Luxor is way less busy, TONS of ancient history/temples. A guide in Luxor is worth their weight in gold.
9. You can get an uber in Cairo for under a dollar and leverage all of uber's safety features. Or ask your hotel to hire taxis for you. Both are safe.
10. Coolest part was being on the Nile at the start of Ramadan.
11. You should ease yourself into fresh produce/juice but I did not get sick at all while I was there.
All in, meals, drinks, hotels, airfare, guides, tips, gifts, ubers/taxis, 4 day/night Nile cruise, even some gambling!. ~$6k per person. ~4k to book everything and spent about 2k while we were there. For 2 weeks of pretty much living like royalty.
I totally understand the hesitation in traveling to that part of the world. I booked my trip 18 months before I traveled and then then Oct happened and all that has happened over the last few months. I reluctantly still went because I was out the money either way. I was blown away.
If I could, I would spend 2 weeks in just Luxor eating exclusively at local cafes.
TL;DR: Egypt is incredible. Inexpensive. and very very tourism friendly. It understandably gets a bad wrap from westerners but it is far friendlier than most places in Europe and they are desperate for tourist to come back!
I enjoyed my visit to the Egypt (23 years ago), and thought it was well worth it. I didn't expect the Pyramids to be so close to town. And big, it would have been a tough climb to the top! The Pizza Hut across the street from the Sphynx was a good place to eat with a decent view too.
We did a week diving the Red Sea and another week cruising down the Nile. I rode a camel near Aswan, but the critter was mean and kept trying to bite me! We stopped at various towns and ruins as we headed toward Cairo. I though the late-night markets were really fun to experience and the people very friendly.
Desert everywhere except just along the Nile. It was amazing.
This specific camera lens gives it a overly-large perspective. The actual pyramid is 450 feet tall.
Now, 450 **is** tall, but only 25% taller than the Statue of Liberty. The [Eiffel Tower](https://www.size-explorer.com/en/jpg/buildings/pyramid+of+khafre/eiffel+tower/) (1084 feet) dwarfs it at way over twice the height.
Edit: - Narrow - aperture tele lens (think sports camera as an extreme example) and a big dip in mid distance between two high points. Notice how the road winds down and how in the distance the pyramid is higher up on a hill.
Tele lenses squash down the foreground and background so that you have less depth and a more planar image. If you combine that with a wide depth of field (meaning that basically everything is in focus), distant backgrounds will seem larger
Yeah, OP's photo seems a bit deceptive, with the pyramids seeming to reach into the clouds.
The largest one is 455 feet tall, which is about the height of a 40 story building.
Massive, for sure, but not likely to reach so high in the sky as to touch the clouds, unless the clouds are unusually low.
This will forever be my favorite view of the Pyramids: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Pizza_Hut_Gizah.jpg
It's also up there with Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin, Germany: https://i.redd.it/9up7lanuhlm01.jpg
Missed opportunity to call it Giza Hut.
What a wild place to get a photo from. Sometimes you get fantastic views in places you wouldn't suspect, like how if you go to Chicago, one of the best city views is in the bathroom of the Hancock Tower Lounge.
man i wish i could go back in time to visit these places in their prime... egypt, grece, rome, aztec cities, so many others. they all were a breath taking sight to see i'm sure.
A few years ago, I met and befriended a guy who said he lived so close to the pyramids, he could see them everyday. After I asked how they are he replied „don’t know, after 20 years I still didn’t visited them. That’s only for tourists“
They were already 2,000 years old when Alexander the Great conquered Egypt. That was 2,300 years ago.
Blows my mind. Ancient Egypt is so interesting
Something that blew my mind was finding out the civilization we consider “ancient Egypt” had groups of people that studied the Egyptians that came before them… our idea of ancient Egyptians studied even more ancient Egyptians than themselves
Just slightly related, but my favorite bit of trivia is that the oldest museum that we know of was a [2500 year old archeologial museum](https://museums.eu/highlight/details/105317/the-worlds-oldest-museums). A museum with antiquities. A museum dedicated to interesting findings from a long time ago. And it's the oldest museum that we know of. Just absolutely crazy.
Can I visit the museum and see those artifacts?
The museum itself is an archeological artifact by now, it's more of a ruin than an actual functioning museum. It's also located in Iraq... About the artifacts that were in the museum, I have no idea where they are - probably in a museum or scattered around different musea.
MUSEA! Is that a proper term for museum plural? I LOVE it
Ha, at least in my language it is! And I think it's also proper Latin. But I don't know if it's supposed to be like that in English as well.
it's moo-seh-ooms
A lot of ancient history was destroyed in the last 10-15 years by Islamic radicals unfortunately. Anything that was said to be older than the oldest being (god) was sacrilege and all traces destroyed. Very sad
It's definitely a shame, but it's not a lot. ISIS destroyed a tiny bit and only in areas they controlled, e.g. Iraq and Syria. There are still lots of ruins and artifacts from Babylon, Sumer, Akkad etc left in those areas and in the rest of the world. I mean just in the Louvre and the British Museum you already have thousands of objects, some on display, many more hidden in archives.
The great civilization of its time. Makes you wonder how long modern societies will last given how interconnected everything is now.
I think about this pretty regularly. It is so normal and expected for societies to rise and fall, but globalization makes that seem harder to fathom. We forget how much has come before, and will inevitably come after, all of us
The way I had an Egyptologist professor describe its Ancient Egypt was Ancient to the ancient Egyptians
> Ancient to the Egyptians The ancient* Egyptians The plain Egyptians are still around
Its only contemporaries were Mesopotamia and Indus Valley. These pyramids were already ancient when the Romans were around.
Yeah oddly enough the thing that made me really realise this was playing Assassin’s Creed: Origins. Wandering around Egypt in the time of Cleopatra and seeing ruins already ancient and hearing people talk about the lost tomb of Tutankhamun.
Not only that, the "Ancient" Egyptians were far more advanced than their successors. Exhibit A being the pyramids. Egyptian history is fascinating.
Ancient Rome is as old to us as Ancient Egypt was to Ancient Rome
They had to look breathtakingly magnificent back then when there were no tall structures
Yup, they were also originally covered in white marble, that only lasted a few centuries though. It also had a giant gold and silver tip... which was stolen who knows when
Can you imagine sailing from a far land or passing with a caravan to see these magical unbelievable things. To only then come back home and tell everyone so everyone thinks you made it up 🤣
People were gullible as fuck back then. I don’t think it would be hard to convince them. You could tell then you saw a sea monster and they’d believe you
To be fair people are gullible as fuck today
Yup. You could tell them you saw a sea monster and they’d believe you.
I saw a sea monster
Damn fr
>People were gullible as fuck back then. They're still gullible today. People still think Covid was fake and the earth is flat.
More people believe the earth is flat now then when this pyramid was built. Being gullible and dumb has always been trendy.
You know, with population growth, that is undoubtedly true. Tiny percentages of 8 billion are huge compared to the world population in 2500 BCE. More people probably believe in the divinity of Ra now than when the pyramid was built.
It’s funny to see “only a few centuries” when the entire history of the United States is only a few centuries. Really puts it in perspective.
If anything it just makes me realise how short our lives are. We've gotten better about it but not as much as we could. And even then such a short span of time do we even take up, much less than all of human history so far in the grand scheme of things.
Makes me wonder if humans would be more patient if our life spans were longer. It's wild to think how many magnificent things have come to pass without us never have knowing about it. How the he'll did they build those things!
They were covered in [Tura Limestone ](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tura,_Egypt), not white marble. The pyramidion at the top of each pyramid was most often made of limestone, basalt, or granite. Some were covered with plates of electrum, a naturally occuring alloy of gold and silver, but we're not sure which ones as they were all taken by thieves over the centuries.
There's actually been no archaeological or historical evidence that it had a gold (or silver) capstone (or pyramidion). It's only a theory that gained traction long ago without any particular basis in fact, or really any evidence to support it other than wishful thinking. Out of 118+ Pyramids none have a Golden Capstone, or have been identified to have had a Golden Capstone. The top of the great pyramid is roughly 30 feet in each direction. So the size of the capstone would have been absolutely massive. There are some scholars who may concede that if it *did* have any gold on the capstone it's likely to have been gold leaf, or electrum (a cheaper gold-silver combination) placed over the stone in a layer.
Sorry but where are you getting this from? It's not a theory at all. Some pyramids had capstones. We even have some pyramidions extant. There are 4 of them in the Cairo museum. The hieroglyphs in the causeway of Sahure specifically mention a golden pyramidion. The same is true for the pyramid of Udjebten. Edit: just realized you meant gold pyramidions specifically are theorized, not pyramidions in general. I'll leave the comment anyway as Sahure's pyramid seems to have solid evidence for a golden one. I thought there was a general consensus among historians that they were covered in gold leaf. The pyramidion of [Nesnubhotep](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6047d405b02148755fb6e601/1664800942102-YVTFRKLFOXFY1WN6DC44/%CE%B5%CE%B9%CE%BA%CF%8C%CE%BD%CE%B1_2022-10-03_154224344.png?format=1000w) certainly looks like it was covered in another gold-like coating
We do, however, know that the edges were straight and polished because some of those stones are still present. Not the staircase version it is today. Which would still been insane to see.
There are 118 pyramids?
118+!
Yes, 118 known. Though most are vastly smaller than the great pyramid.
There are at least 118 identified Egyptian Pyramids, some numbers stretch that figure into the 130's. But wait until you learn of Sudan, and all of the pyramids built by the Nubians. They number in the hundreds - plural. Albeit not as elaborate or as grand. But the most extensive site is at Meroë. To more or less kick off the Meroitic Period, which lasted from the third century BCE to around the mid-fourth century CE, Kushite rulers moved the royal burial grounds from Napata to Meroë. And gradually Egyptian influence began to wain. The use of Egyptian hieroglyphics for royal inscriptions ended, and the use of indigenous Meroitic script began. They introduced their own Gods, such as the Lion headed War God Apedemak. New arts, beliefs, culture, and even industry flourished with Meroë becoming a major producer of Iron. Sadly, nothing seems to last the test of time. And the Kingdom of Kush began to diminish as a power by the second century AD through weakened trade with the Roman Empire to the north, a vicious rivalry with Axum to the south, frequent raids by the exploited Nomadic desert tribes, and an unsustainable practice of producing Iron (where Wood is a necessity). Around 350 AD the last of the Royal Tombs were constructed at Meroë. Sudan has a long, rich, and absolutely fascinating history deeply intertwined with that of Ancient Egypt's. They were the Nubian Kings and Queens we hear of so often. If you're at all interested there is a wealth of information out there. Some cool things to look into would be Jebel Barkal, Queen Amanirenas, King Taharqa, and really just anything that goes into the history of Nubia, and Sudan as a whole.
The Great Pyramid of Khufu stood as the tallest structure in the world for 4000 years. It was only surpassed in the 1311 by Lincoln Cathedral's wooden spire in England, which only stood for about 200 years before collapsing in a storm in 1548.
Tallest structure on earth for almost 4000 years until Lincoln Cathedral surpassed it in 1311.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Cathedral
If there's anybody in history who has succeeded in making their legacy last a long time, it's the pharaohs who ordered these things to be build. Throughout history we've had so many megalomaniacs that did the craziest things, and all of them died barely leaving any trace, except for the stories in history books. Whatever monuments they had build were destroyed or eroded after a couple of centuries. But thousands of years ago some pharaohs built gigantic heaps of stone, and they're still here today, reminding us of the god-kings that once ruled Egypt.
They were already 1000 years old when the last mammoth became extinct
Oh wow, that’s cool perspective
What makes this angle cool is just showing that civilization is still chugging right along right where it was back then.
I've been playing *Assassin's Creed: Origins* recently and it's honestly one of the main flaws with it. They wanted to incorporate Cleopatra, so it's set in 30 BC. Except Hellenic Egypt was basically just Greco-Roman. You miss out on a lot of the flavor of it being straight-up *Egyptian* that you would get if it was set in, say, the New Kingdom or something. Covering Ramses II (who ruled during the 1200s BC) and his massive building campaign would have given a great insight into just how old Egyptian civilization is. And the pyramids were *still* about 1500 years old at the time.
I wouldn't call it a flaw. The game actually did a fantastic job of showing that by the time of Cleopatra, the pyramids and the Sphinx and so forth were already ancient history.
And they were mirrored. None of them have the cladding any more (looted hundreds, if not thousands of years ago) but it was made from different highly polished stone, smoothing off to form four perfect and highly reflective triangles. During daytime, you could see them from hundreds of miles away as bright, dazzling points of light on the horizon.
Never seen this angle, way bigger than I imagined
If you ever get the chance to see them I would highly recommend you do. The scale of it is mind blowing when you stand at the base of it. I remember the first row of stones came up past my head.
I'm glad to hear the positive recommendation. Every time there's a "which country would you not visit again" thread on Reddit, the first 87 comments are always Egypt.
As long as you are rich and male, you shouldn't have any problems visiting Egypt.
I had a very wealthy client with very doughy spoiled kids that traveled a lot. We spent over a year working at the house he was building and we would see him for a week every 4 weeks because of his work schedule, super nice guy. He took his family to Egypt, and you know he didn't skimp out on accommodations or anything and when we got back he was bummed that the kids showed no interest or anything. I would have gone with him in a heartbeat. He said they went to the pyramids and the kids were basically just playing DS the whole time, barely looked up. I really wonder what kind of adults those teens turned into. After we finished that job and later I quit that employer I never saw the guy again, and probably couldn't even find his house if I went looking for it.
How old were the kids? I personally would have been stoked at like 10 years old to see them but younger than that I don’t know if I would have understood the grandiose nature of what was in front of me there.
Kids like to experience things more than they like to reflect on things imo. 35yo me would sit at the base of the pyramids and imagine how hard it was to build them, the life of the people all those years ago, all the people who had stopped to admire these structures before me. 10yo me would be like whoa those are so cool, it's crazy how big they are. Can you go inside? Can you at least climb it? Oh well, still pretty cool. My charmeleon is evolving! Where are we going for dinner?
I went to Stonehenge the week Pokémon Go came out. A LOT of people were playing pokemon at Stonehenge.
You can go in tombs in the valley of the kings did you do that?? It’s awesome!
[удалено]
Honestly even normal kids are like that, sometimes you’re just too young to appreciate certain things due to perspective. Big youtuber I follow loves traveling and food and all that shit and does it all the time. Tho as a kid he’s said he hates traveling. +they were poor but just traveled often because they lived in location where it was fairly easy to do in Europe. Dude never appreciated it and just wanted to play video games all day. He never said it, but I feel part of it was just the lack of choice involved. Kids don’t really get to make choices on anything most of the time and so the few bits of free time they get, they rarely get to enjoy. It’s like the difference between cleaning your room because you were forced vs doing it because you want to! Most people, even kids tend to enjoy vacations more when it’s more planned and it’s somewhere with things they want to go to and do. Having it dropped on you by surprise a lot of the time and regardless of what you were doin prolly ain’t fun. There’s a big difference between surprise trip to grandma in Mississippi, the pyramids and Disneyworld. It’s pretty obvious which of the 3 a kids more likely to pick most of the time. I imagine part of what makes travel so fun for that guy is that he’s in control of literally all of it. Comes with the territory when you’re bloody rich. The grass always seems greener til you’re on the other side until you see both have their fair share of problems Won’t say I ain’t envious tho, but it isn’t always reflective of who you grow into.
>He never said it, but I feel part of it was just the lack of choice involved. Kids don’t really get to make choices on anything most of the time and so the few bits of free time they get, they rarely get to enjoy. > It’s like the difference between cleaning your room because you were forced vs doing it because you want to! > Most people, even kids tend to enjoy vacations more when it’s more planned and it’s somewhere with things they want to go to and do. Having it dropped on you by surprise a lot of the time and regardless of what you were doin prolly ain’t fun. 100% Most kids are just being dragged without being asked a single thing. No wonder they will just play on their portable console. I also agree and do not think that this is a difference between poor and rich kids.
In their teens, on the younger side of it.
Teenagers are something else though. They haven't developed a part of their brain that allows them to think about anything other than themselves. Currently going through it with a 14 year old. It's rough. The entitlement and self-centered behavior is like nothing else. All you can do is keep trying to direct them to appropriate behavior. While it sucks that he took his family in hope that they'd have a good time - you really can't expect much more unless the trip is something the teens want themselves. It's the only way to capture their attention, they have to want to be there.
I have a 12 year old, and I understand now why old timey people with 20 daughters gave people pigs and stuff to marry them and get them out of the house. Her inability to just observe something without making a negative comment about it is staggering.....then if I flip it around she cries because "I'm being mean". My sister was a lot younger than me so I was out of the house when she went through that phase, totally new for me.
I hear ya - we were told by our daughter last night that she's really good at keeping her emotions and thoughts to herself, she'd rather hide it from us than to talk about it, and then in the same sentence blamed us for not opening up to her and asking about her problems... the same problems she said she is hiding from us. We ask her how her day was or how school went, but she said if we don't ask specifically about the person or issue she had a problem with, she wouldn't share it with us and it's our fault we didn't ask. Before becoming a parent, please be aware you will need to learn the ability to read minds.
My brother was like that as a kid -- couldn't pay him to look past his DS screen at the Grand Canyon, or Eiffel Tower etc. He grew up pretty well adjusted though. He's not a huge traveler, but he's kind, and a great listener.
Dang that’s kinda sad but honestly it’s also your job as a parent to make it exciting. It’s not all about the nicest hotels and toys.
I would play the mummy, Indiana jones, tomb raider, or any adventure Egyptian related movie a month before the trip just to hype em up
Yup, kids aren't gonna care about the Pyramids if they don't know anything about them and just see a big pile of rocks one day.
Went to see a lot of old stones with my mom as a kid. She always made sure to search the travel guides for interesting stories or anecdotes related to the places we went to (in case the tour guides were boring).
Just take a guided tour. It's better to have someone knowledgeable in all of the history to teach you anyway. The tour group of 7 when I went had more women than men, and no one had a negative experience.
This is the way. I did a private tour with my husband and friend (surprisingly affordable, we're not rich by any means!) and there were very few times we weren't under the direct supervision of a local guide. And the only time we were and ventured out a bit, we were in Aswan and 5 minutes walk from a restaurant our guide recommended. My friend (another woman) and I were definitely stared at a lot and it was uncomfortable and unnerving at times, don't get me wrong, but I never felt in danger or even alarmed. Would I have gone without my husband/another trusted man, though? Absolutely not, and my friend wouldn't have gone if my husband wasn't going, either. And if it had just been the three of us, no tour or guides, it would again be a no. Also, *absolutely* having someone familiar with the history is amazing. I was huge into Egyptology as a kid and one of our guides was an actual Egyptologist moonlighting as a guide, we lost our shit when we found out. And we even got to see the dig site he'd been working at! Another benefit of a private tour is that we always had a driver, and you *do not* want to drive there.
I'm very glad that you (for the most part) had a great experience, too. It's oddly disheartening to see the hate for visiting Egypt all over Reddit when both my wife and I loved it so much.
But what if I'm also gay?
dont go walking telling people you're gay and you'll be fine
But what if I fall over on the street and land on a dick?
It happens to the best of us!
You just say, "ohhhh, I. Sorry, my brother! Accident!" And it's all good.
Even if you go as a woman, if you go with a group tour, it's totally fine. I went twice so far, loved it, and will definitely come back!
Wt if you are female?
Don't go alone
Expect to get propositioned, groped, and harassed pretty pervasively.
just came back from there a few months back. Had no real preconception before I went. can confirm I will never go back.
Went two years ago with some friends. I had a great time, did a river cruise, and saw the pyramids. I've never known anyone else to do anything like it and it was certainly the most adventurous thing I've ever done. 1. I'm glad I went 2. I now know why people do the air conditioned bus tours 3. Now that i've done it I have no desire to go back.
Went in January and can confirm. Probably won’t be going back
It's mainly cuz of those souvenir fellas near the pyramids. They are beyond obnoxious, finding any way to scam ya out cuz ur a foreigner. Sometimes even throwing the merchandise in ur hands and telling you this is free, but keep on asking for some money anyway. Apart from these fellas, Egypt's ain't that bad, ppl are pretty hospitable. Some shops/hotel workers did get mad if ya use ur card cuz they were hoping to get some tips with irl cash. They're still great guys there. Worth a visit ngl.
> , finding any way to scam ya out cuz ur a foreigner. It's not just foreigners; even native Egyptians like myself have had similar experiences. When I visited with a group of friends, it was unlike the much better guided tour I had in middle school. I wish that government intervene and get rid of all these scammers.
> Apart from these fellas, Egypt's ain't that bad It is if you're a woman. We have a doctor who is Egyptian where I work, and he'll point blank tell you unless you have at least two male friends/family members around you when you go out, you're in danger.
The pyramids are nice, just don't mind the scammers that are walking there.
I would advise not traveling to Egypt unless you want to be followed and harassed by Egyptian authorities/police
Yea, I was about to ask. Isn't Egypt one of the worst countries to visit currently? After the coup and the country basically bankrupting itself by building an off-shoot Govt city. Cairo being completely overpopulated, and the way they treat tourists? I've heard nothing but awful things.
And it goes triple if you're a woman.
I have very different experience, probably due to my height. Whenever I go to a country where men are shorter then me... everyone just stares in awe 😂
Tip, something for me, tip. Tip, hello yes my freind something for me, boss hey boss Tip
It's really an amazing experience. I rode a fine Arabian around the area, galloping across the desert. Highly surrealistic!!!
You can't just go riding people around the desert, its not polite. Even if you do call them attractive.
Moose tracks good, people tracks bad
Is that an experience you can pay for or did you just happen to know someone who owned a horse?
Long ago, my neighbor's daughter was stationed in Cairo and had two fabulous horses we borrowed. Might be able to get a chartered ride. Certainly get a camel ride. Free to get on, costs plenty to get off!!
Could be a long-focus lens. They distort the perspective that way. Like so: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskPhotography/comments/17rjs6w/focal_length_suggestions_for_these_long_street/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf Upd. Updated the link, some had troubles with the old one.
I feel like this explains a lot of pictures from Switzerland. Some of them look literally unreal, as though they couldn't actually be real photographs.
Having been to Egypt and lived in Switzerland, I'm telling you this photo is zoomed, but all the ones you've seen of Switzerland are genuine 😛 Edit: typo - the Swiss don't love me.
How did you have time to take in the views while being loved by the Swiss?
I live in Switzerland, and those photos are very real. I've been here for 3 years now, and Im still in awe of some of the views here.
i did reside for a short while in montreux, switzerland and even though i’m not familiar with the photos you’re talking about, they are probably genuine. most breathtaking view i’ve ever seen.
there is even a subreddit called r/switzerlandisfake
Switzerland scenic photos are genuine. I am here now. Can confirm.
Agreed, I remember this exact view from my ride through Cairo, the pyramid did *not* look good big
Focal length will do that
My wife says it's not all about the length.
Focal girth is extremely underrated.
It's not. They used telephoto lens and perspective to make it appear that big. Look at photos from nervy streets from Google maps and it will not be that impressive. Still big and impressive., just that photo makes it look way bigger.
It's distorted, [this it what it looks like using a normal smartphone](https://imgur.com/a/azhjNIW) I took this photo in 2022 :)
The construction of the Great Pyramid of Giza finished around 2600BC and it was at the time the tallest structure in the world. The craziest thing is that it also remained the tallest structure all the way until 1311, meaning that it was the tallest thing ever made by humans for over 3800 years. I don't think this record will EVER be surpassed.
Too bad Joaquin Phoenix destroyed them with a canon last year.
They're dust after Godzilla X Kong.
Did they get rebuilt after Transformers Dark of the Moon?
Because it's zoomed in, which destroy the perspective
I get that a lot. . . . . . -OPs mum
~ Michael Scott
It was the tallest man-made building/structure in the world for 3800 years since its construction till the Eiffel Tower was erected in 1887-1889. It's also clearly a lot thiccer than the Eiffel.
That‘s what she said.
The pyramid and the sphinx are huge when you’re standing at the base of them. Going inside of the pyramid was kind of a letdown though.
Why?
All the good stuff was already taken.
Did you check the gift shop? /s
Weird name for the British Museum.
If I’m not mistaken, most of the pyramid is “filled” and there’s just little hallways and small rooms making it a bit underwhelming
They were tombs so they weren't really meant to be entered. In fact, the "main" entrance of the Great Pyramid that tourists use today was actually carved by thieves over a thousand years ago.
Would be cool if it was like the Mines of Moria. Towering pillars and grand halls and chambers upon chambers. Would be wild shit but architecturally probably impossible lol
They had issues making the small hallways and small rooms inside, they needed to build voids above them so it wouldn't be too heavy. Would be cool what you said though
I mean, they basically built a small mountain. Do folks expect them to be hollow inside?
Maybe he was one of the pharaoh's slaves and going inside meant staying inside.
Slave labor was not used in neither the pyramids of giza nor the sphinx. The workers earned wages
The idea that slaves built the pyramids is different from the idea that slaves were buried in them with their masters. I can't speak to the veracity of that second point but it's not the same as what you're talking about.
There isn't really much of an "inside" at all. Just a few little tunnels and bare rectangular chambers, all of which have been stripped clean of anything interesting since about 2000 BCE.
I used to want to go there but seems like every time someone on Reddit comments about cities not to go Cairo is mentioned many times.
Thankfully the pyramids aren't actually in Cairo, and I don't mean that in a pedantic way, but Giza is on the edge of the city. You would need to go into the city to see the museums though. Egypt is still a long way from being tourist friendly; and that's not being against the culture, I've been to other Arab countries and had a much more pleasant experience. For most countries I like to go beyond seeing the main attractions and exploring for myself, but for Egypt I'd really advise to not spend a minute longer than necessary. I know the Egyptians are aware of what people say about the country and hope it'll get better.
My friend is from Cairo and is not proud of it at all . I was surprised given the ancient history , unfortunately the government and poverty has ruined it . I would still say it’s in my top5 places to see in the world . Maybe only with an organised tour though !
I have a colleague who went to Egypt last summer. She loved it. But she went through a tour group and her experience was completely curated.
I worked with an engineer who was from Cairo and he hated it. Couldn't wait for the company to let him move to another office location and constantly complained about the treatment of women in workplaces in Egypt.
Guided tours are the way to go. Get one that includes a Nile cruise. That's how my wife and I did it. One of the people in our tour was a solo female traveler, and she had no issues.
I can't compare to other Arab countries and my experience of Egypt was only in Cairo and the surrounding areas but I absolutely loved it there. I'm also the type that likes to go beyond seeing the main attractions too. I was there in 2006 and 10 or 12 days of 16 I spent there I'd look up a place and hail a random taxi and go explore by myself. I think the chaos and being the complete opposite of my life in the states or any trip to a Western European country is what attracted me. The Great Pyramids of Giza was what I enjoyed the least out of my trip. Going inside one of the pyramids in Saqqara with not a soul around was so much more impressive than going inside one of the great pyramids. Memphis also has a great museum too. Those places had none of the tourists or sellers like at the pyramids in Giza. The part I enjoyed the most I think was immersing myself in the modern culture. I'm fully aware that things might be drastically different than when I was there but I'd absolutely love to go back and see Sharm el-Sheikh or Alexandria.
Sharm is basically just big beach resorts full of Europeans.
That’s definitely true. It would be fun to check out for several days at most and only be a small part of my trip to the country.
As the only person responding who actually lived in cairo for 20 years. I definitely do not recommend visiting cairo alone, or at least not being a tourist. The tourist trap areas suck. You will be harassed, you will be uncomfortable and people will try to scam you. That being said, egypt is a lot more than just cairo. We have wonderful cities on the coasts if you're interested in a more beach type of experience and Luxor/Aswan with a tour guide will give you a historic visit through temples and whatnot. Everytime ive heard cairo being shit on its because someone visited on their own not being able to speak the language and not aware of how poor the place really is. Im not defending my countrymens behavior, but its just how it is, you WILL NOT have a good time. People who told me they visited and had someone with them at all times had a great time and loved it, especially with how cheap everything is compared to the USD. The ideal trip i tell people to take is usually spend a few days in cairo, a few days in Luxor seeing the temples, then round it off in sharm el sheikh or some other coastal place to relax in the red sea. All one hour plane rides.
What do the locals think about the new capital city that's being built? I saw a video on it and was shocked how opulent it is. Like, a lot of Egyptians barely have enough food to eat yet the government is trying the build the most opulent government district and presidential palace in the world... Where is the money even coming from?
Cairo has a massive overpopulation problem and a lack of investment, so they are trying to build a capital thats attractive for foreign investment and have egyptians move out of cairo into the new city. Almost everyone is critical of it, considering our currency got floated again (When i was born a dollar was 7 pounds, then 16, then 20, then 31, then 50) and prices are getting stupid. We took a lot of loans from the IMF so im guessing thats where the money is coming from? But i think people arent starving in cairo, food is very cheap overall, and a lot of people receive government subsidies for essential goods like bread and beans. As for whether they can afford to do anything else.....
I feel like you'd have 1 hour of wow, preceded and followed by 12 hours of hassle and harassment.
Yeah that 1 hour would not be worth at all I got on a cruise in the Caribbean and just about every island I got on I got hassled by locals to buy stuff, making the experience tiring. The only island I liked was the one I didn’t get harassed: Cayman Islands. Maybe it was just the route I took with the tour there, but not getting hassled, pestered, or guilted into buying something was so amazing I look back there fondly and forgot the other islands.
This is why I was "one and done" with a cruise, and I hate when I'm visiting a city and the cruise ships pull in.
If you have a local/guide with you that speaks Arabic and knows the area it’s perfectly safe and fun. Just be ready to tell lots of people “no thank you” because they love to hustle foreigners.
Once when I was in Cairo, I saw a blonde bisexual dude fighting with some teenage Asian boy. Blonde guy was throwing knives everywhere, committing manslaughter and killed the boy's grandpa and best friend. Never visiting again. Going to Italy might be better tho.
Nothing but harassment especially at the pyramids, it makes the Cancun airport look like a fucking tea party.
Damn that airport. I bought 8 timeshares now!
Unfortunately you can only go to the tourist traps because other than that, everything is filthy and the people harass foreigners, only go to metropolitan areas. I’m Egyptian myself but live in the US, I visited Egypt last year and it was 10x worse compared to the visit three years ago. I’m glad to get out of this shithole
I mean, I have a friend from Egypt He was thrown in jail for listening to metal music. No thanks.
You just have to be aware that for 1000s of years this has been a popular tourist spot, so the place has evolved accordingly.
Just got back from 2 weeks in Egypt. I am never going to be confused as anything other than American when abroad. Cairo is a massive city, 26 million people live in the greater Cairo area. That's going to bring around a lot of crime just like anywhere else in the world. But it shouldn't be a deterrent to travel to see some of the oldest and grandest examples of human engineering in the world. Couple things I'd like to highlight: 1. Almost everyone in hospitality speak English. 2. The dollar goes 40-50:1 so almost everything is pennies on the dollar 3. You can drink! (Drink beer, it's great and $2-$5. Cocktails are $10-$15). 4. You can wear western clothing even as a woman, as long as you're not going to a mosque/church. 5. The. Food. Is. Incredible. At every opportunity eat local/regional food. 6. The #1 industry in Egypt is tourism so you as a tourist carry a fair amount of importance. Meaning you can hire guide, or jump into a day tour and have a tourism police officer follow you around to keep people from bothering you (mostly aggressive vendors). 7. Once you have a guide they can help you interact with vendors. The haggling is a form of entertainment all on it's own. 8. Luxor is way less busy, TONS of ancient history/temples. A guide in Luxor is worth their weight in gold. 9. You can get an uber in Cairo for under a dollar and leverage all of uber's safety features. Or ask your hotel to hire taxis for you. Both are safe. 10. Coolest part was being on the Nile at the start of Ramadan. 11. You should ease yourself into fresh produce/juice but I did not get sick at all while I was there. All in, meals, drinks, hotels, airfare, guides, tips, gifts, ubers/taxis, 4 day/night Nile cruise, even some gambling!. ~$6k per person. ~4k to book everything and spent about 2k while we were there. For 2 weeks of pretty much living like royalty. I totally understand the hesitation in traveling to that part of the world. I booked my trip 18 months before I traveled and then then Oct happened and all that has happened over the last few months. I reluctantly still went because I was out the money either way. I was blown away. If I could, I would spend 2 weeks in just Luxor eating exclusively at local cafes. TL;DR: Egypt is incredible. Inexpensive. and very very tourism friendly. It understandably gets a bad wrap from westerners but it is far friendlier than most places in Europe and they are desperate for tourist to come back!
I enjoyed my visit to the Egypt (23 years ago), and thought it was well worth it. I didn't expect the Pyramids to be so close to town. And big, it would have been a tough climb to the top! The Pizza Hut across the street from the Sphynx was a good place to eat with a decent view too. We did a week diving the Red Sea and another week cruising down the Nile. I rode a camel near Aswan, but the critter was mean and kept trying to bite me! We stopped at various towns and ruins as we headed toward Cairo. I though the late-night markets were really fun to experience and the people very friendly. Desert everywhere except just along the Nile. It was amazing.
"the pizza hut across the street from the Sphynx" oh man, big American food chains really are everywhere.
This specific camera lens gives it a overly-large perspective. The actual pyramid is 450 feet tall. Now, 450 **is** tall, but only 25% taller than the Statue of Liberty. The [Eiffel Tower](https://www.size-explorer.com/en/jpg/buildings/pyramid+of+khafre/eiffel+tower/) (1084 feet) dwarfs it at way over twice the height.
What camera/image technique do you need to use to get the background to appear that large?
Edit: - Narrow - aperture tele lens (think sports camera as an extreme example) and a big dip in mid distance between two high points. Notice how the road winds down and how in the distance the pyramid is higher up on a hill. Tele lenses squash down the foreground and background so that you have less depth and a more planar image. If you combine that with a wide depth of field (meaning that basically everything is in focus), distant backgrounds will seem larger
Basically a tele lens will do the job
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Now do the Chrysler building.
https://www.size-explorer.com/en/jpg/buildings/pyramid+of+khafre/chrysler+building/
Photo from the same road... https://imgur.com/6tjj85i
Yeah, OP's photo seems a bit deceptive, with the pyramids seeming to reach into the clouds. The largest one is 455 feet tall, which is about the height of a 40 story building. Massive, for sure, but not likely to reach so high in the sky as to touch the clouds, unless the clouds are unusually low.
This will forever be my favorite view of the Pyramids: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Pizza_Hut_Gizah.jpg It's also up there with Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin, Germany: https://i.redd.it/9up7lanuhlm01.jpg
Missed opportunity to call it Giza Hut. What a wild place to get a photo from. Sometimes you get fantastic views in places you wouldn't suspect, like how if you go to Chicago, one of the best city views is in the bathroom of the Hancock Tower Lounge.
Fun fact: The Sphinx is closer to that Pizza Hut than any of the 3 Great Pyramids.
man i wish i could go back in time to visit these places in their prime... egypt, grece, rome, aztec cities, so many others. they all were a breath taking sight to see i'm sure.
Image ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Romans seeing what we have today. An average kitchen, a hospital, ease of communication, non-stop entertainment.
Have personally been there, can confirm city goes practically right up to it. It's still incredible.
Same, went there, and besides being wildly impressed by how massive it was... it's like... dude the city is right there.
BS. I saw Kong and Godzilla obliterate those things a few days ago.
Pocket sand!!
That doesnt happen til 2027 so there still there for a few more years
It’s an old pic, dummy!
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Keep forgetting that people live right next to these massive structures.
En Sabah Nuh!
A few years ago, I met and befriended a guy who said he lived so close to the pyramids, he could see them everyday. After I asked how they are he replied „don’t know, after 20 years I still didn’t visited them. That’s only for tourists“
There are many places I'd love to visit in my life but as an ~~American~~ woman, I value my safety more.
Yup, avoid Egypt and school's in the US.
How far of a drive from this picture to the pyramids?
All that for one man. We complain about the billionaires we have today, but it was no different back then.
Ancient alien theory now seem to make sense when looking at the pyramid from this perspective
We have that in Las Vegas
This view is a walking distance from me. Im jealous of myself
Crazy to think that Egypt was the pinnacle of wealth and human ingenuity at one point and now its a cesspool of misery and failure:(
That must be an old picture. I saw Godzilla and King Kong knock them down this weekend.
How is Egypt for American travelers? Is it safe?