There used to be two pink granite obelisks at the gateway to Luxor. One remains, but the second obelisk now stands in the Place de la Concorde in Paris. The King of Egypt gifted the obelisk to the King of France in 1829. The original plan was to gift both of the obelisks, but it took three years to get the first one there and the second one, which was even larger and heavier than the first, was too large to transport.
After our four day journey down the Nile River, it was time to fly back to Cairo. From the air we saw lots of dessert, a couple of pyramids, and then the city of Cairo. We stayed at the Four Seasons Hotel Cairo at Nile Plaza which had a lovely view of the city... especially at night.
As we explored the sights in and around Cairo during the next couple of days, we indulged in some people watching about town.
The Alabaster Mosque, which was built between 1825 and 1848, has two 275 foot tall minarets that have the distinction of being the tallest minarets in Egypt. The mosque is primarily made of limestone, but is called the alabaster mosque because it has marble paneling on both interior and exterior walls.
Khan el-Khalili is an open-air bazaar with a multitude of shops and souks. The area has been utilized as a shopping district since the 14th century. The merchants sell spices, handicrafts, jewelry, perfumes, textiles, oils, and assorted other items. There are also small traditional coffeehouses where you can indulge in coffee, tea, or smoking a hookah. The market is colorful and bustling with activity.
Sakkara is a necropolis or burial site that was used for the ancient Egyptian capital city of Memphis. The earliest remains date back to almost 3,000 BC and were interred in mastabas which are small rectangular flat-roofed structures made of mud-bricks. Sixteen different Egyptian kings built pyramids at Sakkara and numerous high officials were also interred at Sakkara.
One of the very early pyramids we saw was the tomb of the pharaoh Userkaf. It was part of a larger complex which included a mortuary and a chapel, but all that remains today is a mound of rubble.
In addition to human remains buried at Sakkara, there is also a catacomb at Sakkara which contains animal mummies. An excavation team uncovered almost eight million mummified animals at the site in 2011. Although most of the animals were dogs, there were also foxes, cats, mongoose, and falcons.
The Step Pyramid, which is located in the necropolis at Sakkara, was the very first pyramid built in Egypt. It was built for King Djoser in the 27th century BC and designed by Djoser's advisor, Imhotep. The pyramid has six steps, or layers, and rises to a height of nearly 200 feet. Below ground there was a complex array of galleries with about 400 rooms.
The pyramid was surrounded by an enclosure. The entrance is a small corridor in the middle of the enclosure wall. This opens up into a large area with 40 limestone columns that formed a series of alcoves. The 24 alcoves were believed to have statues of the king or perhaps some deities. The complex also contained a temple where daily rituals could be performed.
Sesheshet, who was the mother of King Titi, was buried in the necropolis at Sakkara. The remains of her pyramid was discovered in 2008. The original pyramid was believed to be about 45 feet tall, but only the base and the bottom 16 feet remain.
The National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, which opened in 2021, has an amazing collection of 50,000 artifacts including 22 well preserved and beautifully displayed mummies. Unfortunately, photos were not allowed in the hall of mummies, but we did get some worthwhile photos of items in the main collection.
The second photo shows the second-oldest Egyptian skeleton ever discovered. It is about 35,000 years old. In the third photo you can see an amazing feat of medical technology that occurred about 1,000 BC. The exhibit shows the prosthetic toe of a man from Luxor named Tabaket en Mut.
