Cairo Day 3: Visiting the Pyramids!

Our third day was our trip to Giza, Dahshur, and Sakkara, but due to the number of pictures we'll split this into two posts.  We had planned on going to Giza on our own, but also really wanted to go to Dahshur. We read online that getting a taxi or a driver to go out that far was pretty hard to do, so we jumped at the opportunity to go.  Because we went on a guided tour, we started out really early about 8:30 with a drive to Giza.  The drive was pretty uneventful, but seeing the pyramids for the first time was really cool.  The air quality in Cairo was awful though with lots of smog/dust in the air so there was a dusty haze around the pyramids.  We thought the driver from the hostel was going to be a guide for the day, but really he was just there to drive us around.

Instead of taking us to the pyramids, he took us to a shop where they do horseback ride tours of the pyramids.  After trying to convince us that going to the pyramids on foot was a terrible idea and that the shop's price was better than the individual prices, we finally gave in and signed up for their shortest trip.  It probably did end up costing more than it would have to go by foot, but aside from that it was pretty fun.

For as dirty as Cairo was, the streets around Giza were so much worse.  It was kind of disgusting to see one of the wonders of the world surrounded by so much trash.  It was sad and disheartening.  There were also camels all over Giza for riding to the pyramids and they were kind of gross.  I'm no big fan of camels it turns out.  I guess I never realized how big they really are.  We ended up opting for horses instead.

Us riding horses

Lots of pyramids in a row

The little kid walked with us the whole time guiding my horse.

Sphinxees!

We both wanted to go to the Solar Boat museum, but "didn't have time" according to the tour guide.  This was pretty disappointing and made it harder to enjoy the tour since it didn't seem to be about what we wanted to do, just what the tour guide was willing to do.

Soon we were back at the shop and on our way to Dahshur.

Catch up on the rest of our trip:
Holy Mother of Chaos
Cairo Day 0
Cairo Day 1
Cairo Day 2