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We will pick you up in a comfortable private car from your location to visit the most important landmarks. We will visit the Pyramid of Khufu. The pyramids are not constructed to create beautiful monuments.
After that, we go to the Khafre pyramid. Due to the fact that it still has some of its limestone covering, the slightly smaller pyramid of Khafre is immediately identifiable. Its location on a sort of rocky elevation makes it appear taller than its neighbor...The smallest pyramid, the Menkaure pyramid, is "only" 65 meters high.
The Sphinx measures 73 meters long, 14 meters wide, and 20 meters high... It's made from a single block, its body and head carved from the rock itself! It is therefore the largest monolithic structure in the world. Built around 2500 BC, it is generally attributed to Khafre, although some theories attribute it to Khufu.
A few centuries after its construction, the body was entirely covered in painted plaster, of which a few remaining colors can still be seen in places.
As for its missing nose, that's not Obelix's fault; that's fake news, or rather, a conspiracy. It's also not the fault of Napoleon and his troops (as was commonly said) for misaimed cannon aim. It seems to be much older and to be a case of vandalism during the Mamluk era, when a religious leader saw it as a sign of idolatry on the part of Egyptian peasants.
Our trip also includes a visit to Saqqara. It is the first known pyramid in Egypt and dates back to 2600 BC. Designed by the brilliant architect Imhotep, it is the funerary monument of Pharaoh Djoser, king of the Third Dynasty.
A few kilometers south of Saqqara, two pyramids await you, one of which has a strange shape. Two pyramids belonging to our good old King Snefru. Wait a minute, the guy had a pyramid built in Meydum, which he abandoned on a whim, then had not one but two other pyramids rebuilt? The workers must have been happy.
What happened? Good old Snefru, who wanted a flashy pyramid in Meydum, realized that, after all, he was going to be a bit far from the Saqqara necropolis, a bit alone in the world (50 kilometers, that's not exactly next door). So he decided to abandon Meydum to have a new pyramid rebuilt in Dashur, located only 10 kilometers south of Saqqara. Discover with us about Dahshur, the Bent Pyramid, and the Red Pyramid.
Meals: Lunch at a local restaurant.
