Giza Pyramids and Sphinx

With school being finished on Tuesday, I had two days to visit things in Cairo I hadn't gotten a chance to see yet. I had saved Egypt's biggest attraction - the Pyramids - for my last week abroad, despite the fact that they were only located around three miles from my apartment.

I began by taking the metro from Dokki to Giza Station. Although I had been in Giza plenty of times before, I had never been near its center. The term "suburban sprawl" comes to mind, as Giza is an immense suburb of Cairo, heavily polluted and overly crowded. Cairo's second most prestigious university, Cairo University, is located near the center of Giza. I took a taxi from Giza Station to the Pyramids.

The cost of a ticket to the Pyramids grounds is only 30 LE for a student. There are a limited number of tickets to see the interior of each of the pyramids, though I opted not to purchase one, as I heard from many people that the interior is uninteresting. I had expected a great amount of haggling at the pyramids considering what I had heard from people who had visited, but it wasn't too bad at all. Mostly I was just asked a bunch of times if I wanted camel or horse rides. Nothing could compare to the amount of haggling I had experienced in Luxor.

The Pyramids sit on a plateau to the west of Giza. The plateau is entirely desert terrain, and everything to the west of the plateau is desert as well. In other words, the Pyramids are the western edge of the Cairo metropolitan region. Surpringly, there is a great view from the plateau over all of suburban Giza. One can see a cloudy, polluted haze hanging over Giza. It is also possible to see the smaller pyramids of Saqqara in the distance, located a short drive from Cairo.

View of Giza from the plateau.


As expected, the Pyramids themselves are impressive. There are three of them at Giza - the Great Pyramid of Khufu, the Pyramid of Khafre, and the smaller Pyramid of Menkaure. You can approach the front of each pyramid, but the other four sides of each pyramid are roped off. The area surrounding the pyramids is sandy and undeveloped. There are a few roads around the plateau, but for the most part it looks like it has for thousands of years. There are a number of smaller structures on the plateau, which are associated with the Pyramid of Menkaure.

The Pyramids.





At the bottom of the plateau is the Sphinx. Though large compared to a person, the Sphinx is dwarfed by the pyramids that surround it. The area around the Sphinx is a little more developed in terms of modern structures.

The Sphinx and the bottom of the plateau.



The Pyramids are perhaps the most visited site in Egypt, and they are certainly worth the visit. The ticket is cheap, they are easily accessible from other parts of Cairo, and the plateau is so expansive that I can't imagine it ever feeling crowded.

I took a taxi back from the Pyramids to my apartment. As I mentioned, the distance is only about three miles, yet the amount of Giza traffic at midday was so intense that the ride took about forty-five minutes.

Some thoughts on traffic in Cairo

I've mentioned the subject of traffic in Cairo in my blog before, but watching it a little more closely has made me want to write a post about it.

In short, traffic in and around Cairo is utterly chaotic, and as far as I can tell, there are no traffic rules enforced. Fortunately, compared to the United States, speed of vehicles is not an issue, as most drivers tend to drive slow. The major problem with traffic is that drivers simply do what they want to get where they want to go.

I have only seen about two traffic lights in the whole city, in Tahrir Square. Some of the other major traffic squares have police officers to direct traffic. Aside from that, intersections are a free-for-all. There is a section along the bus route in New Cairo where two busy roads intersect and there is no rhyme or reason to cross. The bus just crosses the street slowly and tries to avoid cars coming in the perpendicular direction.

There are traffic lanes painted on the street, but it seems drivers think they are guidelines for the middle of the vehicle rather than the edge of the vehicle. Cars, trucks, and buses dart in and out of lanes on a whim. Taxis and buses discharge passengers at random points, even on the highway. While there are crossing lanes, they are useless since traffic almost never comes to a complete stop. Crossing the street involves either running across oncoming traffic, or crossing one lane at a time while the other lanes clear.

Sidewalks are not a place for walking. If a street even has a sidewalk, it is usually occupied by shopkeepers and merchants attempting to sell some goods. Additionally the sidewalks are not consistent; one building may have a flat paved sidewalk, while the next may simply have a pile of sand, and the next building may have a sidewalk that is elevated several feet above the rest of the street. The only practical place to walk is on the street, just beside the parked cars.

The horn is used liberally, and can mean "I am pulling over" or "I need to get by" but most times it is used just for the sake of letting everyone else know you are coming down the street. Lights are never used at night unless they are flashed to indicate "you can pass." Rather than go to a car wash, bowabs wash their residents' cars on the side of the street.

While police officers can be found on every street corner in Cairo, there are no police cars that patrol the roads like in the United States. I've only seen one or two in my stay. There are ambulances, but they struggle to get past traffic, since there is usually no room to pull over to let the ambulance pass.

It's hard to get a feel for the traffic without mentioning specific occurrences. Among the entertaining traffic sights I've seen in my experience so far:

• A bus packed beyond capacity, such that two men were literally hanging onto the door of the bus, while driving on the highway.
• A minibus involved in a fender bender with a minivan, causing the bumper of the minivan to come off. The woman driving the minivan got out of her car and ran to the nearest police officer. The minibus drove away, while the police officer simply yelled "stop" a few times.
• A small collision on the highway, between a minibus and a car. The two drivers exited their vehicles and immediately ran at each other and broke out into fisticuffs, while traffic waited behind. I didn't see how it ended.
• Donkeys pulling fruit carts on busy streets is a regular occurrence.
• Pickup trucks with half a dozen to a dozen workers in the back is quite normal.
• Boys riding bicycles with a tray of teas and coffees in one hand.
• Boys riding bicycles on the street with one hand, either other hand balancing a board on their head. The board is about the size of a surfboard with about one hundred loaves of bread resting on top. I'm always amazed when I see this.
• Pickup trucks with cargo packed about three to four times the height of the vehicle.
  

Given the huge population density and the size of the streets of Cairo, it's understandable why the traffic situation is so crazy. It certainly keeps things interesting. Luckily I don't have to drive in the city, so I get to observe the situation from the passenger's perspective. One advantage through all of this is that one never has to wait to catch a bus or taxi, and they can bring you anywhere in the city relatively quickly.

Second day at the new campus

Today was my second day at the new AUC campus in New Cairo, located about 35 miles outside of the city.

One of the AUC professors gave a great lecture today on the greatest impact of Egypt on North American culture. His argument was that the Great Pyramid of Giza (located about 3 miles from my apartment by the way) contributed more to American culture than anything else from Egypt. Charles Piazzi Smyth was a British mathematician who formulated a book that examined the relationship of the British inch to the Great Pyramid. After measuring the dimensions of the pyramid in inches, he was able to formulate a convincing argument which stated that the Pyramid was divinely inspired and predicted the covenant of Abraham and the birth of Christ. As a result of the book he published, he gained support for continuation of the British measurement system. He believed it to be divinely inspired, and sought to oppose the metric system developed by the French. His influence eventually forced Congress to adopt the inch as the official measurement, and to reject the metric system. Although Smyth's assessment is no longer accepted, it still used the Great Pyramid to influence an important aspect of Western society.

The same professor, who is also an administrator, told us honestly that they were aware there were hassles within the AUC administration and that they will be resolved as soon as possible. A few things at AUC have been disorganized but I appreciated someone saying that they were aware of them, rather than pretending as if they didn't exist. Luckily I had no trouble registering with any of my classes, though I know a lot of students did.

I attended the second day of the intensive Survival Arabic class, which had only one other student attending. I would highly recommend this course for any future study abroad students who come to AUC, as I have picked up so much in the past two days.

The return to the city from the new campus, however, highlighted perhaps Cairo's biggest detraction: traffic. We were told that there was a big accident in the city so we could not take Qasr Al-Nil Bridge, which is one of the two bridges that crosses the Nile. As a result, it seemed every car in the city was trying to go across 6th October Bridge. I enjoyed seeing part of the city I had not yet seen, but after two hours on the bus I decided I would get off and walk. I ambled around Mohandeseen (the name means "engineers"), which is a wealthy district just north of Doqqi.

The biggest difference I noticed between Mohandeseen and Doqqi is the quality of the apartments and stores. Mohandeseen's apartment buildings are taller and in better condition, and there appeared to be, generally speaking, more expensive-end stores in Mohandeseen.

In Mohandeseen I passed the Shooting Club on Nadi al-Sid Street. In Egypt, organized sports are generally reserved for the wealthy upper class. Some kids can be seen kicking footballs (soccer balls), but generally sports can only be played at the sporting clubs. Sporting clubs are large gated areas with lots of different fields and athletic facilities, along with locker rooms and perhaps other facilities. They are the equivalent of country clubs in United States, as they require an expensive membership that one typically holds for life.

A quiet night on Amer Street from my apartment



After a few days, I'm still very pleased with my apartment. Though it's old and some things could be fixed, it's spacious and so far I haven't seen a street or neighborhood on which I'd rather live. Although Doqqi shares some of Cairo's pollution problem, it seems to be mostly on Tahrir Street and Doqqi Street, but I am far enough away from those streets to not notice it from my apartment.