Here, the guardian had turned off the cameras to bribe us to take some pictures. You must crawl once you reach the top of the passage to get to the tomb chamber. Quite an interesting adventure, I must say. The passage was so short, narrow, and steep, meaning I had to crouch while also holding on to the rails climbing up, while all the while making space for the people going the other way. Entering makes you forget the size of the pyramid you're currently inside, though. Each stone block is as big as a car, and thousands of them make up this mountain that rises before your eyes. Walking up to the pyramid, you realize the true scale of these structures. Each day, it seems at least 1 pyramid is open to enter, and on the day I visited, the Great Pyramid of Cheops was the one. This is the (touristic) center of the city, and buildings, rich and poor, surround the complex on almost all sides. The structures still stand strong, but this is no revelation in the middle of the empty desert. As you approach, you can see how the urban sprawl has affected the pyramids. Our guide actually grew up in their shadow, once just a small village, now a bustling city of over 10 million people. The pyramids dominate the modern city of Giza. The pyramids were an unprecedented work, and until today, it's still considered one of the greatest projects in history, standing head and shoulders above most any of our modern structures. And while some civilizations are older or as old as Egypt, none left any remains as impressive as this, especially not over 2000 BCE. At this period of history, most people were hunter-gatherers, herders, or in one of the few civilizations of the time. It's to this day unequaled in the world in terms of its size and design for its age. And no, not all parts of the experience of visiting will be completely pleasant, whether it be the heat or the swarms of tourists and scammers. No, I don't think Memphis and the pyramids represent the height of the Egyptian civilization's cultural and artistic legacy. Yes, I wish I had gotten the chance to visit Wadi al-Hitan. From Saqqara, you get a decent view of the entire expanse of pyramid fields "from Giza to Dahshur," so I could say this was a complete experience of all 4 important components of this site. However, due to the scheduled day reserved for Wadi al-Hitan becoming free as we couldn't get police clearance, I decided that I could check out the other components of this WHS for another half-day, this time visiting Memphis and Saqqara. I got to visit the Giza components on my first day exploring Egypt, and supposedly left it at that. I was lucky enough to visit this ancient world wonder in May 2018. Memphis and its Necropolis – the Pyramid Fields from Giza to Dahshur was among the first few sites on the WHS list, and for good reason: It tells the complete story of the pyramid, from its conception as stacked mastabas in Saqqara to the trial-and-error (and eventually, successful) developments in Dahshur, to finally the greatest manifestation of the pyramids in Giza. Their grandiosity has been admired across the world for millennia now. The Pyramids - the most famous symbol of the great civilization of Ancient Egypt.
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