So why do you go to Egypt? To see the Pyramids of course. Well that was the main reason that I wanted to go to Egypt. Visiting the Pyramids fulfilled a childhood dream of mine.
I thought the Pyramids would be out in the middle of the desert, but they are almost as central to Cairo as the Harbour Bridge is to Sydney. Our first glimpse of the pyramids was driving from the airport to our hotel. We saw them again when we drove into town the next day.

Our first experience with the pyramids was the Sound and Light Show. It's a one hour "show" where they tell the story of the pyramids and the Sphinx. During the show the pyramids are lit with pretty colours and lasers. It was as exciting as it sounds. The Sound and Light Show featured in the James Bond film "The Spy Who Loved Me". The film was made in the 70s and the sound and light show is exactly the same now as it was then. It was very cheesy, very slow and for some reason quite difficult to follow. My advice is to skip it!



We finally got up close and personal with the Pyramids on the morning of the first day of our tour. We visited the three Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx. We even got a chance to go inside one of the pyramids.

I was surprised by the size of the building blocks that make up the pyramids. They are massive! It's amazing to think that they were able to move these blocks let alone stack them on top of one another. The Great Pyramid of Giza is the largest of the three pyramids. When it was constructed it was almost 150m tall (50 storeys). Researchers estimate that there are 2.3 million blocks in the pyramid and the average weight of each block is 2.5 tonnes. The largest block weighs almost 15 tonnes. Egyptologists aren't 100% certain on the construction process. However, they are pretty sure that they weren't built by slaves. They think they were built by a skilled workforce.
Did you know that the Sphinx is much smaller than the Pyramids? Most photos are taken at an angle that shows the Sphinx being a similar size as the Pyramids. But this is a trick of perspective. It's actually only half the size of the Great Pyramid.
More photos on Flickr.

Our visit to the Pyramids of Giza was part of our Road to Jordan tour. We did a 17-day tour with On The Go to Egypt and Jordan and we had a lot of fun. Other entries from this trip include: Wadi Rum, Kom Ombo and Edfu, Feluccan Fun, Abu Simbel and The Dead Sea.