The port of Soknha on the Red Sea is the closest one to Cairo. It's more than a two-hour drive on a highway across desert, across the Nile River and ringing the city to the area called Giza. As the highway loops north you can see the pyramids, looking like an amusement park set amongst dozens of shoddy apartment buildings.

Once inside the pyramid complex, it take no effort to transform your mindset and be absorbed by ancient history, archeology and architecture.

Giza is home to the Great Pyramid, the Pyramid of Khafre, and the Pyramid of Menkaure, along with smaller temples and The Sphinx. All were built during the Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom of ancient Egypt, between 2600 and 2500 BC. The site also includes several temples and cemeteries and the remains of a workers' village.

The attached pictures do a decent job of setting the scene. I offer a few observations.

• Just impossible to understand how the pyramids were built. Most of the building blocks were 2.5-15 ton pieces of limestone. They were mined from quarries well south of the site and brought up the north-flowing Nile River. In the Great Pyramid alone 2.3 million stones were used.
• I'm guessing they built ramps of stones and dirt to roll the massive stones into place and dug the ramps out when the pyramid was finished.
• Inside these pyramids today there's nothing to see. All the treasures are in museums or were destroyed. There are no hieroglyphics on the walls.
• Reaching the empty rooms that once held the pharaoh's sarcophagus is not easy. One way in and the same way out. About one-and-a-half bodies wide. You climb more than 100 uneven steps in a cramped passageway bending over at all times to avoid banging your head. Evidently you come to an empty room so hot you could bake matzoh. Going down is more difficult. My thighs have been aching for three days since the climb. Luckily the visitors patiently make room for others. Moral of the story is to not wait to 75 years old to make this climb.
• The sides of the original pyramids were all bright white from higher grade limestone that created a flat diagonal surface. It's not that way today. The white limestone was destroyed or eroded. The stones are tan, yellow or gold and stick out giving birds a good ledge to poop on. The top of the Pyramid of Khafre, the middle pyramid, retains some of the original white limestone.
• The star of the show is The Sphinx. Our tour allowed us to go where no other visitors could, which is to stand right at its paws and walk around the momument getting pictures from all angles.
• The other highlight was Meres Ankh Tomb. The princess died at an early age. Her mother allowed her to be buried in what was built to be her final resting place. This is the only structure in Giza that has hieroglyphics on the wall and much of it was still colorful.
• Fellow passengers decided not to take any of the Giza tours because "all the good stuff is in the museums." There is a Great Egyptian Museum that's being built on the other side of the ring highway that will house the largest collection of Egyptian artefacts in the world. The museum will open within six months.

Enjoy the pictures and I hope that if you haven't been to Giza you will someday check that box like I have. Remember to avoid the steps inside the pyramids and go to the museum.