adventures in egypt: south of cairo

on day 2, papichulo and i went to the ruins at saqqara (or sakkara), dahshur and memphis. saqqara and dahshur provide good background knowledge of how the egyptian tomb-building evolved from low, trapedoidal stone-shaped tombs (mastabas) to the great pyramids at Giza. memphis is essentially an open-air museum with stone sculptures. it's entirely skippable. hotel windsor provided a mini-van driver to take us to all three sites and back for $15/person. this is slightly more than what the LP states as the usual price but well worth it.

at saqqara, you can see mastabas and the Step Pyramid, egypt's and the world's first stone monument. the Step Pyramid is a pre-pyramid pyramid. back in 2650 b.c., Imhotep had gotten the idea to keep building layers on top of the mastaba into the classic pyramid shape but he hadn't figured out the stone configuration yet. later, with the Bent Pyramid at dahshur, they started experimenting a bit, so the incline of the sides of the pyramids suddenly drops mid-way up. wacky experiment when you consider the scale of that project. finally, the egyptians got it right with the Red Pyramid at dahshur, the world's oldest "true pyramid".

if you're ever at saqqara and want to have lunch nearby, check out Restaurant Pharous (i think that's how it's spelled). it immediately outside the gate to the site. this has been one of my favorite meals in egypt and the decor of this place is really charming. tables with umbrellas are set out in a large green yard dotted with palm trees. it feels like an oasis. we got the mixed grill (kofta, chicken and veggies) which came with yogurt & cucumber, baba ghanouj, tomato & cucumber salad, sauteed potatoes, dolmades (except a highly spice rice mixture is stuffed into a pepper, zucchini and tomato instead of grape leaves), and rice. delicious. the mixed grill for 2 people cost 120 EGP (about $21).