Middle East - Anthony Ham [102]
Tourist Information
Main tourist office (Map; 2391 3454; 5 Sharia Adly, Downtown; 9am-7pm) Tourist information in name only; staff here seem totally uninterested in supplying any useful advice.
Visa Extensions
All visa business is carried out at the Mogamma (Map; Midan Tahrir, Downtown; 8am-1.30pm Sat-Wed), a 14-storey Egypto-Stalinist monolith. Rumoured to close around 2009, at the time of writing foreigners should still go up to the 1st floor, turn right and proceed straight down the corridor ahead. Go to window 12 for a form, fill it out and then buy stamps from window 43 before returning to window 12 and submitting your form with the stamps, one photograph, and photocopies of the photo and visa pages of your passport (photos and photocopies can be organised on the ground floor). The visa extension will be processed overnight and available for collection from 9am the next day.
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SIGHTS
The Pyramids of Giza
Few superlatives do justice to the Pyramids of Giza (Map; tourist office 3383 8823; admission adult/student E£50/25; 8am-6pm Oct-May, 8am-6pm Jun-Sep). As the only surviving Wonder of the Ancient World, these 4000-year-old goliaths continue to astound with their impossibly perfect geometry and towering dimensions. Visitors today are often shocked to discover that the pyramids mushroom incongruously from a sandy plateau in the middle of the busy suburb of Giza, garrisoned by armies of enthusiastic touts.
Before visiting, you may want to look at www.guardians.net/hawass, the official website of Dr Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities and director of the Giza Pyramids Excavation.
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STREET SMARTS: THINGS A SAVVY TRAVELLER WOULD NEVER DO IN CAIRO
Purchase anything in Khan al-Khalili Bazaar for the original asking price without some friendly haggling.
Get hit by one of the millions of darting taxis while taking on Cairo’s insane traffic.
Buy papyrus believing that it is thousands of years old.
Listen to any hotel tout that approaches them in the airport/train station/street when told that their chosen hotel is overbooked/closed/burnt down.
Be surprised that the Pyramids are surrounded by the sprawling suburb of Giza.
Loose their cool at a persistent tout who has just followed them for eight blocks trying to sell them perfume.
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If you’re keen to ride around the site on a horse, camel or in a carriage, there are stables encircling the plateau. ‘Official’ rates are E£35 per hour, less for donkeys, though bargaining is still often required.
There are extra charges for entry to each of the three Pyramids and the solar barque.
GREAT PYRAMID OF KHUFU (CHEOPS)
The oldest pyramid at Giza and the largest in Egypt, the Great Pyramid of Khufu stood 146.5m high when it was completed in around 2600 BC. Although there isn’t much to see inside the pyramid, the experience of the steep climb through such an ancient structure is unforgettable, though completely impossible if you suffer from even the tiniest degree of claustrophobia.
Entry to the Great Pyramid costs E£100/50 per adult/student, and tickets are limited to 300 per day – 150 in the morning and 150 in the afternoon. These go on sale at 7.30am and 1pm at the dedicated ticket box north of the pyramid. Queue ahead of time. Cameras are not allowed into the pyramid; you must surrender them to the guards at the entrance, who will ask for baksheesh before returning them.
PYRAMID OF KHAFRE (CHEPHREN)
Southwest of the Great Pyramid, and with almost the same dimensions, is the Pyramid of Khafre. At first it seems larger than that of Khufu, his father, because it stands on higher ground and its peak still has part of the original limestone casing that once covered the entire structure. This pyramid features the substantial remains