Egypt

[humayion]

Salam alikum pakwheelers,
I am in Cairo these days and unfortunately protests have started again as some people here want to impose shariah law. So i am completely restricted to my hotel room for now. Posting some pictures as a teaser, more will follow up as soon as the situation gets calm.

departure from Leonardo da Vinci?Fiumicino Airport
too many miles,less destinations
flying with the moon
Cairo museum- The Egyptian Museum of Antiquities contains many important pieces of ancient Egyptian history. It houses the world?s largest collection of Pharaonic antiquities, and many treasures of King Tutankhamen. The Egyptian government established the museum, built in 1835 near the Ezbekeyah Garden.On the first floor there are artifacts from the final two dynasties of Egypt, including items from the tombs of the Pharaohs Thutmosis III, Thutmosis IV, Amenophis II, Hatshepsut, and the courtier Maiherpri, as well as many artifacts from the Valley of the Kings. It also houses the preserved mummy of pharaoh whom moses confronted, ramses II.
tahrir square-The square was originally called Ismailia Square, after the 19th-century ruler Khedive Ismail, who commissioned the new downtown district's 'Paris on the Nile' design. After the Egyptian Revolution of 1919 the square became widely known as Tahrir (Liberation) Square, but the square was not officially renamed until the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, which changed Egypt from a constitutional monarchy into a republic. The square was a focal point for the Egyptian Revolution of 2011.
some protesters

day wasted-upset humayion :,(

[pmww02]

یا امی مش ماؤل .. ال مہم عامل اے ؟

[hamza_xeg]

Nice trip

[metalhead]

read just the first line and i will say "get the 'UN' out of your unfortunate"...

[humayion]

یا امی مش ماؤل .. ال مہم عامل اے ؟

أنا وطني الباكستانية

[BILAL3538]

Best of luck dear , hope everything clear soon and you enjoys your trip

[pmww02]

أنا وطني الباكستانية

سائیں میں تو مصری انداز کی عربی بولا مگر آپ نے جواب ہی الگ دے دیا :p

[humayion]

Mein samjha kay persian likhi hai,sorry my bad

[humayion]

Khan el-Khalili is a major souk in the Islamic district of Cairo. The bazaar district is one of Cairo's main attractions for tourists and Egyptians alike.
Al tahrir kushari- Kushari, also koshary, kosheri or koshari is an Egyptian dish of rice, lentils, chickpeas and macaroni topped with tomato sauce and fried onion. Also optionally, with garlic juice. Kushari is a vegetarian dish that is very popular in Egypt. It is an inexpensive food served at roadside stalls and restaurants all over the country, some of which sell only kushari
egyptian perfumery-alcohol free and made from roses
The souk dates back to 1382, when Emir Djaharks el-Khalili built a large caravanserai.It was also known Turkish bazaar during the Ottoman Empire.
The Khan el-Khalili was built on the site of the much older and historically significant Za?afran Tomb, the burial place of the Fatimid Caliphs, founders of the City of Cairo. The Za'afran Tomb was part of the Great Fatimid Eastern Palace (built AH 358 / AD 968) constructed upon the founding of the city.
In addition to shops, there are several coffeehouses, restaurants, and street food vendors distributed throughout the market. The coffeeshops are generally small and quite traditional, serving Arabic coffee and usually offering shisha. The al-Hussein Mosque is also in Khan el-Khalili; Al-Azhar University and its mosque are not far away.
The market was a target of terrorism during the attacks in Cairo in April 2005. The suicide attack in the market, on April 7, killed 21 people.The market was again a target of terrorism on 22 February 2009. In this attack a 17-year old French girl was killed and 22 people were injured. Dukh sirf french girl ka hai mujhay :,(

[Bombaywalla]

Nice. Keep the pics and captions comin'.

[humayion]

Giza is the third largest city in Egypt. It is located on the west bank of the Nile River, some 20 km southwest of central Cairo. Along with Shubra El-Kheima, Cairo and Helwan, the four cities form the Province of Greater Cairo metropolis.
The Great Pyramid of Giza (also known as the Pyramid of Khufu or the Pyramid of Cheops) is the oldest and largest of the three pyramids in the Giza Necropolis bordering what is now El Giza, Egypt.
It is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and the only one to remain largely intact. Egyptologists believe that the pyramid was built as a tomb for fourth dynasty Egyptian Pharaoh Khufu (Cheops in Greek) over a 10 to 20-year period concluding around 2560 BC.
There are three known chambers inside the Great Pyramid. The lowest chamber is cut into the bedrock upon which the pyramid was built and was unfinished. The so-called Queen's Chamber and King's Chamber are higher up within the pyramid structure.
The Great Pyramid of Giza is the only pyramid in Egypt known to contain both ascending and descending passages.
The main part of the Giza complex is a setting of buildings that included two mortuary temples in honor of Khufu (one close to the pyramid and one near the Nile), three smaller pyramids for Khufu's wives, an even smaller "satellite" pyramid, a raised causeway connecting the two temples, and small mastaba tombs surrounding the pyramid for nobles.
photography was not allowed inside the pyramids
Khufu's vizier, Hemon, or Hemiunu, is believed by some to be the architect of the Great Pyramid. It is thought that, at construction, the Great Pyramid was originally 280 Egyptian cubits tall, 146.5 metres but with erosion and absence of its pyramidion, its present height is 138.8 metres . Each base side was 440 cubits, 230.4 metres long.
The Giza Necropolis is an archaeological site on the Giza Plateau, on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt. This complex of ancient monuments includes the three pyramid complexes known as the Great Pyramids, the massive sculpture known as the Great Sphinx, several cemeteries, a workers' village and an industrial complex.
smaller Pyramid of Khafre (or Chephren) a few hundred meters to the south-west

modest-sized Pyramid of Menkaure (or Mykerinos) a few hundred meters further south-west.

[ibrahimhashmi11]

keep em comin..

[capsat]

any chance you visited Suez canal bank?

[imran_1]

Keep them coming..!! Loved the empire squares

[humayion]

any chance you visited Suez canal bank?

not yet,if things get normal then maybe

[humayion]

A sphinx is a mythical creature with, as a minimum, the body of a lion and the head of a human or a cat.
In Greek tradition, it has the haunches of a lion, the wings of a great bird, and the face of a woman. She is mythicised as treacherous and merciless. Those who cannot answer her riddle suffer a fate typical in such mythological stories, as they are killed and eaten by this ravenous monster.
Unlike the Greek sphinx which was a woman, the Egyptian sphinx is typically shown as a man (an androsphinx). In addition, the Egyptian sphinx was viewed as benevolent in contrast to the malevolent Greek version and was thought of as a guardian often flanking the entrances to temples.

The largest and most famous sphinx is the Great Sphinx of Giza, sited at the Giza Plateau adjacent to the Great Pyramids of Giza on the west bank of the Nile River and facing due east. The sphinx is located in the north and below the pyramids. Although the date of its construction is uncertain, the head of the Great Sphinx now is believed to be that of the pharaoh Khafra.

egyptian art gallery
Papyrus was used by ancient Egyptians for writing and painting. Papyrus is relatively fragile, and though used all over the classical world has only survived when buried in the very dry conditions of Egypt, and even then is often in poor condition. Papyrus texts illustrate all dimensions of ancient Egyptian life and include literary, religious, historical and administrative documents.
Ancient Egyptian art is the painting, sculpture, architecture and other arts produced by the civilization in the lower Nile Valley from 5000 BCE to 300 AD. Ancient Egyptian art reached a high level in painting and sculpture, and was both highly stylized and symbolic. Much of the surviving art comes from tombs and monuments and thus there is an emphasis on life after death and the preservation of knowledge of the past.

[ehalin]

[I]Ever heard of "khhichdi" which mothers cook while your stomach is upset made of rice and lentil.

Kushari is an "indian origin dish" introduced in Egypt by indian workers brough to Africa by the British Empire.

"Khhichdi" egyptian style has been my favourite. It is a very light meal and very nutritious.[/I]

Al tahrir kushari- Kushari, also koshary, kosheri or koshari is an Egyptian dish of rice, lentils, chickpeas and macaroni topped with tomato sauce and fried onion. Also optionally, with garlic juice.
Kushari is a vegetarian dish that is very popular in Egypt. It is an inexpensive food served at roadside stalls and restaurants all over the country, some of which sell only kushari

[Shahzad727]

kaby ap singapore kaby bangkok kabi egypt kaby kahan .ap kertay kia ho bhai jan ?no leane problem ?

anyways great trip.keep rolling.

[humayion]

The Pyramid of Teti is a smooth-sided pyramid situated in the pyramid field at Saqqara in Egypt. It is historically the second known pyramid containing pyramid texts. Excavations have revealed a satellite pyramid, two pyramids of queens accompanied by cult structures, and a funerary temple. The pyramid was opened by Gaston Maspero in 1882 and the complex explored during several campaigns ranging from 1907 to 1965. It was originally called Teti's Places Are Enduring. The preservation above ground is very poor, and it now resembles a small hill. Below ground the chambers and corridors are very well preserved.

The horizontal passage leads to rooms consisting of a funeral serdab, an antechamber, and a burial chamber. All three are aligned along an east-west axis.
Access to the burial chambers are located inside the adjoining chapel against the north face of the pyramid. The entrance hallway leads to a long descent of eighteen hundred and twenty-three metres. The entrance was once blocked by a plug of granite now lost. The descending passage was probably clogged along its length by large blocks of limestone that thieves have broken up. The debris still littered the passage at the time of discovery. In the descending corridor is a successive horizontal hallway, a vestibule, another hallway, a bedroom with harrows, a final corridor, and a final granite passage which opens into the funerary apartments of the King.
Detail with the cartouche of Teti
Sarcophagus of Teti
Although looted since ancient times, remains of the king's grave goods were found during the first excavation of the monument. Consisting mainly of stone materials, these objects have been abandoned by looters, probably considered useless or worthless. Thus, a series of club heads with the names of Teti has reached us and one of the canopic jars containing the viscera of the king. The most troubling item found among the debris of the funeral viaticum is the plaster mold of a death mask. The reproduced molding transmits to us the face of a man with eyes closed, mouth slightly open. The expression is striking and it is purported to be an image of Teti making it the only true royal portrait that has survived from the Old Kingdom.
The burial chamber contains an unfinished greywacke sarcophagus, a fragment of a lid and a canopic container that is nothing more than a simple hole in the ground. And for the first time, a royal sarcophagus contains inscriptions, here slightly etched on the hollow interior of the vessel.

[humayion]

The roofed colonnade led from the enclosure wall to the south of the complex. A passageway with a limestone ceiling constructed to look as though it was made from whole tree trunks led to a massive stone imitation of two open doors. Beyond this portal was a hall with twenty pairs of limestone columns composed of drum shaped segments built to look like bundles of plant stems and reaching a height of 6.6 m. The columns were not free-standing, but were attached to the wall by masonry projections. Between the columns on both sides of the hall were small chambers, which some Egyptologists propose may have been for each of the provinces of Upper and Lower Egyptenter and exit.
The South Court is a large court between the South Tomb and the pyramid. Within the court are curved stones thought to be territorial markers associated with the Heb-sed festival, an important ritual completed by Egyptian kings (typically after 30 years on the throne) to renew their powers. These would have allowed Djoser to claim control over all of Egypt, while its presence in the funerary complex would allow Djoser to continue to benefit from the ritual in the afterlife.
Funerary complex of Djoser
The earliest burials of nobles can be traced back to the First Dynasty, at the north side of the Saqqara plateau. During this time, the royal burial ground was at Abydos. The first royal burials at Saqqara, comprising underground galleries, date to the Second Dynasty
North of the area known as Saqqara lies Abusir; south lies Dahshur. The area running from Giza to Dahshur has been used as necropolis by the inhabitants of Memphis at different times, and it has been designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1979.

The Pyramid of Djoser (Zoser), or step pyramid is an archeological remain in the Saqqara necropolis, Egypt, northwest of the city of Memphis. It was built during the 27th century BC for the burial of Pharaoh Djoser by Imhotep, his vizier. It is the central feature of a vast mortuary complex in an enormous courtyard surrounded by ceremonial structures and decoration.
This first Egyptian pyramid consisted of six mastabas (of decreasing size) built atop one another in what were clearly revisions and developments of the original plan and was clad in polished white limestone.
Djoser was the first or second king of the 3rd Dynasty (ca. 2667 to 2648 BC) of the Egyptian Old Kingdom. He is believed to have ruled for 19 years. He reigned long enough to allow the grandiose plan for his pyramid to be realized in his lifetime.