Egypt: The Pyramids of Giza

The Pyramids of Egypt are one of the most iconic places to visit. Despite some skepticism, this writer was also overwhelmed by the experience.

Egypt: The Pyramids of Giza is written by Jacob Gowland Jørgensen

Tourist excursion to the pyramids

Can you see a picture of a sight so often that you take it for granted? Even without having been there yourself?

Try to close your eyes and think of Macchu Pichu Peru, the pyramids i Egypt, the Great Wall of China i China or another place that, as a traveller, you have always had an image of in your head - even before you even came close to experiencing it yourself.

You see it, but only understand why, you have the image in your head when you are there.

Ok so, now that we were going to pass Cairo and the Sovereign Egyptian Museum anyway, we might as well head out into the desert and look at the obligatory pyramids. As Mallorca-like as it sounded, we had made the decision to take the trip out there.

The scare stories were otherwise many, and they were evenly distributed between modern threats such as annoying postcard sellers and fanatics with shooting itch over mythical stories about the pyramid virus and to the pharaohs' curse on those who disturbed the peace of the grave.

We had by that time already met the 'curse of Pharaoh' in the form of the obligatory bad stomach and thought that it probably did not get worse than that. Thus encouraged, we set off in a small tourist group. In an all-too-new bus, in an all-too-poor capital, to an all-too-familiar place.

The pyramids of the desert

The fog of smog and sand lifts and we can see the iconic shapes emerge. The grandeur of the desert takes over as we approach, and although we are only a short distance from the Nile and Cairo, the capital of Egypt, the silence creeps in.

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We walk towards the pyramids on the plain of Giza and without thinking about why, I walk purposefully and clap the Pyramid of Cheops. Enough just to be absolutely sure it's there.

The guide flips around with astronomical numbers, and with the pyramid within clapboard, reality burns itself firmly on the retina.

When we hear that this monumental and completely overwhelming burial ground is built with stones from the inside to the outside, from bottom to top, in a flat desert without real stones, we understand why we are here. Why there is a reason why the icon became an icon that all children can draw.

A marvel in the old and new world. A demonstration of power so great, a faith so deep and an efficiency so blatant that it cannot be understood - only experienced.

We look up and see the clouds drifting past just above the top of the pyramids. We only listen with half an ear to the story that this mastodon was the tallest building in the world for over 3800 years.

Heaven is near in Egypt

The intact top of the Khefre pyramid radiates in a supernatural way and absorbs our gaze and imagination. We get completely unfamiliar and strange thoughts about intergalactic connections and are almost happy that a single postcard seller has sneaked in anyway, who can get us down to earth again.

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He is now completely peaceful, perhaps because the policeman on the camel is keeping a watchful eye on him. We sneak out of the group and move around the work with devout respect and our gaze fixed on the sky stormer's perfect body.

It may well be that Cheops is the largest in square meters, but Khefre is the largest in experiences among the pyramids.

The work of the gods is guarded by The Sphinx with the sly smile and the big paws, and we get to click many times on the cameras we brought with us. We heretical think that it is a shame that the Sphinx has a bad hair day with many birds on the ice and in the boxer's nose, but it does not matter.

It takes a lot more than a bad hair day to ruin such a complete travel experience, and the official wonders of the world have now joined the list of places we just have to go.

Because other people's pictures in your head are good, but pictures you have taken yourself are even better.

Really good trip to Egypt and the Pyramids.

Here are 5 sights in Cairo

The Pyramid of Cheops
The Sphinx
The Pyramid of Khefe
The Egyptian Museum
The bazaar in Cairo

History Culture

About the author

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Jacob Jørgensen, editor

Jacob is a cheerful travel nerd who has traveled in almost 100 countries from Rwanda and Romania to Samoa and Samsø. Jacob is a member of De Berejstes Klub, where he has been a board member for five years, and he has extensive experience with the travel world as a lecturer, magazine editor, consultant, author and photographer. And of course most important of all: As a traveler. Jacob enjoys traveling traditionally such as car holidays to Norway, cruises in the Caribbean and city breaks in Vilnius, and more out-of-the-box trips such as solo trips to the highlands of Ethiopia, road trips to unknown national parks in Argentina and friends trips to Iran.

Jacob is a country expert in Argentina, where he has been 10 times so far. He has spent almost a year in total traveling through the many diverse provinces, from the penguin land in the south to deserts, mountains and waterfalls in the north, and has also lived in Buenos Aires for a few months. In addition, he has special travel knowledge of such diverse places as East Africa, Malta and the countries around Argentina.

In addition to traveling, Jacob is an honorable badminton player, Malbec fan and always fresh on a board game. Jacob has also had a career in the communications industry for a number of years, most recently with the title of Communication Lead in one of Denmark's largest companies, and has for a number of years also worked with the Danish and international meeting industry as a consultant, among others. for VisitDenmark and Meeting Professionals International (MPI). Jacob is currently also an external lecturer at CBS.