Layover in Giza, Dahshur and Saqqara, Egypt

As a slow traveller, many of my posts in r/travel have covered weeks or months long trip reports. My last post was 10 days - the shortest by far until then, but this is something new for me, a trip report from a single day. While the Middle East has plenty of options for travelling between Europe and Asia, the routes to Africa are less competitive. For flying south into Africa, EgyptAir often offers fares less than half that of competitors. They don't have the greatest reputation, to say the least, but my flights were fine. My flight back from Ethiopian was better though, so I'd recommend that if you're not interested in the layover and travelling between Asia and Africa. EgyptAir does come with with the bonus of a layover to experience Ancient Egypt's necropoles (necropolises?). There are a number of tour operators that will offer customised options for a reasonably affordable price - private customised tours cost less than many group tours in Europe.

My trip took me to Saqqara and Dahshur first. It was a fascinating journey in progression. A majority of Dahshur's pyramids no longer exist, with Black Pyramid being somewhere in the middle. The core structure still remains, but most of it has decayed away due to flawed engineering. Then we have the Pyramid of Djoser, a step pyramid. This is a fully formed pyramid that stood the test of time, and is said to be the earliest cut stone megaproject by humanity.

Then comes the Bent Pyramid. The lower half is as good as the final form, but they had to compromise with a gentler gradient on the upper half. Next up is the Red Pyramid, the first true pyramid, and still the third largest. You can crawl down the Red Pyramid's abd Bent Pyramid's inner chambers, which is a special experience in itself, though it's quite the workout.

Finally, comes the pièce de résistance, the Giza Necropolis, which we all know about. The Great Pyramids of Khufu and Khafre are the only ones larger than the Red Pyramid. They combine the steep gradient of the lower half of the Bent Pyramid, with the true, smooth pyramid shape of the Red Pyramid, and as we know, remained the tallest structures on the planet for over 4 millennia.

There's definitely many interesting sights around the necropoles, and many more which would take lot more than the 12 hours I had. But given the time, this was a unique experience.