Memphis was the first capital of a unified Egypt, or so tradition says, and for much of the Old Kingdom it was the centre of the world's most ordered state. Today there is little of it to see, because the city was built of mud brick and stripped for stone, and the Nile shifted away. What remains is a quiet area of palm groves and fields near the village of Mit Rahina, south of Cairo, where an open-air museum shows a few fragments of the capital that once stretched for kilometres along the river.
The best-known piece is the colossal statue of Ramesses II, carved in limestone and lying on its back under a roof, so that you look down at it from a gallery. It is a calm, almost human face, with a half smile, and it is one of the finest pieces of Egyptian sculpture outside a major museum. A large alabaster sphinx sits nearby, and there are stelae, columns and fragments from the temple of Ptah, the god of craftsmen and the patron deity of the city, from whom, by a long road of linguistic change, the name of Egypt is said to derive.
Memphis is part of a larger World Heritage area, listed in 1979, that includes the pyramid fields stretching from Giza to Dahshur, with Saqqara and its Step Pyramid a short way to the west. The city was the living side of the necropolis, and the two go together. Visitors usually combine the sites in a day, and on a motorbike you can do that with a little patience.
Riding in the Cairo area demands attention. Traffic is dense and apparently improvised, speed bumps appear without warning, lanes are a suggestion, and the dust and heat are constant. Drive defensively, avoid night riding, and keep your documents handy at checkpoints. The roads along the canals and between the palm groves south of the city are quieter, with a rural rhythm of donkey carts and children on bicycles, and they are a pleasure early in the morning.
Helwan, a city of several hundred thousand people about four kilometres away, has fuel, food and shops. Egyptian street food is excellent and cheap: koshari, falafel and fresh bread, with sweet tea at every stop. Carry plenty of water and avoid the midday heat in summer.
The ride links Memphis with the Mosque of Ibn Tulun in Cairo, a ninth-century monument of calm brick and stucco.