As-Sayyidah Nafisah Necropolis and Site of Memphis

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. As-Sayyidah Nafisah Necropolis

   South of the Citadel, in the part of Cairo that visitors often skip, lies the Southern Cemetery, a huge area of tombs, mausolea and mosques that has served the city for more than a thousand years. People live here, too, in houses built among the graves, and the area has the feel of a quiet neighbourhood where the dead are simply the oldest residents. The larger complex is often called the City of the Dead, though the name hardly does justice to its busy shops, schoolchildren and washing lines.

   Read the complete As-Sayyidah Nafisah Necropolis write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   As-Sayyidah Nafisah Necropolis is where the day begins. Next is Memphis and its Necropolis - the Pyramid F.

2. 2. Memphis and its Necropolis - the Pyramid F

   This is Giza and the great Old Kingdom necropolis, the first place on any list of Egypt, and a hard one to write about without sounding like a postcard. Memphis was the capital of the early pharaohs, on the Nile just south of modern Cairo, and the pyramid fields stretch along the desert edge from Giza down through Saqqara and Dahshur. The Great Pyramid was built for Khufu around 2560 BC and was the tallest man-made structure on earth for several thousand years. The sheer age is the thing that gets you: when the Greeks and Romans visited as tourists, these were already ancient.

   Read the complete Memphis and its Necropolis - the Pyramid F write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Memphis and its Necropolis - the Pyramid F comes up about 22 km into the recorded legs. Next is Site of Memphis.

3. 3. Site of Memphis

   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.

   Read the complete Site of Memphis write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 54 km into the recorded legs you reach Site of Memphis. Next is back through Memphis and its Necropolis - the Pyramid F.

4. 4. back through Memphis and its Necropolis - the Pyramid F

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Memphis and its Necropolis - the Pyramid F write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Memphis and its Necropolis - the Pyramid F, late in the day. Next is As-Sayyidah Nafisah Necropolis.

5. 5. As-Sayyidah Nafisah Necropolis

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete As-Sayyidah Nafisah Necropolis write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at As-Sayyidah Nafisah Necropolis. That is the ride.