Historic Cairo and Memphis and its Necropolis - the Pyramid F

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Historic Cairo

   The heart of medieval Cairo is a dense maze of lanes, domes and minarets that has barely changed in some corners since the Mamluk age, and it is one of the richest collections of Islamic architecture on earth. UNESCO listed Historic Cairo in 1979, recognising hundreds of monuments, mosques, madrasas, baths and gates, built over a thousand years. The city was founded as a royal enclosure by the Fatimid dynasty in 969, and its name, al-Qahira, means the victorious. The Fatimids also founded Al-Azhar, a mosque and teaching institution that has been running since the 970s and is regarded as one of the oldest universities in the world.

   Read the complete Historic Cairo write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Historic Cairo is where the day begins. Next is Site of Memphis.

2. 2. 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

   Site of Memphis comes up about 31 km into the recorded legs. Next is Memphis and its Necropolis - the Pyramid F.

3. 3. 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

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

4. 4. back through Site of Memphis

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   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

   back through Site of Memphis, late in the day. Next is Historic Cairo.

5. 5. Historic Cairo

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Historic Cairo write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Back at Historic Cairo. That is the ride.