Mosque of Ahmed Ibn Tulun and Memphis and its Necropolis - the Pyramid F

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Mosque of Ahmed Ibn Tulun

   Ibn Tulun is the quiet old-timer of Cairo, a vast mosque built between 876 and 879 by a governor who rose from Turkish slave soldier to master of Egypt and founder of a short-lived dynasty. Ahmad ibn Tulun sent his architects to create something in the style of the Abbasid capital at Samarra in Iraq, and what they made is a huge rectangular courtyard surrounded by arcades of pointed arches in brick and stucco, with carved plaster ornaments that still look sharp after eleven centuries. It is the oldest mosque in Cairo to survive in its original form, and one of the largest in the Islamic world by area.

   Read the complete Mosque of Ahmed Ibn Tulun write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Mosque of Ahmed Ibn Tulun 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 Mosque of Ahmed Ibn Tulun.

5. 5. Mosque of Ahmed Ibn Tulun

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Mosque of Ahmed Ibn Tulun write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Back at Mosque of Ahmed Ibn Tulun. That is the ride.