Qayitbay Necropolis and Memphis and its Necropolis - the Pyramid F

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Qayitbay Necropolis

   Of all the monuments in Cairo's cemeteries, the funerary complex of the Mamluk sultan Qaitbay is the one that stops people in their tracks. The sultan, who ruled Egypt for nearly thirty years in the later fifteenth century, built it between 1472 and 1474 as a combined mosque, tomb, school and fountain, in the desert fringe east of the city that served as the Mamluk burial ground. What makes it famous is the dome, carved from stone in a continuous pattern of stars and arabesques, so delicate that it looks like lace or a woven carpet rather than masonry. It is regarded as the high point of Mamluk architecture.

   Read the complete Qayitbay Necropolis write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Qayitbay Necropolis 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 32 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 55 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 Qayitbay Necropolis.

5. 5. Qayitbay Necropolis

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Qayitbay Necropolis write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Back at Qayitbay Necropolis. That is the ride.