Thanks Lewis. I've already said hi to Khufu for you as I was there on this day in 1967. My family was emigrating to Australia at the time. We docked at Port Said the previous day and were offered a tour of Cairo, the pyramids and Sphinx, Cairo museum and one of the Cairo markets while the boat went through the Suez Canal. We jumped at it of course, especially as it cost only 8 pounds. I was 12 at the time and was in my first year of grammar school in England where I was learning all about ancient Egypt, so this brought history alive for me. At that time, we could go inside the Great Pyramid, so naturally I did. What an experience!! Standing in the burial chamber, you realise what an engineering marvel the pyramids are.
The experience was made even more exciting when we found we were entering a country preparing for war, as the Six Day War occurred only a few days later. The hotel was blacked out that night and the next morning out tour was cut short as the authorities put us on a bus that charged across the desert down to Suez. We did at least get to see most of our itinerary, but on reaching Suez the boat wasn't allowed to stop, so we boarded a ferry out into the port and jumped from one boat to the other. We were lucky not to get interred. Our boat was the 5th in a convoy of 12, and the second last allowed out of Egypt.
It's a place I'd love to go and visit again. And leave of my own accord, too . The screenshot was taken using Orbx Africa, and they've done the Giza Plateau well.
Cheers,
Mike