Egypt – Sakkara / Memphis

Sakkara and Memphis, Egypt

If you want to see the oldest Pyramid in the world then it is at Sakkara (or Saqqara depending on how you spell it), not at Giza near Cairo (see my post about Giza here). Here it is the old burial grounds of the ancient Pharaohs and a car and guide is needed as you cannot get here by public transport. The guide drives you from site to site and it’s worth the extra or you will miss so much. Similarly Memphis is the old capital of ancient Egypt and a car and guide  to drive you around is needed – check if all sites are open though as they have a nasty habit of closing much of it for months but still charge you full price ! Once in a lifetime trip so make sure you make the most of it!

This is one of the four sites I visited in Lower Egypt. The others being Alexandria, Cairo and the Giza Pyramids. I also compiled a gude as to how to get from Cairo to Alexandria by train. Click on the names to see the others and get the whole Lower Nile experience.

My visit to Sakkara and Memphis to see the pyramids and temples that are even older than the Pyramids of Giza (see my post on Giza Pyramids here), was always going to be a difficult one. I looked up how to do this and the idea of getting a bus etc was impossible. There is no organised public transport between my hotel area and these places. Secondly the sites are away from the towns and are basically in uninhabited areas protected by sand landscapes or inaccessible areas.

So, the only way you can get to Sakkara is by tour bus, private taxi and guide or hire a car (if you know where you are going). Hiring a car was a no go, I would not find Sakkara or Memphis without a co pilot as maps are unreliable and road signage virtually non existent. I would certainly not play with my life as I had seen the driving standards in Cairo (see my post on Cairo here), just up the road on a visit there and the road conditions and hazards and it was far too dangerous. On this trip I also visited Alexandria on the coast so click here of you are interested in seeing that blog too

Tour buses to Sakkara are available and you can book them from UK.  if you can get a group together, to book a car and guide to make the expense reasonable, that would be a great idea. If you are on a package trip it may be possible to organise a group and guide locally with people you meet en-route.

The tours were expensive, so I was hoping to secure something when I arrived. Luckily my hotel had some connections and could arrange a driver (not a guide, but I had read up on what to see and was familiar with the sites), to take me to Sakkara and Memphis. We would leave early morning see the sights and be back for the afternoon. The price was around £35 and though this was not cheap it was one of the better prices I had seen in various tour places that wanted between £50-90.

So early next morning we set out for Sakkara which is about 40 minutes/30 km drive south of Cairo. The driver was good and I had met him before as he picked me up from the airport to take me to the hotel, so I knew he was also reliable and friendly. We drove through the usual run down outskirts of the city and onto ok roads surrounded by surprisingly green fields but alongside a very rubbish strewn waterway for much of the route.

The driver was experienced and knew exactly where to go, would be my aide in getting info at the site ticket offices and actually decided to tag along with me.  He was exempt from paying ehtrance feees as he was bringing a tourist. He also helped me get some great photos and actually knew a little about the areas which he told me about in his broken English.

Sakkara was a surprise as the site was my first “desert” experience, as when you turn off the main road it suddenly turn into desert. After getting our tickets you have to drive through the desert-like site to park nearby each ruins/pyramid in a little parking lot and its a short walk to each site.

Unas Complex, Sakkara.

First stop at Sakkara was the Unas Complex with its Temple from 3200 BC , some 5000 years old! Its straight lined columns at the entrance and vertical lined unadorned façade was the first of this design I had seen in Egypt.

You walk into the rectangular doorway and into a wonderfully restored walkway through the temple. The roof is no longer there but a flat ceiling structure has been placed over it to protect it from the elements. The interior columns still stand and it’s remarkably well preserved.

It is not big but impressed me in its good state of conservation and geometric design, (ok, so I’m easily impressed!). We walked through and out the open colonnaded opposite end and turned right, to be greeted by the huge pyramid that this site is famous for, the Djoser Pyramid.

Djoser Pyramid, Sakkara.

It is actually the oldest pyramid in Egypt, again some 5000 years old – older than the Giza pyramids – and is unique in its stepped sides. It’s often called the “Stepped Pyramid” because of this.

Now just remember that this whole site of Sakkara is actually a Necropolis or burial site.  Many Pyramids, tombs and Temples, in various states of decay/survival are here and it is effectively the Royal cemetery for the then nearby capital city of Memphis, some 5 km away . The site is also the oldest complete stone building complex known in history ……… some legacy!

We couldn’t go inside the pyramid and there were obviously extensive repairs going on judging by the quantity of scaffolding on one side.

I could sense its age just by looking at its well worn exterior and crumbled stonework and here I was looking at one of the oldest stone buildings in the world !

Back to the car for the short drive to the next site, passing the well worn Pyramid of Userkef in the distance. We eventually arrived at the parking lot and had a short walk to the a small Tomb complex. In one of them was entombed the highest official in the land, at his time, who was also a High Priest and thus this tomb is magnificent.

Tomb of Kagemni

It has six chambers with highly carved and painted walls showing scenes of people boating, fishing, dancing and depictions of birds, wildlife, farm animals, frogs and even crocodiles.

It was the first time I had seen so many Ancient Egyptian carvings and many were remarkably preserved, clear and even still had coloured paints on them. Room after room of highly carved walls but completely bare of any furniture or other adornment.

Well, what could top this in Sakkara I wondered and my guide sought out a Bedouin dressed guy and spoke to him. He then beckoned us towards an inconspicuous locked door with stone carved side panels…… where were we going now?

Tomb of Mereruka

I had seen it as we came in and assumed it was a storage room …. but no. He unlocked it and beckoned us in and we went into an ornate chamber …… its good to have a driver who has good conversation skills as I found out later that this tomb is not readily accessible and you have to ask and pay to get into it.

This was the Tomb of Mereruka ……. but would it beat the previous impressive tomb ……. yes ! This one has 33 chambers and is the most elaborate of all the non royal tombs on the whole site.

He was again the most important person in Egypt after the Pharaoh, a kind of Prime Minister called a Vizier. His wife is buried here and she had seperate chambers and his son too has his own rooms. It thus took a while to get round them all and see the intricately carved walls and reliefs.

There is a famous carved scene of a hippopotamus attacking a crocodile, fishing and hunting scenes and in one chamber a life sized painted stone statue of the man himself.

After 30 minutes here I was all hieroglyphics and carved walled out and we still had Memphis to see. There are some other minor Pyramids and temples to see here and the Sakkara site is still being excavated but I felt it was time to move on as I had seen all I wanted to see.

Memphis

From Sakkara we drove to Memphis, the old Capital of Ancient Egypt. The city is now generally built over and there are certain areas that have been kept clear and preserved in what is an open air museum/preserved land areas. In its day it was reputedly the largest city in the world ! We bought my ticket and I looked at the wall map as to where to go, saw the other sites nearby and as we were next to the museum we headed there first. Inside is the famous Statue of Rameses II.

This statue is famous as it was discovered under mounds of earth in 1820 lying flat having been toppled over. It was decided to leave it this way for display purposes ever since but it now lies inside the museum. The gardens outside were an open-air museum of many original statues, stone pieces, ceremonial stone slabs, sarcophagi and religious pieces and arranged in display lines for all to see among the palm trees and walkways.

With the museum finished I wanted to see the open air ruins of the temples and civic buildings only to be told that the other five sites included in the ticket were all presently closed for restoration works! I had been sold a ticket for 5 sites when they knew only the museum was open. That left a bad taste of trickery with me. I really didn’t get to see the ruins and the ancient buildings after all.

Jan 2019.