After visiting the Giza pyramids, we had two options how to get to other pyramids. The first option required quite a few hours of riding on a camel, horse, or a donkey and we didn’t really fancy it, so our little group (me, my husband, and his brother) decided to take the second option: hiring a cab. After long haggling, we got a cab for 70 Egyptian pounds, which took us to Saqqara, Dahashur, Memphis, and back to Cairo.
The first stop was Saqqara and Zoser’s funerary complex. Unfortunately, in a quite cramped space, we met a French tourist group (on this trip, we understood that we really hate all those big tourist groups), so it was hard to see anything. Actually, I expected more from this complex, but the magnificent step pyramid left on me a lasting impression. For my husband, as it was the first ever built pyramid, it was much more than that.
After a while, we decided to explore Saqqara on four legs instead of two. I didn’t have much choice in choosing my ride as I was terribly afraid of camels and horses didn’t look so safe to my as well. My only option was to hire a donkey. For 50 LE, we hired two camels (on which my two brave men with Arabic head gear looked really cool) and a little donkey. My husband and his brother were comfortable on their camels, but for me to ride even a donkey was the same as for my husband to sit in a plane (believe me, not the prettiest sight). The small donkey looked really sad and fragile, so I felt so big and heavy. After a few minutes of ride, I asked the boy (who was leading the donkey) if I was not too heavy for the donkey. The boy’s answer was "Yes". When I repeated my question, I got the same answer, so I just jumped on the ground and decided to walk. Well, of course I wasn’t too heavy for the donkey and because the boy’s English wasn’t good to say the least, he kept answering "Yes" to all the questions. So after seeing some nice mastabas, we left Saqqara and headed for Dahashur.