Cairo Day 2-Camels, Pyramids, & Sphinx

by Ryan Markiewicz | Oct 7, 2025 | Berlin's Wall

All,

Today we hopped on a bus and made our way to the pyramids. Even cooler than you can imagine. There are a few of them here, and even though they’re all about 5,000 years old, some are “newer” and better built as the Egyptians learned along the way. Amazing that these things got built at all — and amazing they were tombs. (Also amazing that the Taj Mahal — MUCH newer but still pretty old — is also a tomb. I guess royalty has always liked to be buried in style 🤣).

Here’s one thing that’s always struck me, but even more so now:

When you think about building these monuments — the Great Pyramid alone is made of 2.3 million blocks, each weighing between 2.5 and 15 tons, quarried and hauled from Aswan hundreds of miles away — let that sink in for a minute:

1.    First you’ve got to imagine it.

2.    Then you’ve got to design it.

3.    You need to calculate, find, order, ship, and deliver everything (ah…logistics 😊).

4.    Someone has to track it all and make sure you got what you ordered.

5.    You need to build it — with no electricity, forklifts, or cranes.

6.    And all this happened before humankind knew the Earth orbits the sun or understood gravity — discoveries that came thousands of years later.

Crazy.

So to me, not that much — beyond technology and science — has really changed. Those have advanced in unimaginable ways. But the buildings and monuments they built have stood for 5,000 years and remain breathtaking. I’m honestly not sure we can say the same for most of our modern buildings. Time will tell, I suppose.

And think about it: even back then, there were architects and draftsmen, quarrymen and haulers, loaders and drivers, foremen and accountants — and lawyers, doctors, judges, priests, and politicians too. Life wasn’t all that different in some ways.

Weird… and humbling.

Tomorrow: Luxor.

Onward!

The pyramids!

We actually got to go down into one of the tombs

The Great Sphinx protects the pharaoh’s tombs

Hallie got to take a camel ride

Sporting both the Bills and LP 😉

Cairo

by Ryan Markiewicz | Oct 7, 2025 | Berlin's Wall

All,

In Cairo. Incredible city and to many, the cradle of human civilization from the written age. Influenced by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Coptic Christians, Europeans, Jews, Muslims, and Ottomans, it provides such a unique history.

Cairo

Sunset over the Nile

We spent the first day here at a couple of museums that have artifacts over 5,000 years old. Incredible!

4,000 year old 24k gold jewelry. Even “back in the day” I guess they liked their bling 😆

Hard to believe, but this statue is 5,000 years old. Look at its details and the condition it’s in. It’s hard/humbling to think that human beings could do something like this 5,000 years ago. I guess EVERY era of human civilization thinks it is (and IT IS) the high point of humanity and evolution (Until it isn’t, of course).

Then out on the town to one of the local markets. I grew up in NYC, known as the city that never sleeps, but this place makes Times Square look calm and tame hahahahaha.

This is the old market in Cairo. Thing is, this is 10pm on a Monday night. CRAZY!

Also, the driving here is something else. No lanes, not many traffic lights, no rules. Just a million cars each making their own way to wherever they are going. And crossing the street is a life and death situation. You kind of wade out into this fast-moving sea of lanes of cars that are going in both directions (kind of like Chris Dennis in Las Vegas hahaha), and you kind of “part the sea” (inshallah) and get to the other side. Something you have to see to believe. And, no car insurance, so as our guide says, whenever there is an accident, the drivers get out and argue, “Your fault”. “No, your fault” and argue for a while and then just shake hands, agree that today was a bad day, and are on their way 😆

This bus snaked through these narrow streets (and all the people in them), rubbing up against both sides of the road.

Tomorrow we will visit the famous pyramids of Giza, the oldest surviving structures built by humans.

Onward!

Western Ireland

by Ryan Markiewicz | Oct 5, 2025 | Berlin's Wall

After a lovely visit to Galway with Bob and Emma Kevitt, Hallie and I spent 3 days in western Ireland before our upcoming Nile River cruise.

It’s funny, I have been to almost 90 countries in my life, but this was the first time in Ireland. The West is more rural/less “citified” than Dublin, and (other than three days of never-ending rain, haha) it was lovely.

Ashford Castle is a nearly 1,000-year-old castle. Very cool. Kind of like Downton Abbey (if you’ve seen that show). The building itself was magnificent, but the highlights for us were going to the falconry school and walking their Irish Wolfhounds.

The hawks, falcons, and owls were magnificent, as were their dogs.  Irish Wolfhounds were trained to hunt wolves — thus their name. And while ferocious hunters, they were tame and gentle with us. The funniest thing is when we showed up at 8 am for the walk in the pouring rain, the man in charge looked us all over, standing there dripping in the rain, and slowly said, “I HATE YOU ALL” 🤣

Here are some cool pics.

Ashford Castle

Ashford Castle close up – though the car sort of ruins it 🙂

Inside the castle. You can get a feel for the elegance

Hallie feeling “the Royal vibe” hahahahaha

The Falconry was a highlight of the castle. How humans used to hunt. With birds of prey.

A beautiful bird. And the trainer was from Harrisburg, Pa, believe it or not!

Bob and I. Kind of whistling past a graveyard 😆

Walking the dogs was a special treat. (And we ALL looked like wet dogs 🙂

The reason for all the rain was Storm Amy with nearly 80 mph winds and crazy rain. I know the Emerald Isle gets its beautiful green from the rain, but his was a lot.

In Westport we got to visit a local Irish pub for some incredible classical music. This group (one of many who played in the various bars around this lovely town, was a sister and her 2 brothers. Fun, lively traditional Irish music

a pint or two of Guiness 🙂

Last night we spent in London with Zoeb and Margaret. ALWAYS great to see them. Zoeb and I shared some fond memories of our many years of working together and Hallie loved the ABBA  show (I’m not a fan, but the holograms of the band are incredible. Hard to believe those were not real people onstage!).

Zoeb at the ABBA concert. He looks about as happy as I was 🤪

With Zoeb and Margaret in front of our motel in London. Definitely NOT a castle. But just goes to show it’s not the extravagance of a place that makes it special–it’s the people 👍

Today we are off for our Nile River cruise through Egypt and then Jordan. Will keep y’all updated on our adventure.

Thanks to Emma and Bob, and to Z and Margaret for a wonderful start.

Onward!