Memphis, ancient Men-Nefer or, Ineb-Hedj (White Walls) is the first stop on this, our last excursion. After ca half an hour´s drive south of Cairo, we come upon it, through the morning rush in the streets of Cairo, along Sakkara Road by the canal, through villages brimming with life, mess, fruit mongers, children, goats, women covered in black from head to foot, cafés with shisha-smoking men in galabayas.

There isn´t much to see today. Men-Nefer is not excavated as the early remains are believed to be located beneath deposits of thick Nile alluvium. The New Kingdom Temple of Ptah has left some scattered ruins, while once it was a huge temple. Most of the city is gone, or lies beneath cultivated fields and local villages. There is a small Open Air museum with some statues and stelae, there is the Alabaster Sphinx and a pair of statues of Ramesses II, together with a colossus of him housed in a museum building. It is imposing and beautiful, the stonework giving an impression of a velvet surface. Once this colossus stood at the entrance of the Temple of Ptah.

As we leave, there is a large cleared area to our right. When asked, the guide says that there will be excavations. I don´t know if that is true. Maybe this is only the clearing of ground to put up houses for people.