It is really a plateau rising by means of a sloping road above the city. Cairo is sneaking close to this slope but will not be able to get up there even if it wants to. From up there you have a good look over a great part of the city.

They are too big, really, the pyramids. You simply can´t grasp them, these giant structures, the rocks are immense when you stand beside them, and sadly the structures are crumbling in places. Somehow it´s hard to get a grasp of what this is really about, you´re simply too awed by the sheer size. Climbing them is nowadays forbidden except on the lowest part in one area of the pyramid of Khufu.

We walked around the pyramid of Khufu, craning our necks to see the top. Turning around its corner the pyramid of Khafre came into sight with its wite limestone top still in place. Into this one people were allowed to enter but we chose the Solar Boat Museum instead. This became a favourite of mine; the graceful boat with a comparatively simple construction, completely made of wooden parts and rope. No nails here. It reminded us of some Viking ships we´ve seen. It was easy to imagine it speeding across the waters of the Nile, the King and his men on board, or even his body being brought here for burial.

We walked over to Khafre´s mortuary temple, much in ruins, and stood looking at the beautiful view along the processional route leading down to the Valley Temple with the Sphinx at one side and the city just behind.

A little bit out in the desert, behind the pyramids, there has been built an open air opera house. It really shames the view as it´s placed so hear the pyramids though Aida performed here each year in October must certainly be something of an experience.

The whole area north of the pyramids of Khufu and Khafre has been spot-checked with x-ray cameras and there are probably several hundreds of tombs waiting to be excavated - if that ever is going to happen. The city needs to expand, there has been built new areas for people to live in a few kilometers out in the desert, but they do seem deserted and forlorn.

But the light here! The sun, the sand, the blue blue sky above and the giant silent blocks of stone... people who crawl around them like tiny ants, incapable of comprehend the enormous era of time which separates then from now.