Golf at the Mena House, Darshur

Here are some pictures of golf at The Mena House. This is a golf course right by the pyramids, across from the Mena house hotel which was once the bastion of British colonialism in Cairo. I think Winston Churchill stayed here. We (Scott and I) played golf here the last two Fridays.

Scott took this picture. Note the near perfect finish! My arms are shaped like a pyramid.

Some random pictures of the pyramids by the course:

Here I am by the 18th green.

In addition to being adjacent to the Giza pyramids, the golf course has at least 3 mosques right around it. This isn't unusual, there are mosques everywhere in Cairo and I have been awakened by the morning call to prayer from the mosque in my neighborhood. Since we played on Friday, the "church" day for Muslims, we were on the course when the mosques started broadcasting the call to prayer. So it was a true Egypt experience, listening to the prayers with the Giza pyramid in the background. Of course, I felt a bit the crass colonialist playing golf at the same time, but I enjoyed the experience. Here is a brief video I took at this time:

Golf plus caddy plus tip cost me 200 Egyptian pounds, which is about $36. The taxi ride there and back was 100 pounds (about $18).

After the golf game, we ate at the Mena house restaurant across the street, which was good but expensive (you pay Western prices in there!)

Here is a video of the cab ride back to Maadi from Giza. Nothing real exciting, but it does give you an idea of the kind of neighborhood I live in:

Later that weekend, I took a trip down to Darshur, which is where one of the first pyramids was built. It is a far cry from the pyramid scene in Giza (just by Cairo). This is about 50 km south, and is out in the middle of the desert. Very few tourists are here. You really are just out in the middle of a desert alone with the pyramids (except for a few police officers who want to take a picture for you and then ask for 10 pounds).

Here is a picture of the true pyramid at Darshur, which I think is the first true pyramid completed. I went into the tomb of this one, and that was quite an experience. It was 130 steps down about a 30 degree incline through a narrow passageway. You cannot help but feel a little bit "Indiana Jones," but also a bit claustrophobic. A famous Italian archeologist studied this pyramid, and he inscribed his name on the wall in the tomb, sort of like "Kilroy was here" in the tomb of the pyramid.

The other pyramid here is the "bent" pyramid, which starts at one angle and then about halfway up turns in. It made me wonder about the poor engineer who had to explain to the Pharaoh that the angle wasn't quite right, and they were going to have to make a slight revision...

I also stopped by Memphis, which was (I think) the original capital of ancient Egypt. There isn't much to see here really, except for this statue of Ramasees.

Between Darshur and the famous pyramids at Giza is the step pyramid in Saqqara. I think this was the first attempt at building a pyramid. This was the most interesting site to me because it isn't just a pyramid. It seemed to be part of a larger plan with temples and arenas built around it.
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