Almost everyone who visits Egypt goes to the ancient pyramid complex at Giza to inspect the Great Pyramid and its neighboring rivals, but very few venture to explore the equally impressive and far more secretive pyramids at Dahshur, located less than fifteen miles to the south.
Unlike Giza, which sits alongside Cairo, one of the most populous cities in the world, Dahshur is situated beyond the immediate range of any large gatherings of people. Here can be found ancient Egypt's first true pyramid, the Red Pyramid, and its predecessor, the Bent Pyramid. Dahshur is older and more mysterious than Giza, with few tourists, no sellers of souvenirs or impromptu guided tours, and no camel rides. On certain days at certain times of the year the vast necropolis of Dahshur can be almost completely devoid of human activity, a wind-swept desert plain just beyond the greenery of the Nile. In the shadow of the Bent Pyramid and Red Pyramid, within the quiet solitude of their corridors and chambers, among the ruins of their adjacent temples, can be heard only the echoes of the distant past.
This was one such day.
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