The only members of the fabled Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still standing today, the Pyramids of Giza have survived 4,600 years of human history. Rising outside Cairo, cheek-by-jowl with the burgeoning suburb of Giza, the three pyramids are

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The only members of the fabled Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still standing today, the Pyramids of Giza have survived 4,600 years of human history. Rising outside Cairo, cheek-by-jowl with the burgeoning suburb of Giza, the three pyramids are actually colossal mausoleums for pharaohs, designed to remind the people of their divine relationship with the gods. The pyramids are magical from a distance (especially at sunset) and awesome up close, and navigating the inner corridors is eerie. Also here is the splendid solar boat, perhaps the oldest vessel known to man. Disassembled and buried just a few feet from the base of the Pyramid of Khufu, the boat symbolized transport for the pharaoh into the afterlife; it is now housed within a glass museum. As if that weren't enough, crouching just downhill from the pyramids is the enigmatic, crumbling Great Sphinx.

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