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Comment by XaspR8d | Hacker News Reader

> such as how the pyramids of Giza, Egypt are shown in pictures

I was totally on the same wavelength with Karl Pilkington in An Idiot Abroad when he discovered they were right next to the city. It's such a weird censoring -- would people value them less if they knew how close they were to development?

For reference here[1] is a traditional shot of the pyramids, and here[2] is an aerial view of the adjoining urban area.

[1] - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:All_Gizah_Pyramids.j...

[2] - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Giza-pyramids.JPG

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I was in San Antonio, Texas last week and while not exactly on the same scale as the pyramids, The Alamo has a similar middle-of-nowhere isolated feel to it when represented in the media, while in actuality it's smack dab in the middle of downtown -- surrounded by hotels and gift shops.

The Alamo was the most underwhelming historical anything I've ever visited. Not only is it in the middle of downtown San Antonio, it's also rather small, and San Antonio itself is a sticky tropical rainforest. Nothing like arid, lonely fort of the popular culture depictions of the Alamo.

You can actually go visit the sets used for the Alamo movies here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alamo_Village. Stick hot and sticky though :-D

Isn't the fact that it's small a big part of the historical significance?

Not really. It housed 200 defenders, but it was undermanned at that capacity.

You're likely aware of this having visited, but all that remains of the original mission is the chapel and a few walls.

This is what it looked like at the time of the siege; the city ended up growing around it

http://saaal-apwu.org/history/alamo-6.jpg

That's hilarious. I've never been to Texas so I've always seen the Alamo depicted like this:

http://cdn.history.com/sites/2/2015/05/ask-alamo-survivor-iS...

But it's actually this:

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qNqogZ9sZJ0/maxresdefault.jpg

> would people value them less

Yes. Also there's a road running right next one of the pyramids, a pizza hut overlooking it, and tons of trash in the sand.

Darn right! There's more mystery and magic if you have to go on a six hour journey through the desert to even get a glimpse of them.

Consider the Great Pyramid complex was used as a stony quarry for the surrounding city for millennia. It makes their endurance all the more remarkable.

And often the Sphinx is shown in the foreground so it looks like it's on a similar scale. The Sphinx is tiny compared to the pyramids.

I always figured these pyramids were in the middle of the desert... thanks for enlightening me.

Nah, you need them close to some work camps or else the limestone deliveries take months. And then the work camps need to be within 48 squares of a populated residence so the work-overseer can find workers.

Source: I played a lot of Pharaoh as a kid.

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