TRIPS EVERY MARCH & NOVEMBER
Jeff Rasley
10 Days - 11 Nights
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Day 1: Cairo
Welcome to Egypt and the start of your holiday.
Arrival to Cairo Airport and transfer to hotel.
Overnight: Meridien Airport Hotel.
Day 2: Aswan
Fly to Aswan (early morning).
Once ancient Egypt’s gateway to Africa, this ancient pilgrimage centre has a distinctly different Nubian culture. Visit the Temple of Philae, one of Upper Egypt’s most beguiling monuments on a beautiful island at the heart of the Nile. Explore the stunning Temple of Isis, the Egyptian goddess of health, marriage and wisdom, whose cult spread from Egypt across the Roman Empire. Finally, visit the Aswan High Dam, an engineering miracle built in the 1960s to control the flooding of the Nile.
Overnight: Cruise ship.
Day 3: Aswan
Visit the Temple of Kom Ombo. Set dramatically on the bank of the Nile, the soaring, chunky columns of the Temple are a magnificent sight. With its double construction, the temple is divided into the domains of Haroeris the falcon and Sobek the crocodile. The ancient Egyptian place of worship features a unique engraving that is thought to be among the first representations of medical and surgical instruments.
Overnight: Cruise Ship.
Day 4: Edfu/ Esna
Visit the Temple of Edfu, the second largest and best-preserved temple in Egypt, rich in preserved scenes and unique architecture. It’s vast size and extravagant design is an indication of the country’s prosperity at the time. Travel north to the agricultural town of Esna, to visit the Temple first built during the reign of Pharaoh Thutmosis III (New Kingdom), but presently dates to the Ptolemaic temple, one of the last temples built in Egypt.
Overnight: Cruise Ship.
Day 5: Luxor – East Bank
Visit 4000-year-old Luxor which was for a great many years one of the most important cities in the world and at the centre of political, economic, religious and military life. It is Ancient Egypt at its best. The first stop is to the famous Temples of Karnak, dedicated to the god Amon Ra and his wife Mut. A complex of temples, halls, enclosures and obelisks, it is the largest religious temple ever constructed. Continue to Luxor Temple which was once joined to the Temples of Karnak by a two-kilometer long Avenue of Sphinx, a portion of which marks the entrance to the temple. Dominated by statues of the great warrior pharaoh Ramses II, Luxor Temple has survived Nile floods, foreign invasion and thousands of years exposed to the elements.
Overnight: Winter Palace Pavilion Hotel - Luxor East
Day 6: Luxor – West Bank
The west bank at Luxor is one of the most important archaeological sites in the world. Visit the Colossi of Memnon, gigantic 18-meter-high Amenhotep III Statues standing for 3400 years and Valley of the Kings, one of Egypt’s most important treasures and the royal cemetery for 62 Pharaohs. Witness the incredible precision in the building of the kings’ tombs dug into the mountain with marvelous colors and descriptions of their life. Visit the Temple of Hatshepsut a memorial temple that honors Queen Hatshepsut and is one of the greatest Egyptian architectural achievements. Built in a half circle of cliffs, this memorial temple marks the entrance to the Valley of the Kings.
Overnight: Winter Palace Pavilion Hotel - Luxor East
Day 7: Luxor
Visit the Temple of Dendera, built in Roman times and one of the best-preserved temples in Egypt, dedicated to Hathor the goddess of love, joy and beauty. Then on to Abydos, an important pilgrimage centre, to visit the temple of Seti, built by King Seti l and completed by King Ramses ll. It is cited by many as the most impressive religious structure still standing in Egypt.
Overnight: Winter Palace Pavilion Hotel - Luxor East
Day 8: Cairo
Fly to Cairo (early morning flight). Visit Saqqara, one of the most extensive archaeological sites in Egypt and the necropolis where pyramid building in Egypt first began. Saqqara and the surrounding pyramids of Dahshur and Abu Sir are a showcase of the early architecture of the pharaohs and of how the Pyramid was built with a mistake that led to the perfect pyramidal shape! The day ends with a visit to the three world-famous Giza Pyramids that are seen in many movies and documentaries. The ancient engineering feats at Giza were so impressive that even today scientists can’t be sure of how the pyramids were built.
Overnight: Meridien Pyramids Hotel or Mena House Hotel
Day 9: Cairo
Visit Islamic Cairo, the thousand-year-old historic core of the city (including the walled Citadel of Mohamed Ali) which remains a living reminder of the city’s past with hundreds of monuments and beautiful mosques carved with Arabic calligraphy. After the Citadel, a visit to the fascinating Egyptian Museum, with one of the world’s most important collections of ancient Egyptian artefacts including the fantastic Tutankhamun exhibit. In the evening, visit the Khan el Khalili Market, a busy souk that has attracted visitors from all over the world for over seven hundred years. Be prepared for an amazing shopping experience with souvenirs that cannot be found anywhere else in the world.
Overnight: Meridien Pyramids Hotel or Mena House Hotel
Day 10: Alexandria
Travel by bus to the port city of Alexandria, named after Alexander the “Great” Macedonian, on the Mediterranean Coast. Alexandria was the second most powerful city of the ancient world after Rome. Visit Citadel Qaitbay, an impressive 15th-century fortress built during the 1480s, perhaps most famous for being the site of the great Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the ancient Seven Wonders of the World. The day wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the Souk el-Attarine, a labyrinth of narrow alleys and pedestrian streets, bursting with merchants selling all types of souvenirs and traditional Egyptian artefacts.
Overnight: Windsor Palace Hotel
Day 11: Alexandria
Visit the Kom El Shoqafa, a historical archaeological site considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Middle Ages, with catacombs unlike any other in the world of antiquity. The day will end with a visit to the impressive Library of Alexandria, the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient world.
Return by bus to Cairo. Night at Hotel in Cairo. End of the tour.