CAIRO –  NILE CRUISE – RED SEA

SAMPLE ITINERARY

DAY ONE: CAIRO

Welcome to Egypt and the start of your holiday!

Arrive Cairo International Airport. You will be met by your tour coordinator who will assist you through the immigration and baggage controls. Transfer to your hotel and check-in.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DAY

THE PYRAMIDS OF GIZA   The sole survivors from the ancient Greek-listed Seven Wonders of the World, the pyramids of Giza are the planet’s oldest tourist attraction!  Constructed from over 2.5 million limestone blocks it is thought to have taken more than 20 years to construct.

They are Egypt’s most visited monuments and among the world’s greatest tourist attractions.

THE SPHINX is carved from a single piece of stone. It is a lion with the head of a pharaoh   thought to be the portrait of Chepren.

Overnight: Cairo

Meal Plan:  Lunch in local restaurant

DAY TWO: CAIRO

Breakfast at the hotel. Proceed for the days tour

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DAY

CHURCH OF ST.SERGIUS (ABU SERGA) – A 5th century basilica built over crypt where the Holy Family is believed to have stayed during their flight into Egypt.

CHURCH OF ST.MERCURIUS (ABU SEFEIN) – boasts a unique collection of Coptic art including 175 icons that depict scenes from the old and new testaments, wall paintings, etching and stained glass.

BEN EZRA SYNAGOGUE: Modest in appearance, delightful in interior and boasting of legends, the Ben Ezra synagogue is the supreme Jewish monument in Cairo. Legends claim that the synagogue is built on the spot where pharaoh’s daughter found Moses in the bulrushes and where Jeremiah spoke to survivors after the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar.

The most important recent event is the finding of medieval manuscripts in 1894. The collection, called Geniza, counted more than 250,000 pages, dating to the period between 1002 and 1266.

AL AZHAR UNIVERSITY AND MOSQUE: Al-Azhar is today the most important religious university in the Muslim world, with as much as 90,000 students. It is perhaps the oldest university in the whole world. The heart of Al-Azhar is the mosque quarters. Unlike so many mosques around the Muslim world, it is fully open for visitors. The architecture is stunning; the size of the roofed hall is quite impressive.

THE KHAN EL KHALILI:  The most famous of oriental bazaars it is a treasure of trove of medieval craftsmanship. Shop to your total hearts content- for the Egyptian artifacts…or order yourself a sheesha, indulge and watch the world go by…both very enjoyable pass times!!

Transfer to the Ramses Train Station to board your sleeper train for Aswan. Dinner on the train.

Overnight: Cairo

Meal plan: Breakfast in hotel / Lunch in restaurant

DAY THREE/FOUR/FIVE :  NILE CRUISE

Breakfast in the hotel. Transfer to the airport for your flight to Aswan. Cruise embarkation at noon.

HIGHLIGHTS DURING THE NILE CRUISE

FELUCCA SAILING:  Felucca is a traditional Egyptian sailing boat. We shall sail by the felucca around the Elephantine Island to view the Aga Khan Mausoleum and the Kitcheners botanical garden.

HIGH DAM: The high dam is the largest rock-filled dam in the world and one of the most important engineering feats of the 20TH century an artificial lake-Lake Nasser, with a surface of 4000 sq km lies behind the dam.

THE UNFINISHED OBELISK: Lying as a sleeping giant in a bed of granite, the Unfinished Obelisk in Aswan is an incredible look at the building methods of these monolithic monuments. It would have measured about 137 feet (42 meters) if completed and is estimated to weigh around 1,200 tons.  It’s thought that the female pharaoh Hatshepsut commissioned the work during the 18th dynasty, more than 3,500 years ago.

TEMPLES OF KOM OMBO: Kom Ombo temple is exquisitely situated on a dune above a bend in the Nile. Alone among Egypt’s temple it is shared equally by two gods-Sobek, the crocodile god of Nile fertility and haroeis, the elder Horus.

TEMPLE OF EDFU: The town of Edfu boasts Egypt’s most best preserved temple dedicated to Horus, the god of sun and planets .The falcon –his symbol-is a prominent decoration.  A very delightful hantour (horse carriage) ride takes you from the Nile to the temple grounds.

GREAT TEMPLES OF KARNAK  :  “Here are works in whose presence it is a task for the imagination to overtake the eyesight’

More than a temple, Karnak is a spectacular complex of sanctuaries, pylons and obelisks – built on a grand scale.  The impressive and awesome Karnak temples are for many – pharaonic Egypt’s grandest monument of all. The complex covers a hundred acres: its history spans throughout thirteen centuries.

THE LUXOR TEMPLE :

Largely built by the New Kingdom pharaohs Amenhotep III  and Ramses II , this temple is a strikingly graceful monument in the heart of the modern town. Also known as the Southern Sanctuary, its main function was during the annual Opet celebrations, when the statues of Amun, Mut and Khonsu were brought from Karnak, along the Avenue of Sphinxes, and reunited here during the inundation.

VALLEY OF THE KINGS   The Valley of the Kings shelters the fabled tombs of the pharaohs. More than 40 pharaohs were laid to rest here in ornate subterranean palaces penetrating sometimes under 100 m into the face of the rock.

COLOSSI OF MEMNON    Dominating the desert to the east stand the huge colossi of Memnon, sole relics of the funerary temple of Amenhotep 111.

THE TEMPLE OF DEIR EL-BAHRI is magnificently situated at the foot of the sheer cliffs fringing the desert hills, the light-colored, almost white, sandstone of the temple standing out

Overnight: Nile cruise

Meal Plan: Breakfast / Lunch / Dinner

DAY SIX: LUXOR / RED SEA

Breakfast at the hotel. Transfer to Red Sea by private van. Arrive and check-in to your Red Sea resort. Rest of day at leisure to enjoy the many facilities at the resort.

Overnight: Red Sea

Meal plan: Breakfast / All Inclusive at resort

DAY SEVEN: RED SEA

Day at leisure

Overnight: Red Sea

Meal plan:  All Inclusive at resort

DAY EIGHT: RED SEA/CAIRO/DEPART

Breakfast at the resort. Transfer to Airport for your flight to Cairo from Hurghada. Arrive Cairo and connect for your International flight back home

Meal plan: Breakfast