Package 1:
7 Nights / 8 Days (3 nights Cairo, 4 nights Nile Cruise)
Day 1: Cairo
- Meet and assist at Cairo International Airport and transfer to hotel.
Day 2: Cairo
- Buffet breakfast
- Full day tour visiting the Giza Pyramids, the Sphinx, Memphis and Sakkara
The Pyramids of Giza: Located right at the edge of the modern city and
also right on the verge of the desert. Perfect geometrical shapes yield their
secrets of construction. Each is made of millions of massive stone blocks and
their faces are in fact like giant staircases, not smooth, as they first appear
to be. With no doors or windows to give them scale, the monolithic forms seem
deceptively small until arriving at their bases.
Ancient Egyptians started burying their dead under mounds. From these early
piles of earth covered with bricks, some of the most astounding structures ever
constructed by man came to be developed. The ear tombs (mastabas) were
rectangular and flat-topped. King Zoser put several mastabas on top of one
another, the idea caught on and the era of Pyramid construction began.
The Sphinx: Abu- El- Houl or father of fear in Arabic was sculpted in
the image of pharaoh Chephren as a guard for his Pyramidal tomb.
Day 3: Cairo
- Buffet breakfast
- Full day tour starts by visiting the Egyptian Museum
The Egyptian Museum: Situated in the centre of Cairo, it is one of the
most important in the country. Constructed in the middle of the 19th century by
Khedive Abbas Hilmi, its purpose was to house the wealth of artifacts discovered
as a result of the wave of enthusiasm of Egyptologists. Every piece is on
display and bears a catalogue number. The vastness of the collection is
thrilling.
A section is specially reserved for the display of king Tutankhamon's
treasures. The king died mysteriously at the tender age of 19 years. His
half-finished tomb in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor was filled with an array
of treasure unparalleled in its variety, exquisite beauty, and sheer weight of
gold.
- Continue to visit Islamic Cairo, the Citadel, Mohammed Ali Mosque, Sultan
Hassan Mosque, Coptic Museum, Churches and the Khan El-Khalili Bazaars.
The Citadel: From the centre of Cairo, the approach to the Citadel is
between two very noteworthy mosques:
Sultan Hassan Mosque: The Tomb of Sultan Hassan, behind the mihrab (prayer niche) has pretty stained glass windows, a band
of description along its walls and striking quenches supporting the dome. The
tomb itself is of Egyptian alabaster. Across the road, the Rifai Mosque used as
a final resting place for scions of the house of Mohammed Ali.
Take the road up
to the Citadel, a Crusader-style fortress dating from the time of Saladin. As
you pass through the mammoth walls, think of what it must have been like for the mameluke notables who came to dine at Mohammed Ali's invitation. That night the
Pasha sat down to dinner alone knowing full well that all his rivals had been
quietly and efficiently dispatched. The most eye-catching of the Citadel's
buildings is the Mosque of Mohammed Ali (Alabaster Mosque) - built in the Ottoman Baroque
style with a few dashes of Louis Philippe. The Mosque's plan is Turkish, with a
large open forecourt surrounded by a colonnade. Even the Pharaohs did not use
alabaster as lavishly as Mohammed Ali did; the whole interior is covered in the
creamy stone, though the Pasha had his own tomb made from Carrera marble.
Behind
the mosque, go around for a panoramic view of Cairo and the Nile.
Day 4: Cairo/Aswan
- Buffet breakfast
- Transfer to Cairo Domestic Airport for flight to
Aswan.
- On arrival transfer to Nile Cruise pier for embarkation
- Lunch on board
- Visit to the Elephantine Island, and the Agha Khan Mausoleum by felucca
- Dinner and overnight on board
Day 5: Aswan/Kom Ombo
- Buffet breakfast
- Visit
the High and Old Dams, the Granite Quarries, and the Temple of Philae
The Unfinished Obelisk: Made from the beautiful red granite from which obelisks was cut from
the quarries, it fractured during cutting and was abandoned. It shows how these magnificent
monuments were painstakingly hewn by hand and polished to a glassy smoothness.
The famous Philae Temple: Partially submerged under the waters of
the High Dam and threatened with total disappearance until international
rescue efforts (coordinated by UNESCO) reassembled the temple on the island of Agilka.
- Sail to Kom Ombo
- Visit the Temple of Horous in Edfu
- Sail to Edfu for Dinner and overnight in Kom Ombo.
Day 6: Edfu /Esna
- Buffet breakfast
- Visit Edfu Temple, and Sail to and visit Esna Temple
- Dinner
and Sail to Luxor
Day 7: Luxor
- Buffet breakfast
- Cross the Nile to the West
Bank (where the sun begins its nightly course, always the preferred place for
tombs).
- Visit Valley of Kings, Valley of queens & Queen Hatshepsut temple at El
Dier El Bahari, a unique monument built as a series of terraces on a grand scale
with stark colonnades blending in with the grooved mountainside which rises
behind the temple.
- Buffet lunch on board
- Buffet dinner and overnight in Luxor
Day 8: Luxor /Cairo
- Buffet breakfast
- Check out and disembarkation after
breakfast
- Visit The East Bank: Luxor and Karnak Temples vast, complex temples,
sacred lakes, chapels and sphinx-lined triumphal ways served as a setting for the
chief god Amun
- Transfer to Luxor Airport for flight to Cairo.
- Meet at Cairo
Domestic Airport and transfer to International Terminal for final departure.
[ Back to Top ]
Package 2
6 Nights / 7 Days (2 nights Cairo, 3 nights Cruise)
Day 1: Cairo
- Meet and
assist at Cairo International Airport and transfer to hotel for check-in.
- Meet
with your tour guide to start a full day tour visiting the Egyptian Museum,
Islamic Cairo, Citadel, Mohamed Ali Mosque, Old Cairo, Coptic Churches, the
Synagogue, and the Khan El-Khalil Bazaars.
- Overnight at the hotel
Day 2: Cairo
- Continental breakfast
- Full day tour visiting Memphis, Sakkara, Giza Pyramids
and the Sphinx.
Day 3: Cairo/Aswan
- Breakfast
- Transfer to Cairo Domestic
Airport for flight to Aswan.
- Arrive Aswan and transfer to pier for embarkation
on the Nile Cruise Boat for a 3 Nights / 4 Days Cruise.
- Half day Felucca
tour visiting, Kitchener Island & Agha Khan Mausoleum.
- Dinner and overnight on
board.
Day 4: Aswan/Kom Ombo/Edfu
- Breakfast
- Half day tour visiting the High
an Old Dam, Philae Temple and granite quarries
- Sail to Kom Ombo, and visit Kom Ombo
Temple.
- Continue the sail to Edfu.
- Dinner and overnight
Day 5: Edfu/Esna/Luxor
- Breakfast
- Visit Edfu Temple, and sail to Esna to visit Esna Temple.
- Sail to Luxor, for overnight.
Day 6: Luxor/Cairo - Extensions
- Check out after
breakfast
- Cross by ferry to the West Bank to visit the Valley of Kings, Valley
of the Queens, Deir El-Bahari Temple, and the Colossi of Memnon.
- Cross back to
the East Bank, to visit the Karnak and Luxor Temples.
- Transfer to Luxor
Airport for flight to Cairo.
- Upon arrival at Cairo Domestic Airport, transfer to
the International terminal to connect to flight to Johannesburg, for final
departure.
Optional Red Sea Extensions
- Hurghada: From Luxor (Driving 4 Hours)
- Sharm El-Sheikh: From Cairo (50 minutes flight)
[ Back to Top ] |
