Day 1: CAIRO
Upon arrival in Cairo, you will be met by World Tours and Travel representative in Egypt and transferred to your hotel for overnight.
Day 2: CAIRO
Your private Egyptologist tour guide and driver will pick you up and start your tour. Drive to Giza and visit the Pyramids. See the Great Pyramid, a royal burial chamber, the Valley Temple and Sphinx. Continue to Memphis, capital of the pharaohs during the Old Kingdom. Visit the recumbent statue of Ramses II and the 80-ton alabaster sphinx.
Lunch en route,
Continue to Sakara to see the prototype of the Pyramids, the Step Pyramid, built for the 3rd Dynasty pharaoh Djoser by the exalted architect Imhotep. Return to Cairo and visit a Papyrus Institute on your way to your hotel for overnight. (B, L)
Day 3: CAIRO
Drive to the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities for a detailed, guided tour. Among other fascinating exhibits, see the treasures of the tomb of Tutankhamen. Then visit Old Cairo and walk back in time, visiting the Old Coptic Church and the Ben Ezra Synagogue. Lunch en route, Continue to the Mohamed Ali Mosque and the streets of Khan el Khalili Bazaar. Return to your hotel for overnight. (B, L)
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Day 4: NILE CRUISE (Aswan)
You will be transferred to Cairo airport for your very early flight to Aswan.. Upon arrival you will be met by World Tours and Travel representative and transferred to your cruise for lunch. In the afternoon, sail around Elephantine Island on a felucca, the traditional Egyptian sail boat. Elephantine Island is the largest of the Aswan area islands, and is the site of some of the most ancient remains in Egypt, with artifacts dating to pre-dynastic periods. Elephantine is Greek for Elephant. In ancient times, the island was called Abu or Yabu, which also means elephant. The name may indicate that the island was once a center for the trade of ivory.
Continue sailing around Kitchner Island (also known as Lord Kitchner's Botanical Garden, Plant Island, Gizirat al-Nabatat, Plantation Island, or Gizirat al-Bustan). Lord Kitchner moved there after being given the island for his campaigns in the Sudan. He imported plants from around the world to create his famous garden. From the river you have a nice view of the Aga Khan Mausoleum, an elegant pink granite structure built in the late 1950's. Return to your cruise for dinner and overnight in Aswan. (B, L, D)
Day 5: NILE CRUISE (Edfu)
after breakfast, take a tour of Aswan High Dam, Egypt's modern example of building on a monumental scale. Next, proceed to the granite quarries which supplied the ancient Egyptians with most of the hard stone used in pyramids and temples. The quarries still hold the Unfinished Obelisk, possibly intended as a companion to the Lateran Obelisk, originally at Karnak but now in Rome. It would have weighed over 1,100 tons and would have been the world's largest piece of stone ever handle
Continue by a short motor-boat ride to the Temple of Philae on the island of Agilka. The temple was dedicated to Isis, sister/wife of Osiris and patroness of the Ptolemaic rule. Return to your cruise vessel and sail to Kom Ombo. After lunch on board, visit the Temple of Sobek, the crocodile-headed god of fertility and creator of the world. The temple stands at a bend in the Nile where, in ancient times, sacred crocodiles basked in the sun on the riverbank. Return to your cruise and sail to Edfu, Dinner and overnight on-board the cruise. (B, L, D)
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Day 6: NILE CRUISE (Luxor)
After breakfast on board, set out by horse-drawn carriage to visit the Temple of Horus, the most perfectly preserved of all the Nile temples. Horus, also known as Haroeris, was the falcon-headed solar war god. Sail to Esna, Then cross the lock and sail to Luxor for dinner and overnight. (B, L, D)
Day 7: NILE CRUISE (Luxor)
After breakfast onboard, cross to the West Bank of the Nile and visit the wondrous Valley of the Kings, a vast city of the dead where the magnificent tombs of 62 pharaohs have been discovered. The tombs were carved deep into the desert rock, richly decorated and filled with treasures for the afterlife of the pharaohs. Visit several of the tombs. Next, visit the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut. This beautiful monument to the reign of the only female pharaoh rises out of the desert plain in a series of terraces and merges with the sheer limestone cliffs that surround it
On the way back to your Nile cruise vessel; stop at the famed Colossi of Memnon, two 66ft, and 1 thousand ton statues of Amenhotep III. These colossal statues were known by the ancient Greeks to emit haunting voices at dawn. Though damaged by nature and ancient tourists, the statues are still impressive. Lunch, dinner and overnight on-board the cruise (B, L, D)
DAY 8: CAIRO
After breakfast, disembark from the ship. To the north of Luxor visit Karnak Temple, called by some “the Temple of Temples.” It is the largest place of worship ever built. Its ancient name Ipet-Isut means “the most sacred of places.” The temple, or, more correctly, the complex of temples, was built over more than two thousand years by generation after generation of pharaohs. Within the complex, the great “Hypostyle Hall” is an incredible forest of giant pillars covering an area larger than the whole of Notre Dame Cathedral. Proceed to the graceful Temple of Luxor built by Amenhotep III and Ramses II for ritual and festivals and dedicated to the god Amun.
Then, you will be transferred to Luxor airport for your flight to Cairo, upon arrival you will be met by a World Tours and Travel representative and will drive direct the Desert Road to Alexandria. This second largest city in Egypt was built by Alexander the Great on the site of an old fishing village, which had a small harbor, sheltered by the island of Pharos. Upon arrival in Alexandria, Lunch en route, continue to your hotel for overnight. (B, L)
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DAY 9– ALEXANDRIA
After breakfast, start our tour by visit El Montazah gardens, where you will have the opportunity to see, from outside only, The Montazah palace; originally built in 1892, the palace dates from 1926 and was the summer home of the Egyptian Royal family.
Then continue to the Catacomb (Kom El Shuqqafa), a remarkable example of the Alexandrian blend of Greco-Roman and Egyptian styles carved into 100ft of solid rock.
Then visit the Fort and Citadel of Qait Bey. Built in the 15th century by sultan Ashraf Qait Bey, legend tells the fort was built with stones from the Pharos Lighthouse, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It now houses a navel museum.
Next stop will visit the newly opened Library of Alexandria. Apart from the main library, the complex will include a library for the blind, a young people's library, the Alexandria Conference Center, a science museum, a planetarium, a Restoration and Conservation Laboratory, and the Hall of Fame.
Lunch en route, then return back to hotel for overnight. (B, L)
Day 10: Alexandria / Cairo
After breakfast drive to El Alamein desert where General Rommel was defeated by General Montgomery in the 2nd World War, Visit the commonwealth graveyard and memorial.
Continue to drive back to Cairo hotel for overnight. (B)
DAY 11: Cairo
You will be met at your hotel and transferred to the airport for your departure flight.
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