DAY 1: Wed - Departure from USA
- Board your international flight from New York to start your journey back on time to the ancient land of the Pharos. 2 Meals will be served during your overnight flight.
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DAY 2: Thu - Arrive Cairo
- Arrival in the Land of the Pharaohs, at Cairo International airport, Right Travel Representative will be waiting for you after you get your luggage and clear customs and will be holding the Right Travel sign, then escorted to your hotel.
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DAY 3: Fri - Cairo, Pyramids Tour
- Drive to Sakkara site, Sakkara is one section of the great necropolis of Memphis, the Old Kingdom capital, and the kings of the 1st Dynasty as well as that of the 2nd Dynasty. are mostly buried in this section of the Memphis necropolis. It has been of constant interest to Egyptologists. Three major discoveries have recently been made at Sakkara, including a prime minister tomb, a queen&rsquos pyramid, and the tomb of the son of a dynasty-founding king. Each discovery has a fascinating story, with many adventures for the archaeologists as they revealed the secrets of the past.
- Continue to Memphis. Founded around 3,100 BC, is the legendary city of Menes, the King who united Upper and Lower Egypt. Early on, Memphis was more likely a fortress from which Menes controlled the land and water routes between Upper Egypt and the Delta. Having probably originated in Upper Egypt, from Memphis he could control the conquered people of Lower Egypt. However, by the Third Dynasty, the building at Saqqara suggests that Memphis had become a sizable city
- Stop for Lunch at local restaurant, and proceed to the Giza Plateau, home of Egypt signature attractions, the Great Pyramids, proclaimed by the Greeks to be among the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. The largest among these is the Great Pyramid of Cheops, probably built more than 2,600 years before the time of Christ. Standing 480 feet tall this is the last of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world that still standing. Little is known of Cheops, you`ll also see the inscrutable and mysterious Sphinx, known in Arabic as Abu al-Hol ("the Father of Terror") and carved almost entirely from one piece of limestone.
- Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
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DAY 4: Sat - Cairo, Egyptian Museum, Old Cairo, National Museum of Egyptian Civilization
- Start your day with a visit to the Egyptian Museum you`ll stroll through the halls highlighting each historical period of this ancient land, Marvel at the glittering treasures of King Tutankhamen, unparalleled in their variety, exquisite beauty, and sheer weight in gold. Seeing this treasure of more than 1,700 fabulous items buried with a young and relatively unimportant king, who can even imagine what the tombs of great and long-lived pharaohs must have contained.
- Continue to the Old Cairo explore some of the early religious monuments of the city. You`ll visit the El Muallaqa Church, dating to the late fourth and early fifth century. This basilica was named for its location on top of the south gate of the Fortress of Babylon. Muallaqa means suspended or hanging. Destroyed in a ninth-century earthquake, the church became the center of the Coptic (or Christian) Church of Egypt from the time it was rebuilt in the eleventh century until the 14th century. Make a stop at the Ben Ezra Synagogue, built sometime between the sixth and ninth centuries AD. The temple contains a Jewish Heritage Library, containing documents found here in 1896 that describe the economic and social conditions of Jews under Arab rule as well as descriptions of relations between various Jewish sects.
- Lunch at local restaurant
- End the day at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, a large museum in the ancient city of Fustat, now part of Cairo, Egypt. The museum partially opened in February 2017 and will display a collection of 50,000 artefacts, presenting Egyptian civilization from prehistoric times to the present day.
- Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
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DAY 5: Sun - Cairo, Luxor Optional Luxor Museum, The Ramesseum, Madinat Habu
- Early morning transfer to Cairo airport for your flight to Luxor, arrival and transfer to you hotel, rest of the day is free at your leisure or you may choose our optional tour (Luxor Museum & Habo City and Rammasuem Temple -L09).
- The Luxor Museum, is built on two levels with a ramp leading from the ground floor to the upper floor and contains artefacts from around the Theban area. Many of the free-standing granite statues depict kings, queens, and high-status officials who left their images in the Theban temples. Tutankhamun of course is well-represented by some of the objects from his tomb in the Valley of the Kings which are not currently on display in the Cairo Museum. Included among these is the famous majestic head of a cow goddess, of resin and gilded wood, which is one of the first items the visitor will see when entering the museum. There are exhibits of funerary stelae, offering tables, papyri, tomb furniture, a cartonage mummy-case and many small statuettes and shabtis. In glass cases in the centre of the upper floor are smaller objects such as jewellery, funerary and ritual items and artefacts from daily life.
- Continue to The Ramesseum Temple, this temple is built by Ramesses II. It was rival to his temple in Abu Simbel. Sadly enough, this once-a-great mortuary temple is in ruins. The debris though is still interesting, so romantic and inspiring.
- Last stop will be at Madinat Habu, in ancient times Madinat Habu was known as Djanet and according to ancient belief was the place were Amon first appeared. Both Hatshepsut and Tuthmosis III built a temple dedicated to Amon here and Later Rameses III constructed his larger memorial temple on the site, back to you hotel in Luxor for overnight.
- Meal: Breakfast
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DAY 6: Mon - Luxor, Cruise, Sightseeing East Bank
- After breakfast, transfer from your hotel to your luxury Nile Cruise where you will spend the next 4 nights / 5 days. After Lunch, visit Karnak Temple, in ancient Egypt, the power of the god Amun of Thebes gradually increased during the early New Kingdom, and after the short persecution led by Akhenaten, it rose to its apex. In the reign of Ramesses III, more than two thirds of the property owned by the temples belonged to Amun, evidenced by the stupendous buildings at Karnak. Although badly ruined, no site in Egypt is more impressive than Karnak. It is the largest temple complex ever built by man, and represents the combined achievement of many generations of ancient builders. The Temple of Karnak is actually three main temples, smaller enclosed temples, and several outer temples located about three kilometers north of Luxor, Egypt situated on 100 ha (247 acres) of land. Karnak is actually the sites modern name. Its ancient name was Ipet-isut, meaning "The Most Select (or Sacred) of Places". This vast complex was built and enlarged over a thirteen hundred year period. The three main temples of Mut, Montu and Amun are enclosed by enormous brick walls.
- Proceed to visit the Temple of Luxor, built by the two pharaohs, Amenhotep III and Ramses II. Ancient Thebes was a center of festivals, and the Temple of Luxor was the setting for the most important-the festival of Opet, designed to merge the ruler`s human and divine aspects. The temple was dedicated to Amun-Ra, whose marriage to Mut was celebrated annually, when the sacred procession moved by boat from Karnak to Luxor Temple, overnight in Luxor.
- Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
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DAY 7: Tue - Luxor, West Bank Tour, (Optional Hot Air Balloon Ride)
- (Optional Hot Air Balloon Ride in Luxor). As the sun rises over Luxor, so can you, aboard an optional hot-air balloon ride. The sights, sounds, and sheer spectacle of seeing these antiquities from the sky will surely make for a morning you will remember forever
- Breakfast, then you will have the following program today. Visit the West Bank, starting with Valley of the Kings, with its many tombs chiseled deep into the Cliffside. From the 18th to the 20th Dynasty, the Memphis area and pyramid-style tombs were abandoned in favor of the West Bank of the Nile in Thebes. Several great leaders as well as many less important rulers are buried here, and more tombs are being discovered even today. This is where Howard Carter discovered the treasures of Tutankhamen and was struck dumb with amazement when he be held its wonderful things in 1922.
- Proceed to the funerary temple of Queen Hatshepsut at Deir El Bahari. The mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut is one of the most dramatically situated in the world. The queens architect, Senenmut, designed it and set it at the head of a valley overshadowed by the Peak of the Thebes, the Lover of Silence where the goddess who presided over the necropolis lived.
- Last stop will be at the Colossi of Memnon. Amenhotep III (18th Dynasty) built a mortuary temple in Thebes that was guarded by two gigantic statues on the outer gates. All that remains now are the 23 meters (75 ft.) high, one thousand-ton statues of Amenhotep III. Though damaged by nature and ancient tourists, the statues are still impressive, back to the cruise for lunch, rest of the day to relax on your boat, overnight in Luxor.
- Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
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DAY 8: Wed - Luxor, Edfu, Kom Ombo
- Early morning, start sailing to Edfu and continue the sightseeing. Visit Edfu Temple, also known as the Temple of Horus, the falcon-god, (237 B.C.) considered the best-preserved temple in Ancient Egypt and the second largest after the Temple of Karnak. Dedicated to Horus, the falcon headed god, it was built during the reigns of six Ptolemies. We have a great deal of information about its construction from reliefs on outer areas. It was begun in 237 BC by Ptolemy III Euergetes I and was finished in 57 BC. Most of the work continued throughout this period with a brief interlude of 20 years while there was unrest during the period of Ptolemy IV and Ptolemy V Epiphanes. This is not only the best preserved ancient temple in Egypt, but the second largest after Karnak. It was believed that the temple was built on the site of the great battle between Horus and Seth. Hence, the current temple was but the last in a long series of temples build on this location. Sail to Kom Ombo and Overnight in Kom Ombo.
- Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
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DAY 9: Thu - Kom Ombo, Aswan
- Morning Cruise will be at Kom Ombo, visit Kom Ombo Temple (the Ptolemaic Temple of Sobek & Haroeries). Located in the town of Kom-Ombo, about 28 miles north of Aswan, the Temple, dating to the Ptolemies, is built on a high dune overlooking the Nile. The actual temple was started by Ptolemy VI Philometor in the early second century BC. Ptolemy XIII built the outer and inner hypostyle halls. The outer enclosure wall and part of the court were built by Augustus sometime after 30 BC, and are mostly gone. There are also tombs from the Old Kingdom in the vicinity of Kom-Ombo village.
- Sail to Aswan and Visit the High Dam, Located near Aswan, the world famous High Dam was an engineering miracle when it was built in the 1960s. It contains 18 times the material used in the Great Pyramid of Cheops. The Dam is 11,811 feet long, 3215 feet thick at the base and 364 feet tall. Today it provides irrigation and electricity for the whole of Egypt and, together with the old Aswan Dam built by the British between 1898 and 1902, 6km down river, wonderful views for visitors. From the top of the two Mile long High Dam you can gaze across Lake Nassar, the huge reservoir created when it was built, to Kalabsha temple in the south and the huge power station to the north.
- Last stop will be at the Philae Temple, Philae Temple was dismantled and reassembled (on Agilika Island about 550 meters from its original home on Philae Island) in the wake of the High Dam. The temple, dedicated to the goddess Isis, is in a beautiful setting which has been landscaped to match its original site. Its various shrines and sanctuaries, which include The Vestibule of Nectanebos I which is used as the entrance to the island, the Temple of the Emperor Hadrian, a Temple of Hathor, Trajans Kiosk (Pharaohs Bed), a birth house and two pylons celebrate all the deities involved in the Isis and Osiris myth. The Victorian world fell in love with the romance of the Temple.
- Sail around The Botanical Garden by Felucca, overnight in Aswan.
- Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
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DAY 10: Fri - Aswan, Optional Abu Simbel, Cairo
- After breakfast, check out and transfer to Aswan airport for your flight to Cairo, Or you may choose our Optional tour (Abu Simbel tour - A14), situated 280km south of Aswan.
- Exploring the magnificent monuments carved into solid rock 3,000 years ago. In a monumental feat of modern engineering, these massive temples were moved to their present location when construction of the Aswan High Dam in 1960 created Lake Nasser and flooded their original location.
- This extraordinary operation to save one of the world`s greatest treasures took years and the efforts of an international team of engineers and archaeologists. The two temples at Abu Simbel were built by Egypt`s great Pharaoh Ramses II (Egypt`s longest-ruling king) as a tribute to the deities and his favorite wife Nefertari. Four colossal statues, 60 feet high and directly facing the rising sun, are of the pharaoh himself, with his queen and daughters at his feet. More tremendous statues surround you as you enter the temple. And in the very depths of the temple, Ramses sits in state flanked by the gods to whom the construction is dedicated. Fly to Cairo, arrival and transfer to your hotel.
- Meals: Breakfast
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DAY 11: Sat - Cairo, Optional Alexandria with Library Tour
- Free day at your leisure, or choose our optional tour (Full Day Alexandria with Library - C27). Start your over day excursion to Alexandria by private car & accompanied by an English speaking Egyptologist. First stop will be at the Alexandria National Museum, one of our new master sites nowadays. It is inaugurated by the Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak, in 31st of December 2003. The national museum located in a restored palace, it contain about 1,800 artifacts pieces of antiquities that narrate the history of Alexandria throughout ages, Pharaonic, Roman, Coptic and Islamic eras and some modern pieces, Mummies are shown in a special underground chamber (basement). And some of the items found during the archaeological underwater excavations in Alexandria now in the same floor with the Greco roman artifacts.
- Next, we will visit the Catacomb of Alexandria which is really one of the master sites here in Alexandria. Kom el-Shouqafa lies in the district of Karmouz to the east of Alexandria the area was called Kom El Shouqafa or a pile of shards, Catacombs in Alexandria is called the catacomb as well because of its design, which was very similar to the Roman Christian Catacombs. Most likely it was a private tomb and later converted to a public cemetery. It consists of 3 levels cut into the rock, a staircase, a rotunda, the triclinium or banquette hall, a vestibule, an antechamber and the burial chamber with three recesses In, where in each recess there is a sarcophagus. The Catacomb also contains a large number of Luculi or grooves cut in the rock. Proceed to the Roman Amphitheater. A modest in size and most of the part of the structure is in ruined condition but still it is an excellent ancient structure of Roman period of Egypt. The theatre also consists of numerous galleries erected crudely. These galleries contain rooms for more spectators along with arrangement of 700-800 marble seats around the stage. The Roman Amphitheatre was discovered in the excavations doing for the site of Paneion or "Park of Pan" in Kom el-Dikkah also known by the name of Hill of Rubble. In the layers of the above the roman street two other archaeological sites were found. These were a Muslim Cemetery and slums.
- Stop for lunch than continue to our last stop at the Alexandria Library. The modern Alexandria Library or the Bibliotheca Alexandrina as once called in Ancient Egypt is located on a magnificent site in the Eastern Harbor, facing the sea on the north, and Alexandria University Complex on its southern side. It is very close to the location of the Ancient Library in the Brucheion (the Ancient Royal Quarter), as verified by the 1993 archeological survey. The Bibliotheca Alexandrina was inaugurated in 2003 near the site of the old library. The building consists of 11 levels with a total levels area of 85,405 m2. The librarys main reading area which can accommodate 2000 users occupies 7 levels with a total area of 13,625 m2.The Library has 2 main museums (the manuscript museum and the Antiquities museum) and a Science center of the shape of a sphere and called the Planetarium. Return to Cairo.
- Meal: Breakfast
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DAY 12: Sun - Departure
- After breakfast, transfer to Cairo International Airport for your departure flight.
- Meal: Breakfast
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