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Destination > Europe > Egypt

Egyptian Splendour

Day 1: Home - Cairo

Depart on your overnight flight to Cairo. Meals will be served at appropriate times and headsets will be supplied so you may enjoy the full length movie and the many audio channels available.

Day 2: Cairo (D)

Arrive Cairo. After clearing immigration and customs you will be met and transferred to your hotel. All visitors to Cairo are destined to be captured and captivated in some way by its incredible past and vibrant present. There are few, if any, cities in the world where the clash between old and new, modern and traditional, and east and west is more evident. Cairo is still the heart of Egypt and is allegorically called the “Mother of the World”. Estimate of its population range from 11 – 15 million, roughly one quarter of Egypt’s total. Finding your way through the chaos is, remarkably, not as complicated as you may think, and Cairo is a great city for walking around because it is not too spread out.

Day 3: Cairo (B, L, D)

Start today with a hearty breakfast before you depart on your full day tour to Memphis/ Sakkara and visit to the Pyramids. You will meet your Egyptian guide at 8 A. M. for your sightseeing in and around Africa’s largest metropolis. Then leave for ancient Memphis to admire the 40 foot statue of Ramses and the Alabaster Sphinx. On to Sakkara’s “stairway to the sky”, the oldest of all the Pyramids. Finally at Giza, get a close up look at the enigmatic Sphinx and the daunting Great Pyramids. Cheops, with an original height of 46 feet, is the most colossal ever built. Return to your hotel for dinner and an early night.

Day 4: Cairo (B, L, D)

Meet your guide again this morning after breakfast for a second full day of sightseeing. Start at the Egyptian Museum with Tutankhamen’s fabulous treasures, an exciting first encounter with the splendours of three millennia of Egyptian civilization. After lunch at a local restaurant, proceed to visit the Citadel of Salah El Din, Mohamed Ali and Sultan Hassan Mosques and the Bazaar of Khan El Khilili, one of the largest bazaars in the world. It is an immense conglomeration of shops and markets, and as you wander through the labyrinth of narrow streets you’ll find artisan’s building, dyeing, carving, and sewing, as well as shop after shop selling all manner of things from woodwork, glassware, leather goods, perfumes, and fabrics to souvenirs and Pharaonic curiosities. Bargaining is a rule here!

Day 5: Cairo - Luxor (B, D)

This is a free day to wander on your own and explore. Tonight you will be transferred to the train station where you will board your overnight sleeper train for Luxor. Dinner will be served on the train.

Day 6: Luxor (L, D)

This morning you arrive in Luxor after your relaxing overnight train ride. You will be met at the train station and taken by coach to your hotel to check in before embarking on a sightseeing tour of Luxor. This morning you will visit Karnak and Luxor Temples. The sheer grandeur of Luxor’s monumental architecture and its excellent state of preservation, have made this village – city one of Egypt’s greatest tourist attractions. Built on and around the 4000 year old site of ancient Thebes, Luxor is an extraordinary mixture of exotic history and modern commercialism. It is one of the world’s greatest open air museums, a time capsule of a glorious long gone era. Its attraction for tourists is by no means a recent phenomenon; travellers have been visiting Thebes for centuries, marvelling at the splendid temples of Luxor, Karnak, Ramses II and Hatshepsut. After lunch you drive to Karnak, the religious quarter of Thebes, to view the Pricinct of Amun, the central enclosure of the numerous temples that make up the enormous Karnak complex. Proceed to the Valley of Kings and Queens on the West Bank of the Nile, where generations of pharaohs and nobles were buried in great splendour in crypts cut into cliffs. Sixty two royal tombs have been uncovered so far, of which one, the tomb of Tutankhamon, was nearly inviolate when discovered in 1922. Visit El Bahari, Queen Hatshepsut’s monumental rock temple. Also stop for pictures at the two Colossi of Memnon, guarding the valleys.

Day 7: Luxor (B)

Today you will be thrilled to have full day at leisure in Luxor to explore and discover on your own. The secrets of Egypt have fascinated generations and they are yours to discover. Lunch and dinner are on your own to have an opportunity to try some local cuisine.

Day 8: Esna - Edfu - Kom Ombo - Aswan (B, D)

Get an early start this morning departing by coach for Aswan. Drive through Edfu to the Temple of Horus with its menacing black stone statue of the falcon god. Built in the time of Cleopatra some 2000 years ago, it is recent by Egyptian standards and beautifully preserved. See white clad farmers with their donkeys, camels, and water buffaloes work lush green fields. Ever present on the horizon beyond the palm trees, the desert. Stop at Kom Ombo for a short walk to its bluff top temple dedicated to the crocodile and falcon gods. Time to haggle for bargains in the local market. Then to Esna to visit the colourful market and the Sunken Temple devoted to the ramheaded deity Khnum. Continue your coach ride to Aswan. Upon arrival, check into your hotel.

Day 9: Aswan (B, L, D)

Board a motor launch to the island of Agilka between two dams and visit the Temple of Isis transplanted from the submerged island of Philae. Stop at the ancient Granite Quarries to see the famous Unfinished Obelisk. After lunch, board a felucca and sail right across the blue waters of the river. En route, see the ancient “nilometer” on Elephantine Island, Kitchener Island’s lush Botanical Gardens and the splendid Agha Khan Mausoleum on the left bank.

Day 10: Aswan - Cairo (B, D)

The morning is free today to relax, shop or explore. Later you will transfer to the train station for your overnight train to Cairo. You will be provided with a sleeper compartment and dinner will be served on the train.

Day 11: Cairo (B, D)

When you awake this morning you will be served breakfast on board the train. Upon arrival in Cairo, you will be met at the station and transferred to your hotel. The remainder of today is free to enjoy your last day in this most remarkable place.

Day 12: Cairo - Home (B)

Maa salama Egypt. Transfer to the airport for your flight home taking with you the most amazing memories that you will NEVER forget!

Tour includes:

Return airfare Home – Cairo
All transfers from airport and train station
8 nights accommodation. Participants in multiple bedded rooms. Chaperones in doubles.
2 overnight sleeper train transfers – sleepers provided
22 meals as indicated on itinerary
English speaking guide throughout
All transfers and excursions in air conditioned bus
Entrance to all museums, temples and sites as mentioned in itinerary

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