Of the Beaten Track 2

Welcome to Egypt! Upon arrival Your tour begins when you are greeted by our representative Executive Travel who will assist you through immigration and customs formalities. After you have collected your luggage, he will then take you, in our deluxe vehicle, to your Cairo hotel and overnight. Optional Dinner cruise on board river Nile in Cairo

After breakfast, you will meet your Egyptologist guide in the hotel lobby. Begin by exploring the desert antiquities dating back to the beginning of a civilization that arose over 5,000 years ago. You will venture through the desert to visit some of Egypt's oldest sites. First, go to the Pyramids of Giza. Nothing evokes the long and intriguing history of Egypt as powerfully as the pyramids. Rising from the desert, Khufu (Cheops), Khafra and Menkaura symbolize the enigmatic tug of Egypt in our imaginations. The Great Pyramid of Cheops immortalizes the son of Sneferu and Hetephres. Though little is known about this pharaoh, his pyramid is the largest of the three and is comprised of 2.3 million stone blocks, each weighing an average of 2.5 tons., the colossal statue of the Great Sphinx, which as stood guard over the pyramids for millennia. Carved from an outcrop of rock, the Sphinx remains the ultimate symbol of Ancient Egypt with its lion's body and human head. After your exploration of the pyramids, drive to Memphis and Sakkara. The necropolis at Sakkara is where King Zoser's Step Pyramid was built. This vast site in the heart of the desert plateau is the largest necropolis in Egypt. Extending for almost five miles, the complex forms a collection of pyramids, temples and tombs that is fundamental to understanding the history of ancient Egypt. Memphis is where the remnants of the city's first capital, once the most cosmopolitan city in Egypt, are scattered in the desert. You will also see the carved limestone colossus of Ramses II. Then you will back to your hotel and overnight. Meals: Breakfast & Lunch

After breakfast, you will meet your guide at the lobby. Begin your introduction to Cairo at the famous Egyptian Museum of Antiquities. The museum houses the greatest collection of Egyptian royal treasures in the world. Your expert guide will take you through the highlights, including the famous Tutankhamen Collection of golden treasures You will then visit the Citadel of Salah El-Din, visit The Alabaster Mosque of Mohamed Ali, the largest structure built during the first half of the 19th century. Counting to visit the most famous Bazaar in the middle east Khan El Khalili Bazaar. back to your hotel and overnight. Meals: Breakfast & Lunch.

You will have an early departure to be driven from Cairo to Fayoum, 60 km from Cairo. You will visit Lake Qaroun and then proceed to the National Park of Wadi Rayan where we visit the Water Falls, Gabal Al Modawara and the Wales Cemetery. Enjoy a picnic Lunch. Later, you will head to El Minya and upon arrival, you will be transferred to your hotel for check-in and overnight Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner.

You will visit the necropolis of Tuna El Gabal, which includes many important elements such as the crypts of baboons and Ibis that actually represent the god Thoth, the tomb of Isadora, the tomb of the priest Pet-osiers, the old water wheel and the boundary stele of the city of the Aton. Proceed to Al Ashmunien, the ancient city of Hermopolis, where you will visit the open museum with the two colossal baboon statues and the ruins of the basilica church with its Rose granite columns. Then, proceed to the site of Beni Hasan, eastern bank of the Nile. There you will visit the unique rock-cut tombs with its scenes depicting local and regional life during the Middle Kingdom. Many of these have scenes of wrestling and military training, overnight at your hotel. Meals: Breakfast & Dinner.

After breakfast, you will be driven to Tell Al Amarna, the capital of Akhnaton, where you will explore the city, the northern and the southern tombs, the ruins of the palace and temples and finally the royal tomb. Then, you will go to Assuit city to visit Al Muharraq Monastery, 48 kilometers north of Assiut. The Holy Family stayed there for 6 months and 10 days, the longest period spent at any single site, and then you will head to Meir Village which was the functioning cemetery for Cusae, located in Egypt, approximately thirty to forty miles north of the city of Assuit. Meir functioned as an Old Kingdom-Middle Kingdom (6th-12th Dynasty) cemetery for the nomarchs of the fourteenth Nome of Upper Egypt. Below the hillside of the rock-cut tombs lies a cemetery that is specifically for the more common folk. The rock-cut tombs only functioned for nomarchs of the city of Cusae, which was a cult center for the Egyptian deity Hathor. Latet, you will be driven to Abydos, and overnight at Abydos. Meals: Breakfast & Dinner

You will visit Fortress Shonet El Zebeeb, the first building in the history, then you visit the temple of Seti the first. It is considered the most beautiful temple in Egypt. The temple was built by Seti I and was finished by his son Ramesses II after his father's death. It contains the best-coloured high Reliefs in Egypt and Abydos King List, showing the cartouche name of many dynastic pharaohs of Egypt from the first, Narmer or Menes, until Ramses himself. Then, after enjoy a lovely lunch, you will be driven to the complex of Dandara temple where you will visit Hatour Temple, the goddess of love, music and dancing. You will have the chance to explore the Temple Elements, the decorated ceiling with its beautiful colored astronomical drawings, the replica of the Egyptian Zodiac and the crypts. After your visit, you will transfer to Luxor, Arrive Luxor check-in in your hotel and overnight. Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

After breakfast, later this morning, you will be transferred to the river to begin your Nile cruise After check-in, enjoy lunch on board. This afternoon, you visit the East Bank with its fabled Karnak Temple and Luxor Temple. The temple of Luxor is close to the Nile and parallel with the riverbank. King Amenhotep III, who reigned 1390-53 BCE, built this beautiful temple and dedicated it to Amon-Re, king of the gods, his consort Mut, and their son Khons. This temple has been in almost continuous use as a place of worship up to the present day. It was completed by Tutankhamun and Horemheb and added to by Ramses II. Towards the rear is a granite shrine dedicated to Alexander the Great Osiris. A 20-meter/66-foot high, mud brick enclosure wall, surrounded all of these buildings. The Amon Ra Temple was known during the Middle Kingdom period as Ipt-Swt, which means the Selected Spot. It was also called Pr-Imn, or the House of Amon. The name Al-Karnak in Arabic was derived from Karnak, which means fortified village. Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Today you will discover the legendary Valley of the Kings that encompasses the East Valley, home to the tombs of the New Kingdom Pharaohs, and the West Valley, which has only one tomb open to the public - the tomb of Ay, who succeeded Tutankhamun to the Egyptian throne. The temple of Queen Hatshepsut of Dynasty XVIII was built just north of the Middle Kingdom temple of Mentuhotep Nebhepetre in the bay of cliffs known as Deir el-Bahri. In ancient times the temple was called Djeser-djeseru, meaning the ’sacred of sacreds’. It was undoubtedly influenced by the style of the earlier temple at Deir el-Bahri, which Hatshepsut chose as the site her temple in a valley sacred to the Theban Goddess of the West. More importantly, it was on a direct axis with Karnak Temple. Two huge ruined statues, the Colossi of Memnon, are around 17 meters/56 feet tall and once stood at the entrance gate of the mortuary temple of Amenhotep III, though very little of the temple behind them remains today. They were cut from two massive granite blocks, brought from quarries near Cairo, and carved to represent the pharaoh Amenhotep III of Dynasty XVIII. The Valley of the Queens is near the better-known Valley of the Kings, on the west bank of the Nile across from Thebes (modern Luxor). This barren area in the western hills was chosen due to its relative isolation and proximity to the capital. The pharaohs of the 18th Dynasty chose to be buried in rock-cut tombs instead of the traditional building of pyramids as burial chambers (perhaps because of their vulnerability to tomb robbers). Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Take in the Horus Temple in Edfu. The site of Edfu Tell was known as Wetjeset-hor, the place where the god Horus was worshipped and where, ancient mythology says, the battle between Horus and his traditional enemy Seth took place. The temple of Horus is the most well-preserved and the only one we know to have been completed. Built from sandstone blocks, the huge Ptolemaic temple was constructed over the site of a smaller, earlier temple, oriented east to west. The temple of Kom Ombo stands on the East Bank right next to the river, about 4 kilometers/2.5 miles from town. It was dedicated to two gods, Horus and Sobek, but primarily to Sobek, the crocodile God, together with his wife, who was in another form the Goddess Hathor. The temple is a Greco-Roman structure, dating back to the year 119 BCE, when Ptolemy VI, began its construction with limestone. Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Today, you see the temple of Isis on the island of Philae, the center for worship of the goddess Isis. It attracted pilgrims from all over the ancient world. One of the great temples of Egypt, it occupies about a quarter of the island and is the main temple on the island, with its huge, complete pylons and beautiful scenes. The temple is built in the same style as the temples of the New Kingdom. It also incorporates other elements, which appeared in the Greco-Roman period, such as the Mamisi (the House of the divine birth of Horus), and a Nilomete. The temple was submerged after the first Aswan Dam was built in 1906. The Unfinished Obelisk lies, in its original location, in a granite quarry in Aswan. It is 42 meters/138 feet in length and was most probably abandoned when some cracks appeared in the rock, during its construction. Had this obelisk been completed, it would have been the heaviest obelisk ever cut in Ancient Egypt, weighing nearly 1100 tons! It is believed that it was constructed and abandoned during the reign of Queen Hatshepsut of the 18th Dynasty. Afterwards, return to Aswan to visit the High Dam of Aswan, considered one of the most important achievements of the in the last century in Egypt. For many years, it was a symbol of the New Era of the Revolution of 1952. It provides Egypt with water and electricity. Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

After Breakfast. This morning, disembark your cruise ship for an early transfer to the airport to fly to Cairo where you will take your flight back home. Meals: Breakfast