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Ancient Egypt Tour (13 days)13 days duration
Your Experience Tour starts at Cairo International Airport, where you will be met and taken to your hotel for three nights.
After breakfast you undertake a very interesting tour to the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities. Opened in 1902, it is world renowned for its Tutankhamun Gold Collection and the mummies of eleven of Ancient Egypt's Pharaohs or their wives, housed here. In addition, it has an impressive collection of large and small statues, jewels, coins and other artifacts. You will also pay a visit to the Citadel of Salah ad-Din with its prominent Mohamed Ali Mosque, known as the "Alabaster Mosque".
This will be followed by a visit to the Khan el-Khalili Market, founded in 1382 to control goods moving between the East and the West. Here you have lunch. You then have the opportunity to wander around this fascinating market before being taken to the Nile River for a sunset cruise on a traditional Felucca boat. Tonight you will be taken to the Pyramids of Giza for dinner and a spectacular Sound & Light Show. (BLD)
After breakfast you will return to the Giza Plateau where you visit the Pyramid of Khufu (Cheops) as well as the Great Sphinx for a daytime viewing of these famous monuments. Napoleon Bonaparte summed them up in the following statement to his troops before the Battle of Giza in 1798: "From atop these pyramids, forty centuries look down upon you". They are arguably the most recognisable landmarks known to man and in addition, is the only one of the "Seven Wonders of the Ancient World" still standing today.
In the afternoon you will visit the Red Pyramid at Dashur as well as the Step Pyramid at Saqqara, both pre-dating the Pyramids of Giza, but which also form part of the Memphis Necropolis. Memphis was founded around 3,100 BC by Menes, the king who united Upper and Lower Egypt. (BL)
After breakfast you will be transferred to the airport for your morning flight to Luxor. On arrival in Luxor, sometimes called the "world's greatest open air museum", you will be met and transferred to your 5-star Nile cruise boat.
In the afternoon you undertake a visit to the impressive Karnak and Luxor Temples. Karnak was constructed over a period spanning thirteen hundred years. It is the largest temple complex in the world and is made up of three main temples, some smaller enclosed ones and several outer temples. It was considered at the time to be "The Most Sacred of Places". The Luxor Temple was built as a setting for the Festival of Opet in which the king was transformed into a divine being. (BLD)
Today you concentrate on the West Bank of the Nile, known in ancient times as "The Place of the Dead", where you visit the Valley of the Kings. Due to the Pharaohs' fearing that structures such as the Great Pyramids of Giza would be plundered, they changed their thinking and started hiding their tombs as they have done in the Valley of the Kings. Two of the most well known Pharaohs buried here are Ramses II and Tutankhamun.
You also visit the labourers camp, Deir el-Medina, just over the mountain from the Valley of the Kings and home to the many people who constructed the various tombs. On your way back to Luxor you visit the Temple of Deir el Bahari, the mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut, dramatically overshadowed by the Peak of the Thebes, as well as the Colossi of Memnon, both facing the River Nile. (BLD)
Today you depart Luxor and sail to Edfu. While travelling up the Nile you will witness the local people farming the banks of the river as their ancestors have done for many thousands of years. (BLD)
Today you visit the Temple of Horus in Edfu. Edfu was also known as the Greek City of Apollinopolis Magna and was a religious and commercial centre. The Temple of Horus, located on its outskirts, was dedicated to the Falcon Headed God and dates back to 237 BC.
After visiting the temple you will rejoin our cruise boat and sail to Kom Ombo, "City of Gold". Here you visit the Temple of Kom Ombo, which is actually made up of two identical temples. One was dedicated to the Crocodile God, Sobek, and the other to the Older Falcon Headed God, Haroeies. After your visit you complete the final leg of our voyage to Aswan where we will be in port for the night. (BLD)
Today you visit the Philae Complex, situated on a small island in the Nile River and dominated by the Temple of Isis. This is followed by a visit to view the unfinished Obelisk, located in the Northern Quarry where it has remained for centuries following a crack that formed in it at the time it was being fashioned. In addition, you visit the architecturally acclaimed Nubian Museum with its excellent displays depicting Upper Egypt and the Nubian Empire, which ruled the area before Egypt was unified.
In the afternoon you will sail to the Botanical Gardens on Kitchener's Island in the middle of the Nile before being taken to your hotel for the night. (B)
This morning you will be met at our hotel and driven to Abu Simbel in Nubia, where you are taken to your hotel on the shores of Lake Nasser. Abu Simbel is home to the famous Temples of Ramses II and his wife Nefertari. These temples are arguably the most impressive temples in Egypt, but most other tours only allow for a brief visit between flights. To let you thoroughly appreciate the complexity and enormity of the temples, you visit them later in the day, after most of the tourists have gone. In the early evening you will visit these magnificent structures again to enjoy another spectacular Sound & Light Show. (B)
Today you have most of the day at leisure before being driven back to Aswan where you will board the sleeper train to Cairo. (BD)
On arrival in Cairo you will be met and driven to Alexandria, "The Pearl of the Mediterranean". After freshening up in your hotel you will undertake a tour of the world famous Bibliotheca Alexandria. (B)
Today you have a full day touring the ancient city of Alexandria. The city was founded in 331 BC by Alexander the Great and was the setting for the stormy relationship between Cleopatra and Mark Antony. You visit the Greco-Roman Museum, renowned for its coin and statue collection from the time of the shift from the Pagan religions to Christianity.
You also visit the Abu El-Abbas Mosque, Alexandria's largest and one of the most important Islamic Monuments; the Anfushi Tombs dating from 250 BC; the Catacombs of Kom es-Shouqafa, the last existing major construction works of the old Egyptian religions; Pompei's Pillar, constructed in honour of Emperor Diocletain; and the Quait Bay Fortress, constructed where the Pharos Lighthouse (one of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World) stood. (B)
Your tour ends today when you check out of your hotel. (B)
Inca Tours does not own any of the hotels, lodges or service providers utilised in making up the tours. As a result Inca Tours is only acting as an agent for the operators and as such does not accept responsibility for any negligence, omissions, errors or differences in standard experienced by passengers when utilising the operators' products or services. Please Note: for full booking terms and conditions please see the back of our booking form.
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