DAY 1 - CAIRO Upon arrival in Cairo, you will be met by FLO Egypts representative 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 and the Sphinx. Then visit the Solar Boat, one of the most amazing Pharaonic discoveries. Continue to Memphis, capital of the pharaohs during the Old Kingdom. Visit the recumbent statue of Ramesses 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. Continuing south, visit the Pyramid of Dahshour. This pyramid, also known as the Red Pyramid, was built by King Senefru, father of King Cheops, approximately 4,600 years ago. Many scholars consider it to be more glorious than the Great Pyramid of Cheops. Return to Cairo and visit a Papyrus Institute on your way to your hotel for overnight.
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. Enjoy a special visit to the Mummies Room, with a display of more that ten mummies, including the mummy of Ramesses II, all found in perfect condition. 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 Mohamad Ali Mosque and the streets of Khan el Khalili Bazaar. Return to your hotel for overnight.
DAY 4 - ASWAN You will be transferred to Cairo airport for your very early flight to Aswan. Connect to your flight to Abu Simbel. Visit the awesome twin temples of Ramesses II and his queen Nefertari, with their facades of colossal statues. In the early 1960s, by a prodigious feat of engineering and international co-operation, the entire temple complex was dismantled stone by stone and reassembled 90 feet above its original site in order to save it from the rising waters caused by the construction of the Aswan High Dam. Fly back to Aswan. You will be met by FLO Egypts representative and transferred to your hotel for a free afternoon and overnight. We recommend that you do not miss the sunset from the hotel. It is an unforgettable experience.
DAY 5 - ASWAN After breakfast, take a tour of Aswan High Dam, Egypt's contemporary 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 handled. 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. 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 hotel for a free afternoon and overnight.
DAY 6 - LUXOR Drive north along the Nile to Kom Ombo and 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. Continue to Edfu and 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. Continue to Esna and Luxor for overnight.
DAY 7 - LUXOR After breakfast, 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 Luxor, stop at the famed Colossi of Memnon, two 66ft, 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. Evening: Enjoy the sound and light show at Karnak Temple.
DAY 8 - CAIRO Visit the 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 Ramesses II for ritual and festivals and dedicated to the god Amun. In the afternoon, you will be transferred to the airport for your return flight to Cairo. Upon arrival in Cairo, you will be met by FLO Tours USAs representative and transferred to your hotel for overnight.
DAY 9 - CAIRO You will be met at your hotel and transferred to the airport for your departure flight. |
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