Preliminary Day by Day Itinerary
Day 01: Wednesday November 16th, 2011
Arrival: Arrive at Cairo International airport “Meet & Assist with Luggage”
Transfer: An Akorn Tour Coordinator will meet you at airport and escort you to your Cairo hotel in modern air-conditioned vehicle.
Overnight at Sofitel El Gezirah Hotel
Day 02: Thursday November 17th, 2011
Breakfast: buffet breakfast at hotel
08:30am Memphis: At the site of Memphis, you will see the ancient capital that once stood as a flourishing metropolis during the time of the Pharaohs. The place is thickly surrounded by lush palm groves and bushes, isolating the site of the old city from modern civilization.
Sakkara: Experience Egypt’s long and rich history in our exciting double tour to the city of Memphis and the necropolis of Sakkara. At vast Sakkara, you will see the famous Step Pyramid of King Zoser, the first freestanding stone structure in the world. Our Egyptologist will guide you to some tombs belonging to the nobles of the past. They show the beauty and excellence of Ancient Egyptian art on their walls and give an insight in the daily life of Ancient Egypt.
Lunch: Your lunch venue today is the charming open-air Andrea restaurant, in the Pyramids area. Enjoy a set-menu lunch of freshly spit-roasted chicken and traditional mezza, in a garden shaded with canopies of bougainvillea.
Pyramids Tour: Your Egyptologist will meet you at the hotel to escort you on an unforgettable tour of the Great Pyramids of Giza. The only present-day survivors of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, they are among the world’s greatest tourist attractions and never lose their ability to inspire and overwhelm visitors. Your tour today includes an opportunity to enter inside one of these fabulous monuments and explore the mysteries of its ancient past for yourself.
Sphinx: Enter the temple of the mysterious Sphinx, an ancient figure shrouded in legend and mystery. Your Egyptologist will enthrall you with the tales told of this fascinating figure.
Return to your Hotel
Overnight at Sofitel El Gezirah Hotel
Day 03: Friday November 18th, 2011
Breakfast: buffet breakfast at hotel
Museum: In the afternoon visit the Egyptian Museum a fascinating tour of 7,000 years of Egyptian history. The Museum houses the world’s greatest collection of Ancient Egyptian artifacts, including 12 rooms filled with golden treasures from the world-famous tomb of the boy-king Tutankhamun.
Islamic Cairo: Take a fascinating tour of Islamic Cairo, including the beautiful and graceful Mohamed Ali Mosque and the ancient Citadel, a spectacular medieval fortress perched on a hill above the city. Originally built by Salah El-Din in 1176 to fortify the city against the Crusaders, the Citadel was modified and enlarged over the centuries by subsequent rulers and today is a complex of three mosques and four museums.
Lunch: Enjoy a 5-star lunch of traditional oriental dishes today, at the Arabian-style Naguib Mahfouz Restaurant. Named after the Nobel-prize-winning Egyptian author, the restaurant lies in the very heart of the Khan El-Khalili Bazaar, and is steeped in atmosphere and history.
Khan El-Khalili Bazaar: Proceed to the fascinating Khan El-Khalili Bazaar – reputedly the largest bazaar in the Middle East. Originally founded as a watering stop for caravanserai in the 14th century, the bazaar has now grown to vast proportions. As you wander through the labyrinth of narrow streets you will find workshops and stalls selling all manner of craftsmanship from woodwork, glassware and leather goods to perfumes, fabrics and Pharaonic curiosities. Remember to bargain hard!
Overnight at Sofitel El Gezirah Hotel
Day 04: Saturday November 19th, 2011
Breakfast: Buffet breakfast at your hotel
Check out: Akorn Tour Coordinator will be at the Hotel to assist with check out procedures
Drive to Al Minya: Morning drive to Al Minya in modern air-Conditioned private bus. After about 04 hours arrive at Al Minya visit Bani Hassan tombs.
Rock-tombs of Beni Hassan: Reached with a steep climb up a cliff on the East Bank of the Nile, the Rock Tombs of Beni Hassan are incredibly well preserved, and their walls display scenes of daily life in Ancient Egypt in dazzlingly vivid colors. The tombs are mostly those of local feudal lords and noblemen, dating back to the 11th Dynasty, and some of the paintings are totally unique, showing subjects not seen in any other tomb in Egypt.
Transfer to “Aton hotel”, 04**** at time for lunch and check in
Dinner: Dinner will be provided at the Hotel
Overnight at your Hotel Aton Al Minya
Day 05: Sunday November 20th, 2011
Breakfast: Early Buffet breakfast at the Hotel and check out
Tel El-Amarna: This rich archaeological site was originally known as Akhetaten, and was built as a new city in around 1348 BC by the Pharaoh Akhenaton. Akhenaton moved there with his beautiful wife Nefertiti to escape the wrath of the priests of Thebes, which he incurred for rejecting the cult of Amun-Ra and destroying its idols, instead promoting a monotheistic cult dedicated to the worship of the One God, Aton. The city was abandoned four years after Akhenaton’s death, when his son-in-law Tutankhamun set up court once again in Thebes. The site of the ruined city lies on an incredibly peaceful plateau, which is reached by a steep climb up a cliff. 400 cuneiform tablets discovered here in 1887 provide a detailed record of Ancient Egypt and its relations with the rest of the Middle East, in the form of letters between Akhenaton and the governors of cities in Syria and Palestine. At the base of the cliff are more than 25 tombs, many with intricate complexes of tunnels and chambers, and spectacular wall paintings and inscriptions.
Lunch: Lunch box will be provided
Ashmonein: You will then drive on to take a tour of El-Ashmonein, a town that also marks another brief stop on the journey of the Holy Family. El-Ashmonein boasts the relics of temples and shrines from the 19th Dynasty right through to the Christian Era, including columns of a basilica similar to the Acropolis in Greece.
Tuna El-Gabal: Drive through the lush green countryside lining the Nile Valley, and out into the surrounding desert, to visit the necropolis of Tuna El-Gabal on the West Bank, where hundreds of mummified ibis and baboons – held sacred by the god of writing, Thoth – were found in an underground cemetery. The paintings on the tombs are notable for their integration of Egyptian and Greek cultures – for example, an Egyptian farming scene with people wearing Greek fashions.
Return to Cairo, and overnight at “Fairmount Towers Hotel”
Day 05: Monday November 21st, 2011
Breakfast: buffet at Hotel and check out
Transfer: Transfer to Cairo Domestic Airport to board MS flight to Luxor
Karnak Temple: Visit the Temple of Karnak, built over more than a thousand years by generations of Pharaohs. The great “Hypostyle Hall” is an incredible forest of giant pillars, covering an area larger than the whole of Notre Dame Cathedral.
Check-in at noon time: Arrive on your 5-star deluxe Nile cruise boat, the “Sun Boat IV”, moored in Abercrombie & Kent’s private dock in Luxor. On board, you will be welcomed by the reception staff, who will offer you chilled fruit juice while assisting with your check-in.
Entertainment: Exact entertainment schedules during your cruise are adjusted according to the needs of each group and the exact sailing schedule of the boat, and, therefore, the day of each feature is subject to change. However, every cruise on the Sun Boat IV will include:
- A colorful “galabeyya party” which gives each guest the opportunity to dress up in traditional Egyptian dress and dance to Arabic music.
- A belly dancer, accompanied by a whirling dervish show in Luxor.
- A trio of authentic Egyptian musicians in Aswan during afternoon tea.
- A lecture accompanied by a slide show, by your Egyptologist guide.
Food & Beverage: Menus are changed on a seasonal basis to enable the Chef to use the freshest ingredients at all times. However, the following is applicable to every cruise:
§ Most meals are served in the restaurant. However, at least one barbecue lunch (while sailing) and breakfast will be served on deck (weather permitting).
§ Afternoon tea includes a range of teas and herbal infusions, fresh coffee and a selection of freshly baked, homemade cake, cookies and finger food
§ Mineral water, tea and coffee are included on a complimentary basis during meals.
Lunch: to be served on board
Valley of the Kings & Queens: Afternoon visit to the West Bank of Luxor to explore the Valley of the Kings, a vast City of the Dead where magnificent tombs were carved into the desert rocks, decorated richly, and filled with treasures for the afterlife by generations of Pharaohs. You will also have the chance to visit at least one tomb in the Valley of the Queens.
Hatshepsut Temple: Rising out of the desert plain in a series of terraces, the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut (Ancient Egypt’s only female Pharaoh) merges with the sheer limestone cliffs that surround it, as if nature herself had built this extraordinary monument.
Photostop at Colossi of Memnon: On the way back to the river Nile, your road passes by the famed Colossi of Memnon, known in Ancient Greek times for their haunting voices at dawn.
Cocktail Reception: Tonight you will be greeted by your Boat Manager, who will introduce you to the boat staff and review on-board facilities and your cruise program for the next few days. Complimentary cocktail and a selection of canapés will be served.
Dinner: Gourmet menu on board.
Overnight: On board in Luxor.
Day 06: Tuesday November 22nd, 2011
Very early sailing to Qena
Breakfast: Breakfast buffet on board while you cruise northwards to Qena, a particularly alluring part of Upper Egypt's landscape.
Denderah: Visit the Ptolemaic Temple of Goddess Hathor in Denderah. This wonderfully preserved temple complex is a rare sight to behold, complete with a massive stone roof, dark chambers, underground passages and towering columns inscribed with hieroglyphs. The main Temple of Hathor is almost intact. Hathor was the goddess or pleasure and of love, usually represented as a cow, or a woman with a cow’s head. She was the beneficent deity of maternal and family love, of beauty and light; the Greeks associated her with Aphrodite.
Lunch: Return to your boat for Lunch during sailing back to Luxor.
Afternoon Tea: Afternoon tea will be served while you cruise to Luxor.
Luxor Temple: Your Egyptologist will guide you on a tour of the East Bank of Luxor, to the strikingly graceful Temple of Luxor dedicated to the God Amun.
Dinner: Gourmet menu on board followed by a belly dancer, accompanied by a whirling dervish show.
Overnight: On board in Luxor.
Day 07: Wednesday November 23rd, 2011
Early sailing to Edfu passing by Esna
Breakfast: Breakfast buffet on board while you cruise to Edfu.
Edfu Temple: This morning, explore the largest and most completely preserved Pharaonic – albeit Greek-built – temple in Egypt, the extraordinary Temple of Horus at Edfu.
Lunch: Lunch on board, while you continue cruising to Edfu.
Afternoon Tea: Afternoon tea will be served while you cruise to Kom Ombo.
Cooking lesson: Egyptian cooking lesson will be presented on board.
Kom Ombo Temple: Visit the Temple of Kom Ombo, dedicated to the crocodile-god Sobek. The temple stands at a bend in the Nile where in ancient times sacred crocodiles basked in the sun on the riverbank.
Dinner: Tonight’s dinner on board will be an “Egyptian Night” costume party for all guests, with a chance to dress up in traditional Egyptian “galabeyya”. Dinner will be a lavish buffet of Egyptian specialities, followed by oriental music and dancing for everyone.
Overnight: On board in Kom Ombo.
Day 08: Thursday November 24th, 2011
Breakfast: Breakfast buffet on board during sailing to Aswan.
Philae Temple: Take a short motorboat ride to visit the romantic and majestic Philae Temple on the Island of Agilka.
Unfinished Obelisk: Next we proceed to the Granite Quarries, which supplied the ancient Egyptians with most of the hard stone used in pyramids and temples, and still hold a huge unfinished obelisk.
Lunch: Lunch on board.
Felucca Ride: In the afternoon proceed (weather permitting) by taking a ride on a felucca, a typical Egyptian sail boat, around Elephantine Island, Lord Kitchener’s Botanical Gardens, and the Agha Khan Mausoleum (life jackets will be provided).
Afternoon tea: Enjoy your afternoon tea served in the lounge with a trio of authentic Egyptian musicians.
Dinner: Tonight’s farewell dinner will be a gala dinner (jacket required), with white-gloved waiters serving gourmet cuisine.
Overnight: On board in Aswan.
Day 09: Friday November 25th, 2011
Breakfast: Buffet breakfast on board
Abu Simbel Excursion
Board your flight to Abu Simbel Arrival in Abu Simbel, our Guide will meet you at Airport and escort you to the world-renowned site where Ramses II ordered two sun temples carved from the limestone mountains at Abu Simbel, between 1290-1124 BC. At the Great Temple of Ra-Harakhte, the four famous colossal statues of Ramses II sit majestically over 20 meters high, staring out across the desert. Six massive standing statues front the Temple of Hathor, dedicated to the cow-headed goddess of love and built in honor of Ramses’ favorite wife, Queen Nefertari,, each 10 meters high. In modern times the waters that would rise with the completion of the High Dam threatened the two temples of Abu Simbel. A campaign to save them was organized by UNESCO, with the temples being cut into blocks, raised piece-by-piece, and reassembled in a new position higher up the hillside. The massive job took two years to complete, 1966-1968.
Return to Aswan and continue to your cruise
Lunch: to be served on board
Nubia Museum: This is the only museum in the world dedicated to the artifacts and culture of the “Land of Gold”, as ancient Nubia was known by the Pharaohs. The museum contains many rare artifacts, unique statues, and mummies. The museum also houses several models showing Nubian heritage, the panorama of the Nile, and a Nubian-style house.
Afternoon tea: Enjoy your afternoon tea served in the lounge with a trio of authentic Egyptian musicians.
Cocktail Reception: Complimentary Egyptian wine and local beer will be served, together with a selection of canapés.
Dinner: Gourmet menu on board.
Overnight: On board in Aswan.
Day 10: Saturday November 26th, 2011
Breakfast: Breakfast buffet on board
Morning at Leisure in Aswan with option to visit the Spice Market
Cooking lesson: Egyptian cooking lesson will be presented on board while you cruise to Kom Ombo..
Lunch: Lunch on board, while you cruise to Kom Ombo.
Another chance to revisit Kom Ombo Temple during day light: Visit the Temple of Kom Ombo, dedicated to the crocodile-god Sobek. The temple stands at a bend in the Nile where in ancient times sacred crocodiles basked in the sun on the riverbank.
Afternoon Tea: Afternoon tea will be served while you cruise to Edfu.
Another chance to revisit Edfu Temple by evening: This evening, explore the largest and most completely preserved Pharaonic – albeit Greek-built – temple in Egypt, the extraordinary Temple of Horus at Edfu.
Dinner: Tonight’s dinner on board will be an “Egyptian Night” costume party for all guests, with a chance to dress up in traditional Egyptian “galabeyas”. Dinner will be a lavish buffet of Egyptian specialities, followed by oriental music and dancing for everyone.
Overnight: On board in Esna.
Day 11: Sunday November 27th, 2011
Breakfast: Breakfast buffet on board during sailing to Luxor.
Luxor Museum: This elegant modern museum boasts a fabulous collection of artifacts from the Theban temples and necropolis including pottery, jewelry, furniture, statues, and stele from the ancient city.
Lunch: Lunch on board.
Visit noble’s tombs: Tombs of the Nobles
The Tombs of the Nobles is a very interesting site on Luxor's west bank. No kings or queens had their tomb or temple built there, however it is all devoted to persons now only remembered by the most detailed historical works. There are 400 tombs there, of which 7 are of high interest.
What a visitor can see there is a great change from the almost repetitive images in the temples and the great tombs. The noblemen who had their tombs built here used a different artwork and were concerned with other matters than the royalty. There is quite little of scenes depicting judgment and resurrection, and more imagery of earthly life and its continuation in the afterlife.
Workers’ Village  at Deir El Medina
Visit the remains of the self-contained village on the West Bank where the workmen who built the kings’ and queens’ tombs lived in mud brick houses with their families. The site gives archeologists a view of how urban people lived in ancient Egypt. You can also visit the tombs that the workmen created for themselves, to admire the art in ordinary people’s tombs. Nearby is the Temple of Deir El Medina, from Ptolemaic times.
Medinet Habu and the Temple of Ramses III
The magnificent Medinet Habu is a series of temples built by the Pharaoh Ramses III (1182-1151 BC) and second only to Karnak Temple in size and complexity. The most impressive is the Mortuary Temple of Ramses III, decorated with relief work depicting his many military victories. With its massive mud brick enclosure that held storehouses, workshops, administrative offices, and residences of priests and officials, Medinet Habu grew into a city that maintained its population well into Coptic times.
Afternoon Tea: Return to your cruise for afternoon tea on board.
Dinner: Tonight’s farewell dinner will be a gala dinner (jacket required), with white-gloved waiters serving gourmet cuisine followed by a belly dancer, accompanied by a whirling dervish show.
Overnight: On board in Luxor.
Day 12: Monday November 28th, 2011
Optional: Hot Air balloon
A hot air balloon ride is a spectacular and exciting way to view the monuments of the ancient city of Thebes. The adventure begins just before dawn, when you transfer to the desert to watch your balloon in the last stages of being inflated. As you take off, experience the freedom of a completely silent rise through the cool morning air to 1,000 feet, where you can see the life-giving Nile snaking across ancient desert sands, fringed with green fertile land. Your balloon may also sweep low over local villages, where children are always happy to wave you good morning as you sail by.
Retuern to your boat
Breakfast: Breakfast buffet on board
08:00am Check out and transfer to Luxor Airport to board your flight to Cairo
Arrival: Arrive at Cairo Airport where Akorn Tour Coordinator will be waiting you
Transfer: Transfer in modern Air-conditioned vehicle to you hotel
Farwell dinner: Enjoy today’s farewell dinner at your hotel
Overnight at Sofitel El Gezirah Hotel
Day 13: Tuesday November 29th, 2011
Breakfast: Buffet breakfast at your hotel
Transfer: Transfer to Cairo International Airport for final departure
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THIS IS NOT THE FULL BROCHURE
We invite you to call Sarah or Gwen at 1-800-762-4216 to request the full brochure. The brochure will include Important Traveler Information (and answers to most questions) and a Reservation Form. We can send the brochure through the Postal Service or as a PDF attachment. If you would like to receive a PDF, probably the best way to keep the message from going into a SPAM filter is to send a message to sarahb@serioustraveler.com. If you are already on our mailing list, no need to complete the entire brochure request form.
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