TOUR ITINERARY

 

 Day 1,

Met on arrival by our guides, assisted through customs formalities & transferred to check-in at the 5* Hotel in Cairo for one nights accommodation. At leisure on own arrangements, or doing optional tours available at additional cost.

 

Cairo, the capital of Egypt, is located on the Nile River 15km south of the area where the river divides into the two streams, at the beginning of the Nile delta.  With an estimated population of 15-17 million it is one of the largest cities in the world.  It is the cultural, political, administrative, industrial and tourist centre of not only Egypt but the whole Middle East.  In and around the city the attractions are plenty:  Khan el-Khalili Bazaar, one of the largest and oldest bazaars in the Middle East, the famous Great Pyramids of Giza and the step pyramids of Saqqara at Memphis, the oldest Egyptian capital, with Saqqara being its oldest cemetery.  There are also many beautiful Christian and Islamic monuments in Cairo, as well as the Egyptian Museum, which houses the treasures and statues that were once to be found in Egypt’s many temples and tombs.

 

As a base for sight-seeing, the Sonesta Hotel is perfectly placed.  A luxurious five-star hotel situated in the Heliopolis section of Egypt’s capital city, it is an oasis of comfort and hospitality, just ten minutes from Cairo International Airport.  The hotel features five restaurants serving a delicious range of cuisine including Italian, Lebanese, daily buffet breakfasts, an outdoor summer café, French pastries and other delicacies, as well as an authentic English-styled pub and a cozy piano bar.  The spa and fitness centre offers massage treatments, hydrotherapy, Vichy shower, jacuzzi, sauna, Turkish steam-bath, a fully-equipped gym, aerobics classes and an outdoor swimming pool.  The Rajah Grand Casino is a state-of-the-art colonial-style casino located on the ground floor of the hotel, offering blackjack, American roulette, and stud poker.  The hotel also features the usual amenities of a five-star hotel including 24-hour room service and concierge, wake-up calls/voice-messaging service, full-service business centre with Internet access, safe (available in suites), baby-sitting, an on-site bank, on-call doctor and a news and gift shop.

OVERNIGHT AT THE 5*  HOTEL IN CAIRO

 

 

Day 2,

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Check-out after breakfast and transferred to Cairo airport to check-in for your flight to Aswan departing at 08h30.  Met on arrival in Aswan at 09h55 and transferred to check-in onboard a five-star deluxe Nile cruise boat at dedicated piers.

Come and visit an ancient cradle of civilization on our stylish 5* deluxe cruise ship M/S Crown Jubilee. On our Nile cruise, we will take you on a voyage filled with wonder. Lie back on the sundeck and relax whilst experiencing amazing views of the lush green banks of the Nile and ancient temples from a faraway age. We provide shore excursions for further exploration of Egypt’s marvels. And on board, you will enjoy supreme comfort and highly attentive service from a staff of professionals. Dine on a mouth-watering selection of dishes. And afterwards, join us for an evening of lively entertainment.

 

Depart after check-in and lunch for a visit to the Aswan High Dam, the Unfinished Obelisk and the Philae Temple on Isis Island.  Located near Aswan, the world famous High Dam was an engineering miracle when it was built in the 1960s.  It contains 18 times the material used in the Great Pyramid of Cheops.  The dam wall is 3 579m long, 975m thick at the base and 110m tall.  Today it provides irrigation and electricity for the whole of Egypt and, together with the old Aswan Dam built by the British between 1898 and 1902 (6km downriver), provides wonderful views for visitors.  From the top of the High Dam you can gaze across Lake Nasser, the huge reservoir created when it was built, to Kalabsha temple in the south and the huge power station to the north.  The High Dam created a 30% increase in the cultivatable land in Egypt, and raised the water table for the Sahara as far away as Algeria.  The electricity-producing capability of the Dam doubled Egypt’s available supply.  The High Dam added a whole new aspect to Egypt, and a new environment as well.  Lake Nasser is some 500 miles long and at the time it was built, if not now, was the world’s largest artificial lake.  Much of the red granite used for ancient temples and colossi came from quarries in the Aswan area.  Around these quarries are many inscriptions, many of which describe successful quarrying projects.  The Unfinished Obelisk located in the Northern Quarry still lies where a crack was discovered as it was being hewn from the rock.  Possibly intended as a companion to the Lateran Obelisk, originally at Karnak but now in Rome, it would have weighed over 2.3 million pounds and would have been the worlds largest piece of stone ever handled.  However, a crack in the stone occurred, which caused it to be abandoned.  Tools left by its builders have given us much insight into how such work was performed.

 

The Egyptian island of Philae was the centre for worship of the goddess Isis and attracted pilgrims from all over the ancient world.  The original island is now completely submerged under the waters of Lake Nasser.  But in a spectacular rescue operation, the great temples and monuments of Philae were pulled out of the water and re-erected on a nearby island, now renamed Philae.  The earliest building on the island of Philae was a small temple to Isis built in about 370 BC by Napktnebef Kheperkare (Nectanebo I).  This was later expanded into a great Temple of Isis by a number of rulers, most notably Ptolemy II Philadelphius (285-246 BC) and Diocletian (284-305 AD).  Philae was one of the last outposts of Egyptian religion, surviving two centuries after the Roman Empire converted to Christianity.  The sacred island attracted many Greek and Roman pilgrims, who came to pray for healing from the mysterious Egyptian goddess, Isis.  Even after their defeat by Emperor Marcian in 451 AD, Nubian priests were permitted to make offerings to Isis on Philae.  The temples of Philae were finally closed in 535 AD by order of Emperor Justinian.  Some of the chambers were converted for Christian worship and a Coptic community lived on the island until the coming of Islam.  In the 18th and 19th centuries, Philae was renowned for its beauty and became a popular tourist destination for well-to-do Europeans.  But with the building of the Aswan Dam, the island was submerged for most of the year and Philae began to lose its charm.  The gray coloring of the lower part of the temples still shows the effect of their annual immersion during this period.  When the High Dam project threatened to engulf Philae completely, the temples were saved by a great international rescue operation sponsored by UNESCO, which took place between 1972 and 1980.  The Island of Philae was surrounded by a coffer dam and drained, while a new site was prepared on the neighbouring island of Agilka.  The temples were broken up into sections and carefully numbered, then re-erected in the same relative positions on Agilka.  Two Coptic churches, a Coptic monastery, the ruins of a Temple of Augustus, and a large Roman city gate were left where they stood on the submerged island of Philae and not transferred to Agilka.  It is hoped to recover them at a later date.

 

OVERNIGHT ONBOARD THE 5* DELUXE CRUISE SHIP AT ASWAN

 

Day 3,

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Early morning sail to Kom Ombo to visit the double temples of Horus and Sobek at Kom Ombo.

The Temple of Sobek and Horus in Kom Ombo dates from about 180 BC during the Ptolemaic era, with additions made into Roman times.  It stands right on the bank of the Nile between Edfu and Aswan, making it a convenient stop for river cruises.  In ancient times, Kom Ombo stood on an important crossroads between the caravan route from Nubia and trails from the gold mines in the eastern desert.  During the reign of Ptolemy VI Philometor (180-145 BC), it became a training depot for African war elephants, which were used to fight the fierce pachyderms of the Seleucid Empire.  The temple at Kom Ombo was also built at this time, under Ptolemy VI.  Since this bend in the Nile was a favoured spot for crocodiles to bask in the sun and threaten locals, it is natural that the temple would be dedicated to Sobek, the crocodile god.  But it is unusual in having a double dedication:  it also honors Horus, the falcon-headed god.  The design is almost perfectly symmetrical, with two side-by-side sanctuaries and two parallel passageways leading through the outer parts of the temple.

 

Sail to Edfu and visit Edfu Temple.  The provincial town of Edfu is located about halfway between Luxor (115km away) and Aswan (105km) and 65km north of Kom Ombo.  A very popular destination, this temple is considered the best-preserved cult temple in Egypt. This partly because it was built later than most: in the Ptolemaic era from 237-57 BC.  Yet despite its later date, it exactly reflects traditional Pharaonic architecture and so provides an excellent idea of how all the temples once looked. Edfu is also very large:  the second largest in Egypt after Karnak Temple.

 

Sail to Luxor.

 

OVERNIGHT ONBOARD THE 5* DELUXE CRUISE SHIP AT LUXOR

 

Day 4,

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Morning visit to the Valley of Kings on the West Bank and the Colossi of Memnon.  The Valley of the Kings stands on the west bank of the Nile, across from modern Luxor, under the peak of the pyramid-shaped mountain, Al-Qurn.  It is separated into the East and West Valleys, with most of the important tombs in the East Valley.  Here tombs were built for the Pharaohs and powerful nobles of the New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt.  The cult of death and the lifelong preparation for the afterlife were the focus of Egyptian religion, and the Valley of the Kings and other monuments in the West Bank necropolis are mute testimony to this obsession.  The Pharoahs were buried in secret tombs and protected by the best security of the age, but few burial sites escaped the plundering of grave robbers.  The Valley of the Kings was created and used from approximately 1539 BC to 1075 BC.  It contains some 60 tombs, starting with Thutmose I and ending with Ramses X or XI.  The Valley of the Kings also had tombs for the favourite nobles and the wives and children of both the nobles and pharaohs.  Around the time of Ramses I (1300 BC) the Valley of the Queens was begun, although some wives were still buried with their husbands.

 

Following the Valley of Kings, we pay a visit to the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut, the focal point of the Deir-el-Bahri (“Northern Monastery”) complex of mortuary temples and tombs located on the west bank of the Nile, opposite the city of Luxor.  Queen Hatshepsut was a rare female Pharoah.  The temple known as Djeser-Djeseru (“Splendor of Splendors “) was designed and implemented by Senemut, royal steward of Hatshepsut, to serve for her posthumous worship.  Maatkare Hatshepsut or Hatchepsut (late 16th century BC–1482 BC) was the fifth Pharaoh of the 18th dynasty of Ancient Egypt.  She is generally regarded by modern Egyptologists as one of the most successful Pharaohs, ruling longer than any female ruler of an indigenous dynasty.  Hatshepsut was the daughter of Pharoah Tuthmosis I and the wife of his successor Tuthmosis II, who died before she bore a son.  Rather than step aside for a secondary wife who had borne him an heir, the plucky queen made herself co-regent of the young Tuthmosis III.  Soon she assumed absolute power.  To legitmize her powerful position, Hatshepsut was depicted with a pharaoh’s kilt and beard.

 

Our last visit on the West Bank is to the Colossi of Memnon.  The Colossi of Memnon are two massive stone statues of Pharaoh Amenhotep III.  For 3,400 years they have sat in the Theban necropolis, across the River Nile from the city of Luxor.  The original function of the Colossi was to stand guard at the entrance to Amenhotep’s memorial temple:  a massive cult centre built during the Pharaoh’s lifetime, where he was worshipped as a god-on-earth both before and after his departure from this world.

 

 

 

Return to the cruise ship for lunch, after which there is a visit to the temples of Karnak and Luxor.

 

Karnak Temple is a vast temple complex in Luxor, Egypt, dedicated primarily to Amun and dating from as early as 2 000 BC.  It is an impressive sight, and second only to the Great Pyramids in popularity.  After a century of foreign occupation, the New Kingdom (1550-1150 BC) of Egypt emerged, with its capital at Thebes (now known as Luxor).  The capital city was embellished with grandiose temples worthy of the majesty of the Pharaohs, the greatest being Karnak.  The temple complex of Karnak, dedicated to the Pharoah Amun, was the centre of his worship and of his wife Mut and their son Khons.  Each of them had a “precinct” (area) in the temple complex, the greatest and largest belonging to Amun.  There was also a precinct for Montu, the falcon-headed local god.  Construction on the Karnak temple complex went on for 900 years, with each Pharoah leaving a new temple, shrine, or pylon (monumental gateway), and added detailed hieroglyphic inscriptions across every surface of its buildings.  When the Pharoah Akhenaton abandoned the traditional worship of Amun and took up the worhsip of Aten, the sun god, he built a temple to Aten at Karnak.  But after his death, the Theban priests destroyed all signs of sun worship, including the temple that defiled Karnak.

 

Luxor Temple is a great temple complex in modern Luxor dedicated to Amun, a creator god often fused with the sun-god Ra into Amun-Ra.  Construction work on the temple began during the reign of Amenhotep III in the 14^th century BC.  Horemheb and Tutankhamun added columns, statues, and friezes, and Akhenaten had earlier obliterated his father’s cartouches and installed a shrine to the Aten.  However, the only major expansion effort took place under Ramses II some 100 years after the first stones were put in place.  Luxor is thus unique among the main Egyptian temple complexes in having only two Pharaohs leave their mark on its architectural structure.  Each year, to ensure the flooding of the Nile that was necessary to national prosperity, the statues of Amun, Mut (goddess of war), and Khons (the moon god) were sailed down the river to Karnak for a great festival.  The temple fell into disrepair during the Late Period.  Alexander the Great claimed to have undertaken major reconstruction work “to restore it to the glory of Amenhotep’s times” in the 320s BC.  During Rome’s domination of Egypt it was converted into a centre for the Roman emperor cult.  By the time of the Arab conquest, the temple was largely buried underneath accumulated river silt, to the extent that the Mosque of Abu Haggag was built on top of it in the 13th century (much reworked since, but one of the minarets dates back to the original construction).

 

OVERNIGHT ONBOARD THE 5* DELUXE CRUISE SHIP AT LUXOR

 

Day 5,

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Check-out  and transferred to Luxor airport to check-in for flight to Cairo international airport for flight to Johannesburg.

Flight departs Cairo at 23h05.

 

 

Day 6,

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ARRIVAL IN JOHANNESBURG AT APPROXIMATELY 07H40

 

END OF PROGRAMME