A Week In Egypt: Pyramids, Felucca Cruise And Ancient Temples

Meet and assist by our representative of “Egypt Best Vacations” who will help you through the arrival and visa regulations. Transfer to your hotel for free time and the beginning of your one-week tour in Egypt.

Meet your guide at your hotel to commence your tour. Today, you will visit the Giza Plateau. Today’s tour includes the Great Pyramids of Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure with the great Sphinx. The only ancient wonder which still remains (Khufu’s pyramid) awaits you. Are you ready to discover it from the inside? Today you will learn about the history of the pyramids, how they were constructed, and why they were constructed.

From the Great Pyramids of Giza to Saqqara. Saqqara is one of the most important and richest necropolises in Egypt. Saqqara is located about 20km south of Giza Plateau and it was the cemetery of Memphis, the 1st capital city of United Egypt in 3200 BCE. Saqqara is a vast area, stretching about 22km from north to south and about 7km from east to west. Here you will witness the significance of the Step Pyramid of Djoser, the first pyramid in history of mankind. Transfer to your hotel

Transfer from your hotel to Cairo Airport to fly to Aswan to begin your felucca Nile cruise. Meet your guide just outside the arrival terminal at Aswan Airport to commence your tour. Your first stop will be at the High Dam of Aswan. The High Dam in Aswan, Egypt, is regarded as one of the most significant engineering feats of the twentieth century. Aswan High Dam was built to save water and protect Egypt from the Nile‘s high and low floods. Since ancient times, the Nile has been the source of life and civilization in Egypt. Every year, the Nile flooded for at least four months. Floods could be devastating at times, or low floods result in famine. Controlling the Nile flood is thus an old idea dating back to the time of the pharaohs.

From the High Dam to Philae Temple. Philae Temple or the temple of Isis at Philae Island in Aswan is one of the most beautiful temples in Egypt. It is known as the “Pearl of Egypt”. The temple is located on an island, so it requires a short boat ride. At Philae Island, the popular cult of Isis developed. The image of Isis was ferried over to Bigah every ten days so that the goddess could be reunited symbolically with her husband Osiris.

You will end your tour at the Granite Quarry of the Unfinished Obelisk. Among the remains of the great ancient civilizations, the obelisks of Egypt are undoubtedly more often seen and better known than any other monuments. Obelisks are impressive not only for their lofty size and graceful form but for their high polish and beautiful decoration. One cannot but marvel at the skill of the ancient Egyptians in producing such wonders with relatively primitive techniques. Transfer to your felucca cruise to set sail. Enjoy the Nile landscape in Aswan. Lunch and dinner on board. Stop on the banks for a peaceful night.

Breakfast and disembarkation. Drive to Kom Ombo to visit the twin Temple of Horus and Sobek together with the Crocodile Museum. The temple is dedicated to the two triads of Horus and Sobek. The right part of the temple is dedicated to Sobek (Crocodile deity), his consort Hathor and their son Khonsu. The left part of the temple is dedicated to Horus the Elder (Heru-ur or Haroeris), his consort Tasenetnofret (the good sister), and their son Panebtawy (the Lord of the Two Lands). Drive from Kom Ombo to Edfu to visit the Temple of Horus there.

The temple of Horus in Edfu is very intact, none of its elements are missing but the Sacred Lake and two obelisks. The Sacred Lake was on the east side of the temple but now vanished under the city’s modern houses. The two obelisks were located in front of the main gate of the temple. The Temple of Edfu is fully inscribed with reliefs and hieroglyphs on its exterior and interior walls. Let’s take a quick tour of the temple. Drive from Edfu to your hotel in Luxor.

Breakfast at the hotel, then visit the magnificent Valley of the Kings. The Valley of the Kings is one of the most important highlights not only in Luxor but throughout Egypt. The Ancient Egyptians named it (Ta-Iset-Ma’at), which means “the Place of Truth”. The Valley of the Kings is the necropolis of the great Egyptian pharaohs of the 18th to the 20th Dynasty (1550-1080 BCE). Tuthmosis I was the first pharaoh who was buried at the Valley of the Kings while Ramses XI was the last pharaoh who was buried there.

From the Valley of the Kings to Hatshepsut Temple. Through building projects, Hatshepsut assured divine favor and prosperity for her and her people; she proved that she was a responsible ruler securing the best for Egypt. Queen Hatshepsut, more a patron of the arts than a military leader, ordered a funerary monument for her father Tuthmosis I, and for herself and chose an impervious valley already consecrated to the goddess Hathor who, in the form of a heifer, received the deceased in the underworld. Queen Hatshepsut’s monument was in later times abandoned, at a certain point in history it became a Christian convent called the Convent of the North, and this fact not only gave the area its present name of Deir El-Bahari but also preserved the pharaonic temple from further destruction.

From Hatshepsut Temple to the Colossi of Memnon. In the vast plain that stretches out around western Thebes, between the Nile and the Valley of the Kings, are the remains of the monumental road which led to the mortuary temple of Amenhotep III. The colossi of Memnon are all that remain of what was once the largest mortuary temple on the west bank of Luxor. The temple, unfortunately, has disappeared – probably from a high flood, and further devastated by Ramses II and his son Merenptah, who used the fallen blocks to build their own temples – commonly known by the names of Colossi of Memnon. Enjoy your lunch at a local restaurant.

From the lunch break to the impressive Karnak Temple. The Temple/Complex of Karnak was the great god’s chief sanctuary and much larger than any other monument in Egypt. It lies about 3km north of Luxor Temple. This huge and splendid complex which actually contains many separate temples covers 1700 years of expansion and an area of 300 acres. Beneath its giant architraves and between the bulky columns and wall reliefs are records of its growth from a modest Middle Kingdom shrine to a magnificent temple of vast proportions. It owes a column to one pharaoh, a pylon to another; an inspiration here, a whim there. But each has the sole purpose of honoring the god Amun-Re, who would then ensure the builder a long, powerful, and glorious life.

You will end your tour at the majestic Luxor Temple. The Temple of Luxor was built by the 18th Dynasty pharaoh Amenhotep III (1387-1349 BCE), the grandson of the military genius Tuthmosis III, and expanded by the 19th Dynasty pharaoh Ramses II (1279-1213 BCE). Numerous other sovereigns, including Tutankhamun, Horemhab, and Alexander the Great enriched the construction with reliefs, inscriptions, and minor buildings. Transfer to Luxor Airport to fly back to Cairo. Transfer from Cairo Airport to your hotel in Cairo.

Enjoy your breakfast at your hotel, then visit the stunning Egyptian Museum of the Egyptian Antiquities in Cairo. The Egyptian Museum in Cairo is one of the largest and most important museums in the world. The museum contains more than 120,000 pieces from all periods of Ancient Egyptian history. It was designed by the French Architect Marcel Dourgnon and built by an Italian company in 1902 during the time of Khedive Abbas Helmi II. The museum is built on two floors, the ground floor, and the first floor. The ground floor was designed to contain heavy stone pieces as giant statues, sarcophagi, and coffins. The interior design of the museum is affected by the classification of Egyptian history made by Manetho, from the Archaic period to the Greco-Roman period. From the Egyptian Museum to the Citadel of Saladin.

The Citadel of Saladin is a wonderful place to visit during your stay in Cairo, Egypt. The impressive citadel was built by Saladin to defend Cairo against the Crusaders, and it was the government seat till the time of the British colony, 1882, in Egypt. The citadel is built upon a steep hill, which rises 75 meters above the eastern side of Cairo. Beneath the western face of the hill is Salah Ad-Din Square, which was the site of the medieval horse-market, sword-makers, bazaar, and hippodrome. From the citadel to Khan El-Khalili Bazaar.

You will end your tour at Khan El-Khalili Bazaar. Khan El-Khalili is the largest and one of the oldest bazaars in the middle east. Khan El-Khalili is Cairo’s labyrinthine and most famous tourist market. Khan El-Khalili is bounded on the east by Sayyidna Al-Hussein and on the south by Muski street. Khan and Muski are two terms used interchangeably by foreigners and Egyptians alike, but they are actually two different adjoining bazaar areas. Transfer back to your hotel.

It is sad to leave us, so ask our guides about your next adventure in Egypt.