Welcome to Museum Tours
Egyptian Odyssey
Photo - Kmt/Forbes
COMMENTS
This
trip is designed primarily for the first or second time visitor to
Egypt, who has the time and desire to gain an in-depth appreciation
for this ancient culture. It is a
reasonably priced, 15 day,
14 night, trip which includes visits to the most important and famous
pharaonic monuments in Egypt as well as a number of impressive, but
lesser visited places. There are also brief visits to the most important
Islamic, Coptic and Jewish sites in Cairo. A high standard of quality
is maintained throughout, including stays in five star hotels and
a five star cruise ship.
For a FREE color brochure,
email us
with your name and address. Please include the word "Egypt" in the
subject line. If, in addition, you would like to reserve space
on this trip, indicate the trip name (ODYSSEY) and departure date,
and we will send you information, plus save you a place on the specified
tour for 15 days. Then if you should decide to participate, you will
be sure of having a spot. Of course, you are under no obligation.
The golden mask of Tutankhamun
The Temple of Rameses II at Abu Simbel
Day 1, Saturday
If
Museum Tours arranges your travel to Egypt, you will leave New
York at 6:30 pm on Egypt Air's overnight flight to Cairo.
Day
2, Sunday
Upon our arrival in Cairo we will be met by a Museum Tours
Represent-
ative, who will assist with checked luggage, passport control
and cust-
oms. Our private bus will then take us through Cairo and
across the Nile
river to the five star hotel, The Mena House, located
at the base of the
pyramids, in time for lunch. The rest of the day
you are free to relax and
get over your jet lag.
B, L - in flight
D - Mena House
Hotel - Mena House
Day 3, Monday
After breakfast, a
short camel ride (bus or walk if you prefer) will take us from the
hotel to the pyramids. We will visit the Pyramids at Giza. Explore
inside the Great Pyramid of Khufu, visit the Solar Boat museum, and
the ageless Sphinx of Khafra with its valley temple. After lunch,
at a restaurant near the hotel, you can return to the hotel to relax,
or, if you have the energy, join us as we return to the Giza Plateau
for a walking tour, to visit the Pyramids of Khafra and Menkara, with
the remains of their mortuary temples, the Tomb of Qar and the Tomb
of Idu.
B, D - Mena House
L - Peace Restaurant
Hotel - Mena House
Day 4, Tuesday
We will visit
ancient necropolis at Saqqara for the entire morning. Sites include:
the Step Pyramid of Djoser (the world's first pyramid), the Pyramid
of Unas with its pyramid texts and causeway, the Tomb of the Brothers,
the Mastaba tombs of Meruka and Ptah-hotep, the Pyramid of Teti and
the burial place of the sacred bulls, known as the Serrapeum . After
a late lunch we will drive to the ancient capital of Memphis with
its magnificent and beautiful Colossus of Ramses before heading to
the airport ot catch our evening flight to Luxor, where we will transfer
to the deluxe and historic, five-star Winter
Palace Hotel .
B - Mena
Hotel
L - Palm Club Restaurant
D - Airport Hotel
Hotel - New Winter
Palace
Day 5, Wednesday
After a drive through town we will then visit
Karnak Temple, the largest temple complex in the
world, allowing ample
time for wandering around. This will be followed by a visit to the
Luxor
Museum. There will be plenty of time in the afternoon to visit
the Bazaar. After dinner at a local
restaurant on the West Bank, we
will have a chance to explore Luxor Temple for an after dark tour.
B, L, D - Winter Palace
Hotel - New Winter Palace
Day 6, Thursday
After an early breakfast we will cross the Nile to visit the West
Bank. We will begin our day by visiting the workers village at Dier
el Medina and the Tomb of Sennedjem , one of the best preserved tombs
in all of Egypt. While some may choose to take the bus, the more ambitious
will have the opportunity to hike over the hills, following a 3,500
year old trail, to the Valley of the Kings where we will visit several
of the most interesting tombs open to the public, such as the Tombs
of Thutmose III, Rameses VI and Tutankhamen. We will finish our day
with a visit to Dier El Bahri and the Temple of Hatshepsut , and the
Colossi of Memnon , the giant statues of Amenhotep III, before we
return to our hotel for a late lunch. The remainder of the day is
free to enjoy the sights and sounds of Luxor.
B, D - Winter Palace
L - Toutankhamun Restaurant
Hotel - New Winter Palace
Day 7, Friday
Today we will return to the West bank to catch the sights we missed
two days ago. Our schedule will include the Valley of the Queens,
including the beautiful and touching tomb of Khaemwaset, a son of
Rameses III who died in childhood. We will also have time to visit
the Ramesseum , the mortuary temple of Rameses II (known as Rameses
the Great), and Medinet Habu , the best preserved of the New Kingdom
temples. The remainder of the day is free.
B, L - Winter Palace
D
- Al Moudira
Hotel - New Winter Palace
Day 8, Saturday
Sleep
in this morning until noon when we board our 5-star Nabila Cruise
Boat in time for lunch. The rest of the day is free.
B - Winter Palace
L, D - Cruise Boat
Hotel - Cruise Boat
Day 9, Sunday
This morning
we set sail for Aswan. After passing through the Esna Lock we continue
sailing until we reach Edfu where we dock for the night.
B, L, D -
Cruise Boat
Hotel - Cruise Boat
Day 10, Monday
This morning we begin
our day at Edfu, where horse drawn carriages will take us to the stupendous,
Ptolemaic Temple of Horus, the best preserved temple on the Nile.
Our boat then sets sail to visit the twin Temples of Horus, the falcon
headed god, and Sobek, the crocodile god, at Kom Ombo in the evening.
We arrive at Aswan after dark.
B, L, D - Cruise Boat
Hotel - Cruise
Boat
Day 11, Tuesday
This morning we will board a felucca to visit
the Aswan museum and the archaeological digs on Elephantine Island,
after which we sail to visit and stroll through the Botanical Gardens.
We transfer to the deluxe Movenpick Hotel on Elephantine Island
for lunch. In the afternoon, we reboard our felucca for a visit to
the 6th and 12th Dyansty Nobles Tombs on the West Bank.
B - Cruise
Boat
L, D - Aswan Movenpick
Hotel - Aswan Movenpick
Day 12, Wednesday
After an early breakfast, we will travel to the
fabled temples at Abu Simbel built by Ramses II, for
himself and his
favorite wife Nefertari. We will return to Aswan in time for a late
lunch. The remainder
of the day is free.
B, L, D - Movenpick
Hotel
- Aswan Movenpick
Day 13, Thursday
We will begin the day with a short
drive and boat ride to see the new Nubia Museum, the newest, and
perhaps
the best, museum in Egypt. We will then visit the Unfinished Obelisk
of the female Pharaoh,
Hatshepsut, at the ancient granite quarry.
Finally we will take a short boat ride to Agilka Island, new
site
of the Temple of Isis at Philae, considered by many to be the most
beautiful temple in Egypt.
This evening we will catch our plane back
to Cairo where we will check into our hotel near the Nile.
B, L -
Movenpick
D - Nile Hilton
Hotel - Nile Hilton
Day 14, Friday
Today
we will explore Old Cairo and learn about its Christian (Coptic) and
Jewish past. Then we will visit the Citadel of Saladin and the Alabaster
Mosque. After lunch we will spend the entire afternoon at the Egyptian
Museum with the Treasures of Tutankhamen and the Royal Mummy Room.
Dinner in the famed Khan el Khalili bazaar will complete our day,
before heading back to our hotel.
B - Nile Hilton
L - el Hati Restaurant
D - Khan El Khalili Restaurant
Hotel - Nile Hilton
Day 15, Saturday
We leave Cairo and return to New York and then home.
B - Nile Hilton
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NOTES: B=Breakfast, L=Lunch, D=Dinner
The right is reserved
to substitute carriers or hotels should it be deemed necessary or
desirable to do so. Items in the itinerary are subject to schedule
changes. Specific activities are subject to availability at the time
of the tour and we cannot be held responsible for monuments that are
closed or otherwise unavailable. In this case, substitute activities
will be made available whenever possible.
The Mena House Hotel and the Pyramids