Classic Egypt with History | Nile Cruise

DAY 1: CAIRO
Arrival at Cairo airport. Reception by a local representative and transfer to the hotel. Accommodation for 2 nights, with breakfast.


DAY 2: CAIRO
After breakfast, full-day tour. Visit one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World: the great Pyramids of Giza. A single pyramid is built with 2,300,000 blocks, each weighing an average of two and a half tons. Not far from the pyramids is the Sphinx of Giza, which dates back to the time of Chephren (2620 BC). Built in natural yellowish limestone and measuring 20 meters high and 60 meters long, this unforgettable statue combines the head of a pharaoh with the body of a lion.

Visit to the Egyptian Museum, built by the Egyptian government in 1835. The current museum building was built in 1900 in the classic style of the architect Marcel Dourgnon. The museum has collections that exceed 120,000 objects, from the prehistoric era to the Greco-Roman period.

At the end of the tour, return to the hotel.


DAY 3: CAIRO/LUXOR - NILE RIVER CRUISE
Breakfast at the hotel, check-out and transfer to the airport for boarding to Luxor. Disembark in Luxor and transfer to the port for boarding a cruise along the Nile River. Accommodation for 4 nights, with breakfast, lunch and dinner (excluding drinks). After boarding, lunch on board.

In the afternoon, visit the Luxor Temple. Built largely by Amenhotep III and Ramses II, the temple served as a setting for rituals that were performed to reconcile the human aspect of the ruler with his divine office.

Continue to the Karnak Temple, erected in 1928 BC as a small sanctuary dedicated to Amun, the god of Thebes at the time. Karnak comprises three main temples, smaller enclosed temples, and several external temples - all built over 1,300 years. The three main temples of Mut, Monthu, and Amun are surrounded by enormous brick walls, with the temple of Amon at the center. Karnak is the largest and oldest temple complex.

At the end of the tour return to the cruise.


DAY 4: NILE CRUISE
Breakfast on board and departure to visit the Valley of the Kings, a vast City of the Dead where magnificent tombs were excavated from the desert rocks, richly decorated and filled with treasures for the afterlife by generations of pharaohs.

Visit the Deir El Bahari Temple, which was built during the reign of the 18th dynasty by Queen Hatshepsut, one of Egypt's greatest rulers. The temple is characterized by its many terraces, the statues of the Queen with a beard and its magnificent location carved into one of the great mountains of Thebes. Then, visit the Colossi of Memnon, two enormous statues that are the only remaining items from the great funerary temple of Amenhotep III, built in 1350 BC. At the end of the tour, return to the cruise.

Navigation to Edfu via Esna.


DAY 5: NILE CRUISE
Breakfast and free morning to enjoy sailing the Nile.

After lunch, visit the Temple of Horus in Edfu, the largest and best preserved pharaonic temple in Egypt, although built with Greek elements.

At the end of the tour, return to the cruise ship and continue sailing to Kom Ombo. Visit to the Kom Ombo Temple, dedicated to the crocodile god Sobek. The temple stands on a bend in the Nile, where in ancient times sacred crocodiles basked under the sun on the riverbank.

At the end of the tour, return to the cruise.


DAY 6: NILE CRUISE
Arrival to Aswan early in the morning. After breakfast on board, visit the largest landfill dam in the world, built along the Nile in Aswan between 1960 and 1970. The construction of the Aswan High Dam became one of the government's main objectives after the Egyptian Revolution of 1952. With the capacity to better control floods, provide water for irrigation, and generate hydroelectricity, the dam was considered fundamental to the planned industrialization of Egypt.

Visit to the Philae Temple, dedicated to the goddess Isis. The temple was relocated by UNESCO to an island when the construction of the Aswan Dam threatened the site where it originally stood.

The next stop is the Unfinished Obelisk, which was found in a granite quarry in the southern part of the city of Aswan. If completed, the obelisk would have been the largest piece of stone that humans have ever worked with. Dating back to the New Kingdom, it documents the process of building obelisks in ancient Egypt.

In the afternoon, departure for a felucca ride along the Nile.


DAY 7: NILE CRUISE - ASWAN/CAIRO
After breakfast on board, check-out and disembarkation in Aswan. Transfer to the airport for a flight to Cairo. Upon arrival, transfer to the hotel for accommodation for 1 night, with breakfast.


DAY 8: CAIRO
Breakfast, check-out and transfer to the airport.