Tours & Travel Dimensions, Inc.

Tour Features

• LOCAL ESCORT SERVICES AT AIRPORTS AND HOTELS
• FIVE NIGHTS DELUXE HOTEL ACCOMMODATIONS IN CAIRO
• THREE NIGHTS DELUXE HOTEL ACCOMMODATIONS IN LUXOR
• BREAKFAST DAILY AT HOTELS
• DINNER DAILY AT HOTELS IN LUXOR
• LUNCH DURING SIGHTSEEING TOURS
• TWO FULL DAYS OF CAIRO SIGHTSEEING: EGYPTIAN MUSEUM, OLD JEWISH, COPTIC AND ISLAMIC CAIRO, THE CITADEL, BAZAARS, MEMPHIS, SAKKARA, PYRAMIDS, SPHINX, SOLAR BOAT MUSEUM, ORIENTAL CARPET FACTORY, PERFUME FACTORY, PAPYRUS INSTITUTE AND MUCH MORE!
• KARNAK AND LUXOR TEMPLES, MADINAT HABU, RAMASEUM, DENDARA AND ABYDOS
• THE WEST BANK OF THE NILE: VALLEYS OF THE KINGS AND QUEENS, TEMPLE OF QUEEN HATSHEPSUT AND THE COLOSSI OF MEMNON
• SERVICES OF ENGLISH-SPEAKING GUIDE
• TRANSFERS: AIRPORTS / HOTELS
• PORTERAGE AT AIRPORTS AND HOTELS
• ENTRANCE FEES, TAXES AND SERVICE CHARGES WHERE TOURS ARE INDICATED

Day 1. USA / Egypt/ Cairo. Board your flight to Egypt.

Day 2. Egypt / Cairo. Arrival at Cairo airport. You are met and escorted through passport and customs formalities. Then you will be transferred to your hotel and assisted with check-in. Dinner on your own.

Day 3: Cairo. Breakfast at your hotel. Drive to the edge of the Western Desert to see Memphis, the capital of the Old Kingdom and one of the most important cities throughout the history of ancient Egypt. From here, we drive to Sakkara, the vast necropolis of ancient Memphis. There are 14 pyramids and hundred of tombs, including the famous Step Pyramid built by Zoser I in 2700 B.C. (it is the first pyramid and the world’s oldest stone structure). Stop at Oriental Carpet Factory. Lunch on your own. Afternoon, visit the Solar boat and the Great Pyramids of Giza. Cheop’s Pyramid, the largest of three, was built in the Forth Dynasty about 2690 B.C., and is one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. In front of the Pyramid of Chephern we find the Sphinx, carved from a single piece of stone. 190 feet long and 65 feet high, it is a lion with a pharaoh’s head, thought to be a portrait of the Pharaoh Chephren. Visit a papyrus gallery and local bazaar on your way to your hotel. Dinner on your own.

Day 4: Cairo. Breakfast at your hotel. Visit: the Egyptian Museum famous for its antiquities from Egypt’s pharaonic period, which dates back some 50 centuries and includes the fabulous treasures of Tut-Ankh-Amon. Afternoon excursions to Old Cairo (Jewish, Coptic and Islamic Cairo). Visit the very old Coptic churches, and the oldest Synagogue of Ben Ezra. Continue your visit to old Islamic Cairo to see the famous Citadel of Saladin, the Alabaster Mosque of Mohamed Ali, and the medieval bazaars of Khan El Khalili. Stop at Perfume Palace on your way to your hotel. Dinner on your own.

Day 5: Cairo/Luxor. Breakfast at your hotel. Arrive Luxor. Transfer to your deluxe hotel. Check-in. Afternoon, Guided tour of the Luxor Temple. The Temple of Luxor was the center of the important festival of Opet. Built largely by Amenhotep III and Ramses II, it appears that the temple's purpose was for a suitable setting for the rituals of the festival. The festival itself was to reconcile the human aspect of the ruler with the divine office. During the 18th Dynasty the festival lasted eleven days, but had grown to twenty-seven days by the reign of Ramesses III in the 20th Dynasty. Dinner at hotel. Overnight.

Day 6: Luxor / West Bank of the Nile / Madinat Habu / Ramaseum. Breakfast at your hotel. Cross the Nile to visit the Necropolis of Ancient Thebes. Explore the Valleys of the Kings and Queens where tombs of 64 pharaohs and 57 queens have been discovered, and enter some of these most important burials. Visit Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, and the Colossi of Memnon. Lunch. Continue your visit to explore Madinat Habu, a temple complex dating from the New Kingdom. The area was one of the earliest places within the Theban region to be associated with the worship of Amun. Hatshepsut and Tutmosis III built a small temple to Amun on the site of an earlier structure. Next to their temple, Ramesses III built his mortuary temple, Medinet Habu’s most conspicuous standing monument. Visit the Ramaseum. Rameses II built his fabulous mortuary temple on the site of Seti I's ruined temple, where he identified himself with the local form of the God, Amun. It was begun early in his reign, and took twenty years to complete. It was described by Diodorus as the 'tomb of Ozymandia' which inspired a verse by the great poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley. Diodorus also mentions a 'sacred library' at the temple, though modern Egyptologists have found no evidence to support this claim. This great temple reportedly rivaled the wonders of the temple at Abu Simbel, and is very similar both in reliefs and architecture to Ramesses III's mortuary temple at Medinet Habu. Dinner at hotel.

Day 7: Luxor / Dendara / Abydos. Ancient Egyptian Iunet or Tantere, known to the Greeks as Tentyris, was the capital of Upper Egypt and a town of some importance. Today, we know it as Dendara. Along with the temple itself, there is also a necropolis that includes tombs. But the most important phase that has been identified was the end of the Old Kingdom and the 1st Intermediate Period. The provinces were virtually autonomous at that time and, although Dendera was not a leading political force in Upper Egypt, its notables built a number of mastabas of some size. On the west end of the site are brick-vaulted catacombs of Late Period animal burials. This was a significant site for the Hathor cult. Lunch. Continue on to Abydos, or Abjdu. Abydos lies about 300 miles south of Cairo, on the western side of the Nile and about 9.5 miles from the river. It spreads over 5 square miles and contains archaeological remains from all periods of ancient Egyptian history. It was significant in historical times as the main cult center of Osiris, the lord of the netherworld. At the mouth of the canyon at Abydos, which the Egyptians believed to be the entrance to the underworld, one of the tombs of the 1st dynasty kings was mistaken for the tomb of Osiris, a thousand years later, and pilgrims would leave offerings to the god for another thousand years. The area is thus now called Umm el Qa’ab, "Mother of Pots." . Dinner at hotel.

Day 8: Luxor / Cairo.Visit Karnak Temple. This "Open Air Museum" actually consists of three main temples, smaller enclosed temples and several outer temples located about three kilometers north of Luxor, and situated on 247 acres of land. No site in Eqypt is more impressive than Karnak. It is the largest temple complex ever built by man and represents the combined achievement of many generations of ancient builders. Karnak is actually the site's modern name. Its ancient name was Ipet-isut, meaning "The Most Sacred of Places". This vast complex was built and enlarged over a thirteen hundred year period. Upon arrival in Cairo, you are met and transferred to your hotel, assisted with check-in. Dinner on your own. Overnight in Cairo.

Day 9: Cairo. Breakfast at your hotel. Day at our leisure. Option: Trip to visit Alexandria, including lunch. Dinner on your own. Overnight in Cairo.

Day 10: Cairo / USA / New York. Breakfast at your hotel. Transfer to the airport for your final departure flight.

Dear Mr. Tewfik: As you know, we recently returned from a trip to Egypt with 29 Rutgers students during the spring break. I wish to thank and commend you, and your colleagues in Cairo, for the superb organization of the trip and your high degree of professionalism. Once again, thanks for the superb work. Dr. Gabor Toth Professor and Chair Department of Mathematical Sciences Rutgers University

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