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The Pyramids & the Nile
owned by the Wings Group
9 days from £1199
Departs February to November 2008 Travel by air Rich programme of included excursions
Gaze in awe at the Pyramids of Giza, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. See the treasures of Tutankhamun and explore deep inside a Pharaoh's tomb before sailing the waters of the Nile, taking in the timeless riverside scene. Learn the secrets of Egyptian deities in the columned halls of a great temple and ride a white-sailed felucca to the islands of Aswan.
ITINERARY
K DAY 1 UK/Cairo We fly to Cairo and transfer to our hotel for three nights on a bed and breakfast basis.
DAY 2 The Pyramids, Memphis & Saqqara Bustling, colourful, fascinating and at times, mystifying, Cairo is the largest city on the African continent. We drive through the teeming streets today and out to the Giza plateau to see the three Great Pyramids, perhaps the most iconic symbol of the ancient world, guarded by the colossal and enigmatic figure of the Sphinx. Gaze up at the Great Pyramid of Cheops and wonder at its construction and how two-and-a-half million hand-carved limestone blocks were raised to a height of 450 feet, where they have stood the test of time. Then we drive to Saqqara, where the ziggurat-like step pyramid of Zozer, perhaps the prototype for the later Giza pyramids, has kept watch over the desert since 2700 BC. At Memphis, capital of the Old Kingdom, we see the recumbent Colossus of Ramses II, one of a pair whose twin now stands outside Cairo railway station. DAY 3 Cairo Our day begins in the Egyptian Antiquities Museum, a treasure house of Pharaonic sculpture, art, artefacts and mummies. Not least among them are the fabled contents of the tomb of Tutankhamun, including the boy-king's beautiful
gold funerary mask and bejewelled throne. Cairo is overlaid with millennia of history and this afternoon we'll explore the mediaeval city and the Citadel of Saladin, a massive fortress dating back to 1176 and the home of Egypt's rulers until the 19th century. It's now dominated by the alabaster Mosque of Mohammed Ali, built in the 1840s. Then it's time for shopping in the Khan-el-Khalili Bazaar, a fragrant labyrinth of stores, stalls, coffee houses and teashops, which first opened for business in 1382. DAY 4 Luxor & Karnak We fly south today, following the course of the Nile to Upper Egypt and the town of Luxor, where we board our 5-star Nile cruiser for four nights on a full board basis. Knowledgeable Egyptian guides sail with us, bringing life to the ancient sites and monuments we're about to discover, beginning with the Nile-side Temple of Luxor, dedicated to sun god Amun, with its gigantic statues of Ramses II. Three miles away, explore the Temple of Karnak, a vast and awe-inspiring complex of pillared halls one with 134 gigantic columns, towering pylons, sacred lakes, obelisks and sculptures, including an avenue of curious ram-headed sphinxes. DAY 5 Valley of the Kings & Esna Cross the Nile to the west bank, where the sun sets over a backdrop of arid mountains and where ancient Egyptians chose to bury the dead.
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