Enchanting Egypt Cairo, Nile Cruise, Alexandria January 22 – February 7, 2011

A fascinating, memorable tour arranged for The Volunteers' Circle of The National Gallery of Canada

	Egypt – Mystery, Riddles and Enigma Travel to the distant time of Pharoahs and Kings and Queens who walked the earth as Gods. Visit the incredible spaces that were created to honour them and proclaim their greatness. Absorb the essence and spirit of sites that have been sacred for millenia. Explore magnificent architecture and the amazing history of the ancient Egyptian civilization. Sail down the lush Nile River, as it cuts an emerald swath through the desert sands. Walk in the Valley of the Kings. Sail by felucca to Kitchener’s Island, a paradise of exotic trees and plants. Shop at the world-famous Khan-el-Khalili Bazaar, where people have haggled since the 14th century. Marvel at the treasures displayed in museums, the beauty and the art. Visit the New Library at Alexandria, built on the site of the library that dominated the ancient world of learning. Have lunch at an oasis in the desert. Please join us. This tour will be so memorable!

	Your Executive Worldwide Travel Tour Itinerary

	January 22 – Depart from Canada. Inflight meals January 23 Arrive in Cairo in the early evening. Transfer to the 5-star Le Méridien Pyramids Hotel, nestled between the city and the wilderness, with unparalleled views of the majestic, ancient splendour of the Giza Pyramids. Overnight Le Méridien Pyramids Hotel.

		January 24 After breakfast, visit the vast necropolis of Sakkara and the amazing 4600-year-old Step Pyramid of Zoser, believed to be the first freestanding stone structure in the world, “the beginning of architecture.” At Memphis, see the site of the ancient Egyptian capital during the Old Kingdom. Highlights include a limestone colossus of Ramses II and a giant alabaster Sphinx. After lunch, take a stroll around the Giza plateau, home to the Great Pyramids of Giza. See the Pyramid of Khufu, the oldest and largest of the three pyramids in the Giza Necropolis. It is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and the only one to remain largely intact. Conclude with a visit to the enigmatic Sphinx, an ancient figure shrouded in legend and mystery. Transfer back to the hotel. Welcome Dinner and overnight Le Méridien Pyramids Hotel. BLD

January 25 After breakfast, visit the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, which holds the greatest collection of Egyptian treasures in the world. Marvel at the golden treasures of the Boy King, Tutankhamun. Visit the Royal Mummy room which contains fascinating artifacts. After lunch visit Old (Coptic) Cairo to explore its churches. The walls of the ancient Fortress of Babylon enclose the Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus, which dates back to the 5th century and was built over a crypt believed to be one of the resting places of the Holy Family during their flight to Egypt 2000 years ago. Visit the famous Hanging Church, so-called as it is supported on two ancient columns. It contains many important relics, beautiful paintings and carved screens. Continue to the Synagogue of Ben Ezra, a vestige of the once-thriving Jewish community in Egypt. During reconstruction, a medieval Geniza (a hiding place for sacred books and worn-out Torah scrolls) was discovered, revealing thousands of original documents from the Middle Ages which reflected political, economic and social conditions of Jews under the Arab rule of Egypt. Transfer back to the hotel. Dinner on your own. Overnight Le Méridien Pyramids Hotel. BL

January 26 After breakfast, visit the ancient Citadel of Salah El Din, a spectacular medieval fortress perched on a hill above the city and dominating the skyline for more than 800 years. Built to fortify the city’s defences, it later became a royal residence. Today it is a vast complex of four museums and three mosques. Within the Citadel, visit the beautiful and graceful Mosque of Mohammed Ali Mosque, also known as the Alabaster Mosque. Continue to Sultan Hassan Mosque, considered the finest example of early Mamluk Islamic architecture. Right across from Sultan Hassan Mosque is Al-Rifai Mosque which houses the graves of the royal family of Egypt along with that of the late Shah of Iran. After lunch, return to the hotel with the afternoon at leisure and dinner on your own. In the evening experience the sound and light show at Giza Plateau. Overnight Le Méridien Pyramids Hotel. BL

		January 27 After breakfast, visit Gayer-Anderson Museum, one of the best preserved examples of 17th-century domestic architecture left in Cairo, which includes the private collection of Major Gayer-Anderson as well as furniture, glassware, crystal, carpets, silks and embroidered Arab costumes. In 1935, Major Gayer-Anderson, a retired collector and self-described Orientalist, was granted permission to reside in the house, which had just been restored. In 1942, Gayer-Anderson was forced by ill health to leave Egypt, and he gave the contents of the house to the Egyptian government. The James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me was partially shot in the museum. Explore the graceful architecture of Medieval Islamic Cairo, a maze of over 30 mosques, old houses, and other monuments that span some 800 years. Tour El Moez Street and Beit El Sehemy, a cairene house from the Ottoman period with strictly separated public (salamlik) and private spaces (haramlik). Walk through one of the surviving gates of Medieval Cairo to the world famous Khan-el-Khalili Bazaar, the largest bazaar in the Middle East, originally founded in the 14th century as a watering stop for caravanserai. Lunch at one of oldest coffee shops located inside the Market. Return to the hotel. Overnight Le Méridien Pyramids Hotel. BL

	January 28 Following breakfast, fly to Luxor. Transfer to the East bank of Luxor to visit the Karnak and Luxor Temples. Begun in the XII dynasty, the awe-inspiring Karnak Temple complex was expanded and enlarged over a period of 1300 years by successive pharaohs and covers over 100 acres. Highlights include the famous Great Hypostyle Hall with its veritable forest of 134 columns, the avenue of ram-headed sphinxes, a large Sacred Lake and the obelisks of Queen Hatshepsut, the famous female pharaoh. The strikingly graceful Temple of Luxor, dedicated to the Theban Triad of Amun-Min, Mut and Khonsu, was founded by Amenophis III in the XVIII Dynasty and was added to by successive pharaohs. Transfer to the hotel for lunch. Afternoon at leisure with dinner on your own. Overnight Maritim Jolie Ville Hotel. BL

		January 29 Following breakfast, depart for Abydos, cult center of the god Osiris. See the magnificently carved Temple of Seti I, considered to have some of the finest New Kingdom reliefs in Egypt, a number of which retain their original colouring. After a box lunch, depart for Dendera to see the beautiful Greco-Roman temple built between 125BC and 60AD and dedicated to Hathor, Goddess of Joy. It is one of the few Egyptian temples with the original roof still intact. Highlights include the famous astronomical ceiling which retains much of its original colouring. Return to Luxor, check in for a deluxe 5-Star Nile cruise with Travotels Cruise Line. Dinner and overnight. BLD

January 30 – Nile Cruise After breakfast, disembark to explore the mysteries of the West Bank of Luxor: the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens where generations of pharaohs and nobles were buried in splendid crypts cut into the cliffs and guarded by the huge colossi of Memnon. With the 2006 discovery of a new chamber, and the 2008 discovery of two further tomb entrances, the valley is known to contain 63 tombs and chambers (ranging in size from a simple pit to a complex tomb with over 120 chambers), and was the principal burial place of the major royal figures of the Egyptian New Kingdom, together with those of a number of privileged nobles. The royal tombs are decorated with scenes from Egyptian mythology and give clues to the beliefs and funerary rituals of the period. All of the tombs seem to have been opened and robbed in antiquity, but they still give an idea of the opulence and power of the rulers of this time. Visit the mortuary temple of Queen Hatchepsut, set dramatically at the head of a valley overshadowed by the Peak of the Thebes, the "Lover of Silence." Return to the ship for lunch. Sail to Esna where you will see the Esna lock. Overnight on board. BLD

January 31 – Nile Cruise Enjoy the beautiful scenery of the Nile while having breakfast on your way to Edfu. In Edfu, tour one of the best-preserved temples in Egypt. The huge temple, the second largest after Karnak, is dedicated to the falcon god Horus.                 Enjoy lunch while sailing to Kom Ombo to visit the magnificent unique double temple built during the Ptolemaic dynasty. The southern half of the temple was dedicated to the crocodile god Sobek and the northern part of the temple was dedicated to the falcon god Horus the Elder. Continue to Aswan. Dinner and overnight in Aswan. BLD

	February 1 – Nile Cruise Take an early flight to Abu Simbel, to visit the temples of Ramses II and his wife Queen Nefertari. The twin temples were originally carved out of the mountainside in the 13th century BC. The complex was relocated in its entirety in the 1960s, on an artificial hill high above the Aswan High Dam reservoir. Fly back to Aswan for lunch on board the cruise ship. In the afternoon, sail by felucca to visit the beautiful botanical garden on Kitchener’s Island, a paradise of exotic trees and plants and carefully planned walkways. Overnight in Aswan. BLD

		February 2 Disembark. Visit the High Dam and the granite quarries in Aswan which produced all the "red aswan granite" used in monuments throughout the Nile Valley as well as the enormous unfinished obelisk lying in the quarry. See the Temple of Philae, dedicated to the Goddess Isis, which was moved when the dam was constructed. Transfer to Aswan Airport to catch your flight back to Cairo. Check into Le Méridien Pyramids Hotel and overnight. BL

	February 3 After breakfast transfer to Alexandria, “The Pearl of the Mediterranean,” with lunch enroute. Visit the Catacombs, tombs tunneled into the bedrock in the age of the Antonine emperors (2nd century AD) for a single wealthy family still practicing the ancient religion. See Pompey's Pillar, the Roman Theatre and the New Library built on the site of the ancient library that dominated the ancient world of learning from approximately the third century BC to the fourth century AD. This evening, visit Montazah Palace and drive by other sights. Overnight at the Sheraton Montezah Hotel. BL

		February 4 After breakfast, check out. Visit the National Museum of Alexandria, the Royal Jewellery Museum and the Museum of Mahmoud Said, one of the pioneers of modern Egyptian art. After lunch, return to Cairo. Dinner on your own. Overnight Le Méridien Pyramids Hotel. BL

	February 5 After breakfast, visit El Fayoum Oasis, Egypt's largest oasis, a depression basin of land that is extremely fertile. Lunch at the Oasis. Return to Cairo. Overnight Le Méridien Pyramids HotelCairo. BL

		February 6 Spend an entire day at leisure to explore this fabulous city on your own. (An optional tour to the Suez Canal will be offered) Farewell Dinner. Overnight Le Méridien Pyramids Hotel BD February 7 Check out and depart for Cairo Airport for your return flight to Canada.
	Coordinators: Joan Hoffman Mary Udd Travel Agency: Executive Worldwide Travel Agent: Jean Sheikh, C.T.C. (613) 236-5555 Or 1-800-267-5552 Registration No.: 1892605

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