Senast uppdaterad: 2011-07-06
Itinerary
Day 1
Day of arrival in Cairo. Gathering at the hotel.
Day 2
The first day will be spent in Cairo. Cairo is the biggest city on the African continent, with about 17 million inhabitants. The hotel is well situated close to Opera Square. If you go east you get to the Islamic City. It's also nice just to walk west along the main street Kaser El Nil from Midan Mosafa Kamil (Mostafa Kamil square) near the hotel to the river Nile. Just before arriving to the river (one block before) you get to the Egyptian Museum. It takes only 15 minutes, to walk. You can take the underground to some places, or just jump into a taxi, if short legs are tired. It is safe to walk around in Cairo, people are very friendly and it's easy to talk to people in the street.
Here follows a list of options in Cairo: (Not included)
- You can visit the Pyramids in Giza. The Pyramid of Cheops is the only remaining of the "Seven Wonders of the World". It was built 2 650 BC.
- The Egyptian Museum is not to be missed!
- It's very nice to walk around in the Islamic Cairo. (It's very close to the big bazaar, Khan al Khalili).
- It's easy to take the underground to the Coptic Cairo where you can visit the Hanging Church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
- From the Citadel you have a beautiful view over Cairo. You can visit the Mohammed Alis mosque.
- You might like to visit a 'sufi-dance' performance (Tannoura)
- There are also restaurants or clubs where you can see "belly dancing".
You can also go to the pyramids by the local minibus if you like, Soliman will help you with the arrangement if need be (this is not included in the tour).
If enough people are interested Soliman will arrange a guided tour, with a local female guide, Racha, to the pyramid area, to the Hanging Church in the Old Coptic Cairo including a short visit to a perfume and a papyrus fabric in between (this is not included in the tour).
In the evening Soliman will bring you to see Sufi dance (not included, but for free, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, you only pay transport).
Day 3
In the morning you take the bus, 2 hours, to Fayyum, the biggest town in the Fayyum oasis. Here the jeeps are waiting for you taking you for some unbelievable days in the desert! First stop will be in Wadi Rayan, a valley containing whale fossils. Then you head west into the desert for some hours and you will spend your first night under the stars somewhere around Abu Moharakh. You can climb some hills in the night to enjoy the marvelous sunsets over the desert! If you are lucky the tour leader and his drivers will sing some traditional music for you. When they set up the camp they normally just put up something to protect from the wind and some mattresses to sleep on. It will be cold in the night, so you need a good sleeping bag. You will each get two blankets on top of that. It is appreciated is to sleep under the stars in the quiet desert! Many say this is their best memory of the whole tour.
Day 4
After some hours drive you will reach Bahariyya. This is an oasis in the Libyan Desert containing 7-8 villages and about 30 000 people. Bahariyya means northern, and this is the most northern oasis. You will visit Bawiti, the capital of Bahariyya, and have lunch at the salt lake. Here you can also visit hot springs, some of them are too hot for swimming but offers beautiful views over the oasis gardens and the desert. For those who are interested, we will together visit Sigam, a hot spring close to Mandisha village (one of the Bahariyya villages) where you can swim, may bee climb the English mountain (with an excellent overview) and then go down-town Bawiti to allow some shopping (not included in the program) before the desert tour continues. After lunch you continue west into the desert to se Black Desert (old volcanic area) and Crystal Mountain before we set the camp for the night in the Agabat area."
Day 5 to 7
The following days the exploration of the desert continues and you will visit a lot of different places where you do shorter walks, climb mountains and sand dunes. You will walk every morning for one to two hours from the night camp. The jeep will bring your luggage, so all you have to carry is plenty of water, sun protection and your camera. You will not be alone; the guide will go with you. Most people in these areas are Bedouins, but many are also farmers. Wheat and rice are the main crops, but there are regional specialities such as olives and olive oil. The richer oasises also produces dates, apricots, oranges etc.
On this trip you will visit places like White Desert National Park where you have some time to walk around the beautiful lime stone formations shaped by wind erosion, some of them look like big white "mushrooms" before continuing south to the beautiful Craween sand dunes where you spend the 3rd night. Then further south into the desert to Tinida for the 4th night
The last day you will continue south and leave the desert through the valley Tinida. If the drivers miss the way, they will have to return - but they never do. In the evening you arrive to Oumo Dabadib, close to Kharga where you spend the last desert night.
Day 8
After breakfast the jeeps takes you to Kharga where you will have to say good bye to the drivers. From here you go with minibus to Luxor, where you arrive late in the evening after a long day, but with many breaks, on the roads through the desert and along the Nile, about 500 km.
Day 9
You have one day in Luxor, the religious centre of the ancient Egypt, at that time called Thebe. There are lots of things you can do in Luxor. If you wish, your tour leader will organize a tour with a local specialized guide on the West Bank of Luxor, to see the three first options mentioned in the list below. But you can also do whatever you want, on your own. The hotel is located on the East Bank and from there it is walking distance at least to the Luxor Temple. Some people also take a ride in a hot air balloon over Luxor...
Optional (not included):
On the West Bank
- The Colossi of Memnon: Two statues, 19,5 meters high from 1400 BC, formerly standing in front of a temple probably destroyed by an earth quake.
- Temle of Hatschepsut: (Deir al Bahri). Hatschepsut is the most known female pharaoh (ruling for 20 years).
- The Valley of the Kings: This is the valley where you find the tombs of many pharaohs like the tomb of Ramses II, Tutankhamun, the most known, but not the most beautiful to visit.
- The Valley of the Queens: The most beautiful is the tomb of Nefertari (one of the five wives of Ramses II)
- The Ramesseum: Another monument raised by Ramses II on
the West Bank.
- You can also visit a small village on the West Bank.
- The Temples of Karnak: the most important place for worship in all Egypt during the height of Theban power. It is a spectacular complex of sanctuaries, pylons and obelisks, all dedicated to the Theban gods and to the greater glory of Egypt´s pharaohs. It was built between 1570 and 1090 BC! If you are interested in the light show in the evening - check which night it will be in English!
- Luxor Temple: Built by the New Kingdom pharaoh Amenhotep III (1390-1352 BC), is just on the banks of the Nile. At the entrance of the temple you'll see some colossal statues of Ramses II and a pink granite obelisk. There were originally six statues, but only two remains. The obelisk, too, was one of a pair; the other one now stands in the Place de la Concorde in Paris.
- Luxor Museum: Here you can see selected items from the
Theban temples and necropolis. The statue of Tuthmosis III (from around 1436 BC) is impressing as
well as a cow-goddess head from the tomb of Tutankhamun. Also the expo of furniture, jewelry and
pottery from the tombs is interesting.
- Mummification museum: Here you can see and learn
everything about mummification, the process, the tools used, the items needed for the
afterlife.
- Luxor Coptic Church: The Coptic Church in Luxor is very beautifully decorated.
Day 10
In the morning you go by bus to Aswan, it takes about 4 hours. On the way you will visit the camel market in Daraw. Once in Aswan you go directly by ferry to Elefantine Island in the Nile. There you will stay in Nubian families for the coming days. You will meet some of the relatives to Soliman.
Day 11 to 12
During these days you will have the possibility to see both the daily life of the island village and famous sights in Aswan. You will have time to choose what you want to do. There are lots of options, see below, but don't forget the village itself. On the second day we will go to the west bank from the other side of the island with rowing boats and there you can ride a camel to the Monastery of St. Simeon, from where you have a lovely view, or just go for a ride in the desert.
Optional (not included):
- From the village you can do shorter excursions. You can go by felucca to other islands for
example the Kitchener´s Island, where you can visit a
botanical garden.
- In Aswan itself you find a 3 km long market street. The Nubian museum is very interesting, too. You can also visit the Aswan museum in Elefantine Island and in the West Bank there are the Tombs of the Nobles.
- You can go on a day tour to Abu Simbel. The tour includes a visit to the High Dam. You start very early in the morning and you will be back by noon.
Day 13 to 14
You go by a felucca, the traditional Egyptian sail boat, on the Nile for two days and two nights up to Daraw city. It's a very relaxing tour, you will pass small villages, temples and markets and you will sleep and eat on the boat.
Day 15 to 17
From Daraw you go by minibus via Edfu to Marsá Alà m at the Red sea. In Edfu you will have time to visit the beautiful temple made of sandstone. It's very well preserved and was built from 237 BC and finished 57 BC. It was built for Horus, Hathor and their son Harsomtus.
You will now have two whole days by the Read sea to swim, to snorkel or just build your own pyramids in the sand.
Day 18
In the morning you go north by local bus along the coast of the Red sea up to Hurgada, well know as a touristic resort. We will stay here for one day and there is time for more bathing. This is the town where you tour leader lives, so he can show you every little corner.
Day 19
Day of departure. In the morning we take one of the quick buses to Cairo. The ride takes some 6 hours. Then we go straight to the airport.The flight home should not start earlier than 16.00.
