Greek Island Hopping with a Foray Into Egypt
A Grand 12 day
tour of Greece and Egypt
Athens, Santorini , Luxor and Cairo ,
the Lair of Rameses : Tanis, modern San El Hagar --famed in the film
Raiders of the Lost Ark
as the resting place of the Ark of the Covenant and the Suez Canal
We have even included all the tips. No Hidden Charges. No Additional
Tax
Private
transfers and Private touring
Day
1 , Athens.
Daily - Arrive ANY DAY : April - Nov !
Arrive at Athens Airport, where our representative
will meet you, and assist with the transfer to your hotel .
Day
2 , Private Tour Athens (BL)
A morning private sightseeing tour takes us to
all the high points : The Temple of Olympian Zeus, Hadrian's Arch, Syntagma
Square, The Parliament and The world famous Acropolis.
Private air-conditioned vehicle, private guide.
Lunch is included in a charming local restaurant.
Day
3 , Athens (BL)
Athens
Markets or BYZANTINE
Churches
Ride the new Athens Subway alongside the locals today ( always escorted
with your English speaking Guide) ! We take pride in affording you this
experience, entirely by public transportation, with orientation by our
English-speaking representative. You'll get to tour Athens fascinating
vegetable & fruit markets by subway and/ or taxi. Tour
as well the Jewelry museum (LALAOUNIS)
Enjoy lunch at a charming local restaurant before we head back to the
hotel . Markets days/dates are subject to change, we may have to change
your program in Athens to accommodate such changes.
Or
if you prefer you may choose instead to tour one of the following tours:
BYZANTINE CHURCHES
Russian Orthodox Church at Filellinon & Amalias
Athens cathedral (Mitropolis) at Mitropoleos
Kapnikarea at Ermou
Saint Theodore at Klafthmonos
HISTORICAL INTEREST- Museum Tour :
BENAKI MUSEUM - (closed on Tuesdays)
Covering the history of Greece from Paleolithic (pre-historic, 60000
B.C.) till present. Can easily spend over 4 hours in there. There is
also a cafeteria for breaks.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL INTEREST
Temple of Olympian Zeus / Dionissos Theatre/ Ancient Agora/ Roman Agora
Day
4 , Athens / Santorini (B)
We'll rendezvous in time to take you to your morning
flight heading for Santorini ( economy Class ) . On arrival, we'll see
that you're checked in to your hotel.
Santorini Hotel/Apartments/ Villas
Day 5 , Santorini (B)
Enjoy
breakfast at your lovely hotel and linger for as long as you wish. The
day is your as you please.
Sample
optional tours available based on Private arrangement or Local Group
tour
.
Day
6 , Santorini (B)
Enjoy
breakfast at your hotel . We offer an optional tour to the archaeological
site of Akrotiri, reputed to be the center of the lost civilization
of Atlantis.
Fira
is
the capital (largest city) while Oia and Firostefani are 2 other
towns. This is a brief description of these 2 places.
Firostefani, a suburb of the capital Fira (less than 1 km from the
center), offering the same stunning views of the magnificent caldera,
at a slight distance from all the action. Firostefani also has
a very picturesque square, and a beautiful church dedicated to St. Gerasimos,
that is surrounded by cypress trees. The stroll from Fira to Firostefani
can be completed in roughly 20 minutes, although it usually takes at
least an hour because of frequent pauses to enjoy the view.
Oia is on the northern tip of the island and is about 11 km from
Fira, built on a steep slope of the caldera. Oia is quieter than Fira,
but easy enough to hop a bus or grab a taxi into town to visit the capital. Its
streets are charming narrow passageways that twist their way along the
rim of the caldera, and down the slope of the cliff. There are plenty
of tourist shops, but they are of a different, more artisan, quality
than the more traditional tourist offerings of Fira, and there rare
also a number of beautiful commercial galleries.
Day
7 , Departure From Santorini to Cairo via Athens (B)
We'll pick you up and see you to Santorini Airport, fly to Athens, please
proceed to connect with the flights going to Cairo ( air ticket is included
in economy class ). Kalo Taxidi!
Marhaba ! Aaaah Egypt , the exotic romance of the "Land of the Pharaohs:":
You're met at the airport or seaport by our representative, who sees
you to your hotel.
Our
local rep will answer any questions you may have about getting to know
the city.
As you ride into the great metropolis from the airport , thousands years
of history are revealed: towering Mamluk and Saladin walls, ancient
Coptic churches, slender minarets framing the bulbous domes of graceful
mosques. And the Great Pyramids of Giza . These ancient monuments float
on the skyline of a bustling modern metropolis of ten million people.
Please reconfirm locally the time you prefer for tomorrow tour, we suggest
to meet around 8:30 AM or 9 AM
On
arrival, we escort you to your comfortable hotel. Our
representative greets you at the airport and whisks you to your hotel.
Visa maybe issued upon arrival at Cairo Airport for a limited number
of citizens such as : American, EU , Canadian , EU Singaporean and Japanese
citizens. For Americans , please pay the $ 15 USD fee in cash upon arrival
. You are responsible for having your passport in order valid at least
for 6 month beyond the date of your arrival in Cairo. Our local rep.
meets with a sign that carries your name you after you clear the passport
and customs formalities .
After exiting the terminal, our local representative will escort you
(private vehicle) to the hotel.
DAY
8 - CAIRO (BLD)
The renowned Egyptian Museum, filled with the wealth of the pharaohs,
is our first stop then its on to the Royal Manial Palace. Following
lunch at a charming local Restaurant, we drive to Giza
for a visit to the Sphinx and the valley temple, and a
tour of the Pyramids. In the evening, we host you on the Hyatt
Nile dinner cruise complete with exotic Egyptian entertainment.
DAY
9 - CAIRO- LUXOR -CAIRO (BL)
We fly from Cairo around 6 or 7 AM for Luxor, where cross the Nile to
visit the Valley of the Kings and the Colossi of Memnon.
After lunch in Luxor, we tour the Great Temple of Amon
at Karnak, and visit the Sacred Lake . We have a quick look at
the great temple of Amon Ra at Luxor on our way to the
airport for our flight back to Cairo, and our hotel where dinner awaits
you .
DAY
10 - Dahshour - CAIRO Home Hosted Dinner (B)
After
breakfast, we'll motor to the edge of Cairo, to the mysterious Sphinx
and the Pyramids of Giza. The
museum of the Royal Barge of Cheops The museum is built over the rectangular
pit that housed the Royal Barge for thousands of years , the wooden
boat was readied for the king's daily journey with the sun god, Ra .
Discovered in 1954, in a completely dismantled state, the 43-metre (140-foot)
cedar boat is a rare window on the Royal boats used by the kings of
Ancient Egypt.
Those
who are fit and adventurous enough may wish to penetrate into the heart
of the Great Pyramid, to the King's Chamber your ticket is included
with our compliments (or the interior of Kephren Pyramid). Taking
a camel ride (Included) is entirely your own choice!
Continue
to Dahshour, the newly-opened pyramid field south of Cairo. We
visit the great pyramid of Senfru, father of Cheops, and other structure:
The "Discovery" of Dahshour:
For almost half a century, the great field of huge pyramids near the
desert village of Dahshour, 25 miles south of Cairo, has been off limits
to the public. Confined within the perimeter of a military base were
many pyramids, including the great 4500-year-old pyramid built by Senfru,
father of Cheops. Senfru's pyramid, the largest in Egypt until his son
built Giza's Great Pyramid, is rhomboidal in shape: it tapers more distinctly
on its upper half. All the pyramids were coated in thick plaster at
one time. Most have lost these protective, decorative sheaths, but Senfru's--miraculously--is
still in place.
Lunch is included at a local restaurant or at your hotel.
Complimentary Dinner is included at a local home:
Meet the locals,
you may wish to bring token gifts to exchange with the host family (
T shirt , small souvenirs of your home town): This
evening we'll venture where few ordinary visitors ever tread . . . right
into the homes of some of the people of Cairo l! You'll be invited to
a family dinner, and while you enjoy wholesome home-cooked specialties,
you'll learn about and appreciate the outlook, aspirations, and way
of life of your hosts. Be assured, as curious as you may be about your
new friends, they're sure to have questions about your own background.
Once the ice is broken, you'll enjoy a lively evening, and find that
you have more in common than you ever suspected. Of course, you may
enjoy a quiet evening with your travel companions, by letting us know
your preferences.
DAY
11 - Tanis
- Suez Canal - Monday or Wednesday (B. Lunch Box
)
Breakfast
is included at the hotel, lunch box will be prepared by your chef with
bottled water.
To the Lair of Rameses and the Suez Canal
Venture
where few visitors have gone before, away from trafficked pathways and
neatly packaged tours, to the legendary capital of Rameses II, the Great.
So unusual is this full-day adventure, and so select are the people
who take it, that special permits are required from the Egyptian Department
of Antiquities. And if this opportunity is not enough to whet your appetite,
we'll round out a spectacular day with a journey forward through the
centuries, to the modern wonder of the Suez Canal.
Arrange
your wake-up call . . . we'll be heading out from Cairo at 6 a.m. on
our day of discovery. We'll make our way through busy streets, and beyond,
to the fertile farmlands of the Nile Delta, seemingly unchanged since
the time of the pharaohs, watered by a web of canals running from the
life-giving Nile, worked by villagers with hand tools and the aid of
camels and donkeys. We'll pass through Zagazig, a bustling cotton and
grain farming center, and stop at nearby Bubastis, capital of the 22nd
and 23rd dynasties. Here, the cat was more than a king, it was honored
as a goddess, and sacred cats were buried in chambers that lie behind
an Old Kingdom Chapel. Parts of temples erected by Osorkon II and Nectanebo
II also remain.
But
this is only prologue ... We'll continue to Tanis--modern San El Hagar--famed
in the film Raiders of the Lost Ark as the resting place of the Ark
of the Covenant. Tanis was the capital of Smendes, founder of the 21st
Dynasty, a grand center whose rich remains include the main temple of
Amun, and a royal Necropolis with the only Pharaonic burials never touched
by ancient tomb raiders. There are even artificial lakes contained by
limestone blocks.
So
grand was Tanis that many believe that it was the capital of Rameses
the Great. Among the layers of cities and palaces might lie the site
of the Pharaoh's court that was built by the labor of the ancient Hebrews.
before Moses led them out of Egypt.
Tanis
is a restricted site because of its ongoing excavations and its intact
burial chambers that are still yielding treasures and understanding
of the ancients. It will be your privilege to make your own discoveries
as one of the few to tread these stones. Because our path is away from
the usual routes of visitors, we will travel with provisions, including
a box lunch, and of course, bottled water.
After
our discovery of Tanis, we'll journey northeastward through the delta
and across the centuries to a wonder of the modern world. The Suez Canal
opened in 1869 to international celebration that included the commissioning
of the opera Aida, after ten years of excavation that employed more
than a million laborers. The canal was the technological feat of its
day, connecting the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, cutting trade
routes to the East in half, and changing the course of history. Even
today it is the mainstay of Egypt's economy, its neutrality guaranteed
by treaty.
We'll
visit Ismailia, where the historic Canal headquarters are located. We'll
soak up the atmosphere of worldwide commerce passing through this sash
of the sea, and conjure up the international intrigues of bygone days,
as we take a break for tea and sandwiches at a local establishment.
If time permits, we'll see the fortifications of the Bar Lev line, held
by Israel after the Six Day War of 1967, and demolished by water cannon
in 1973 in a surprise Egyptian attack.
After
a day of encounters with ancient and modern history, we'll continue
on our way back to Cairo.
DAY
12 - DEPARTURE (B)
After a full breakfast, our staff escorts you to the airport for your
flight home. Add Argolis and Delphi in Greece .
Rates
per person in double in US $
Per
person
Sharing in : |
|
First Class
|
| Triple
Occupancy |
US$
5366 |
US$
4450 |
| Double
|
US$
5215 |
US$
4565 |
| Single |
US$
6370 |
US$
5640 |
Children 10 years and younger sharing with 2 adults : % 20 discount
Infants
- 2 Years : pay only 10 %
| Sample
hotel used
(or similar) |
Athens |
Cairo
|
Santorini |
| 4
star hotels |
Stanley
(4 stars) |
Zoser
cataract
(Moderate
5 stars)
|
Volcano's
View |
| 5
Stars hotels |
Divani |
Hyatt
, Conrad , Meridien Pyramids
|
Grotto,
Dana
Chromata |
Inclusions:
- All
Transfers in Greece and Egypt on private basis. Private air-conditioned
vehicle, private Chauffeur.
- Hotel
l accommodation, including tax, service charges & continental or buffet
breakfast daily.
- Guided
sightseeing in Athens and Egypt as per itinerary including all entrance
fees.
- Ferry
and air tickets in Greece and Egypt.
- As
well as Athens Cairo , in economy class as per itinerary.
- All
tips to drivers, porters and guides
Not included:
- International
airfare from/to your home country .
- Gratuities,
porterage at hotels.
- Personal
expenses.
- Beverages,
and meals not specifically listed .
- Trip
Cancellation Insurance. Travel Insurance
- Egyptian
Visa : Visa maybe issued upon arrival at Cairo Airport for a limited
number of citizens such as : American, EU , Canadian , EU Singaporean
and Japanese citizens. You are responsible for having your passport
in order valid at least for 6 month beyond the date of your arrival
in Cairo.
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12 Days
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|