Magic of Istanbul and the Nile

A Grand 16 day Tour :Turkey, Istanbul and a Nile Cruise
Including air fare from JFK- Fayoum Oases and even Abu Simbel Temples

DAY 1 - Wednesday . Departure weekly from USA - Year Round
Board your comfortable wide body jet at JFK International Airport. ( add on air fare : available from major cities please inquire ) Overnight across the Atlantic. (International air fare is included in our listed rates as well as taxes ).

DAY 8- Wednesday . ISTANBUL, CAIRO (B)
After breakfast our local representative will take you to the airport to catch your flight for Cairo, air fare is included in economy class, tax included , in Cairo our local rep. whisks you through the excitement and hubbub of the terminal, and onward through the desert to your hotel .
Visa fee is included, issued upon arrival for (Western) European , American, Japanese and Australian citizens, passports must be valid for at least 6 month beyond the date of arrival. You are responsible for your passport being valid & in order.

Visa will be issued upon arrival.
As you exit the gate, you will pass through a door or two , down some stairs , then walk for 2-5 minutes , until you pass the duty free shops, at the end of a wide corridor , you will see the security officers. There you will be met by a local representative, who will be holding a sign with the name you prefer to use for the sign .
Our local representative will then take your passport to obtain a stamp from the cashier / bank window and escort you to speak with the passport officer. He will escort you through another last check on your passport as you exit the passport control, into customs area, he will assist you in collecting your luggage and clearing customs . After exiting the terminal, our local representative will escort you (private vehicle) to the hotel . Private air-conditioned vehicle , private chauffeur for all your transfers in Egypt & Turkey .

DAY 9- Thursday . CAIRO (BL)
Today, you'll explore the wonders of the Egyptian Museum, with its treasures of the ancient pharaohs: mummies, statuary, precious stones and metals. Travellers have long come to Cairo just to gaze on these sights, but your day has just started. You'll also see the Citadel of Saladin and the alabaster mosque of Mohammed Ali. In Giza, on the edge of the desert, you'll gaze in awe at the mysterious Sphinx and the Pyramids. Private air-conditioned vehicle , private chauffeur and private guide

DAY 10 - Friday . On Desert Safari for the Day - Fayoum Oases
And you thought the Pyramids were old (BL)
We leave Cairo by sunrise ( private air conditioned car/driver/guide): Full day Fayoum Oases including:
Hawara Pyramid, El Lahoun Pyramid, Ruins of Karanis, drive by Lake Qarun, lunch is included at a local restaurant.

The wilds of the desert begin right on the outskirts of Cairo, and continue for hundreds of miles to the east and west, through sands, rock, mountains, oases, and a surprising variety of scenery and inhabitants.

Join us for a day ranging across the desert like modern nomads. In place of camels, we’ll travel in comfortable, reliable four-by-four Toyota Land Cruisers. Your guide and drivers will meet you at your hotel, and soon you’ll leave bustling Cairo behind as you undertake the drive toward the Oasis of El Fayoum, 150 kilometers to the southwest. Hard as it is to believe, a great inland sea once covered these sands. It was a holy reserve of sacred crocodiles, symbolized by the god Sobek.

We’ll visit the temple of Kom Oshim, drive over ancient lake beds, and alongside the waters of today’s Fayoum Lake to reach the fishermen’s village of Chak Chouk. There we’ll stop for a lunch of fish caught fresh that morning. There will be time to wander the village lanes and discreetly watch the everyday activities of baking flatbread, irrigating crops from the lake’s waters, and bringing in the catch. We’ll also include the craft and pottery museum where the best works of local artisans are on display.

Then it’s into our four-by-fours again, for an off-road adventure! We’ll head alongside and across desert washes, between dunes, and over ancient lake beds for 35 kilometers to the Valley of the Whales ( In Arabic : Wadi-El-Hitan) . Incredibly, these great mammals once thrived - almost forty million years ago- in waters surrounded by sands. We’ll stop and gaze in amazement at their fossilized remains alongside smaller sea creatures that remain in stone.
This valley was discovered in 1936 , by the German geologist George Schweinfurth in the northwestern corner of Wadi El-Rayan.

The valley provides evidence of one of the major changes in this mammal evolution has been declared by the UNESCO to be a World Heritage Site. It is believed that these land based whales once had feet that may have helped them somewhat while ashore . A team from the University of Michigan discovered in the late 80's that these Zeuglodon whales did have rudimentary feet , this was a startling discovery , suggesting that whales of Wadi -El-Hitan had recently started living in water as well , these whales were not related to any of the whales we have today , rather a more slender body and may grow up to 75 feet long. Several skeletons of whales are exposed in the sand. George Schweinfurth named this extinct specie the Zeuglodon Isis Whales .

In the evening, you’ll return to your hotel in Cairo. Land transportation in air-conditioned four-wheel-drive Toyota Land Cruiser with the services of driver and English-speaking driver. Lunch is included

DAY 11 - Saturday - Cairo - Aswan ( or Luxor ) - Abu Simbel / Nile Cruise (BLD)
Very early breakfast , before we head for the airport and your flight to Abu Simbel via Aswan in Upper Egypt . In Abu Simbel : Your private air conditioned vehicle, private chauffeur and private guide will be waiting for
you . Today we tour : Temple of Queen Nefertari :
The great funerary temple built in the 12th century BC by Ramses the Great for Queen Nefertari is unique in Egyptian history. Beautifully restored with American aid, it's the only such temple built by a pharaoh for his queen. Ramses the Great Abu Simbel Temple :
Ramses the Great's huge desert temple at Abu Simbel marked the southern border of the pharaoh's dominions. Rescued from the rising waters of Lake Nasser by an international effort, it is a marvel of sacred engineering. Twice a year‹and only then‹the sun penetrates to the Holy of Holies, illuminating the stone figures of Ramses and Nefertari.

Jacquie Kennedy & Abu Simbel: All Americans alive during the 1960s remember President John F Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. Most Americans from that time also remember Abu Simbel, the dramatic, ancient Pharaonic temple threatened by the rising waters blocked by the new Aswan High Dam. Read More

After the tour of Abu Simbel : we fly back to Aswan, arriving in time to take lunch aboard your Nile cruiser.

This afternoon we'll have the opportunity to experience Egypt at its most authentic, as we sail the Nile in a graceful felucca. If you wish, try your hand at camel riding! We'll take a traditional caravan to enjoy tea with Nubian villagers.

DAY 16 - Thursday . RETURN HOME (B)
Our Cairo-based staff escorts you to the airport for your flight home. Bon Voyage.

RATES per person in double occupancy in US$:
All cabins on the Nile cruise are outside cabins with two lower beds, all with panoramic windows.

Rates From JFK:

Sample Deluxe Nile Cruise:
M/S Mojito , M/S Monaco or M/S Monte Carlo Nile Cruise, M/S Adonis , M/S Beau Soleil , M/S Florence

For Ultra Deluxe Cruise M/S Tuya , M/S TI-YI .
Or the All Suites/ All with private balconies : Moon Goddess , or M/S Senator
The All Suites Amarco , please add % 20, to the deluxe rate

For Dec 20 - Jan 5 , Easter : Please add 20 % supplement to any of the rates

• Lonely Planet travel guides to Turkey and Egypt
  
  

• International airfares from/to NYC including tax. When you handle your own air fare , please deduct $ 500 from any of the rates for ( JFK ISTANBUL & Cairo JFK)
  For May - Aug please add $300 air fare supplement.
  For Boston , Chicago , Miami & Houston , please add $ 350 .
  For most of West Coast cities please add $400. This doesn't apply when you handle your own air fare.
  
  

• 5-day Nile cruise, including all meals , afternoon tea served on deck daily , and shore excursions.
  
  

• One large bottled water per person delivered to your cabin daily while you are on board the Nile Cruise . Plus a small bottle of water with each & every meal on board the cruise
  
  

• Tea or coffee and water with each & every meal while you are on board the Nile cruise.
  
  

• Complimentary welcome drink upon arrival on board the Nile Cruise.
  
  

• Complimentary welcome fruit basket on board the Nile Cruise.
  
  

• Guided tours as listed , including all entrance fees.
  
  

• Hotel accommodation as mentioned in Turkey and Cairo, including tax and service charges, and breakfast daily.
  
  

• Meals as indicated, with preset menu (B = Breakfast, L = Lunch, D = Dinner).
  
  

• Airport greeting and assistance. Transportation between airports, hotels, and port.
  
  

• One-way air transportation Istanbul and Cairo .
  
  

• Port taxes.
  
  

• Domestic air transportation in Egypt in economy class , tax included .
  
  

• Egyptian visa fee, available only for American, Australian, NZ, Canadian, EU , Singaporean & Japanese citizens. Must have a valid passport. Issued upon arrival at Cairo airport.

For children : 2-10 years of age : 25 % discount will apply when sharing with parents in a double room

Sample hotels ( Subject to change subject to availibility at the time you book ):

Not Included:

• Trip interruption and cancellation insurance
• Turkish Visa fee, you may contact the Turkish Consulate nearest to you to secure your visa before you travel, or upon arrival at Istanbul in this case cash only
• Additional personal expenses, beverages, and meals not specifically mentioned in the itinerary .
  
  

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