DAY 1 – Thursday, Dec 5, 2024: Arrivals in Cairo. Welcome meeting with dinner.
Hotel: Giza hotel nIght #1. Meal: D

Welcome to Egypt! A representative will meet you at Cairo airport and bring you to our hotel.

Depending on when people arrive, we will be meeting for an orientation and Welcome Meeting and also have dinner together.

Our hotel is in Giza right near the pyramids. YES! You are now in Egypt!!

DAY 2 – Friday, Dec 6, 2024: Dashur – Red & Bent Pyramids. Afternoon group session with Aaron.
Hotel: Giza hotel nIght #2. Meal: BB, L.

We begin our sightseeing with sites from Ancient Egypt’s Old Kingdom (2,575-2,150 B.C.).  We drive southward through fertile farmlands to the pyramids at Dashur, dated even older than the pyramids at Giza!  It is also a chance to begin savoring the riches of Egypt without huge crowds and souvenir sellers.

We spend time inside the Red Pyramid (nearly as large as Giza’s Great Pyramid) and then have the opportunity for an unforgettable walk across the open desert to the Bent Pyramid.  The desert is rich with inspiration and the vastness is exhilarating.  The Bent Pyramid was a key center of worship during the Middle Kingdom and was much more important than Giza at that time.  The Bent pyramid is the only pyramid to retain most of its original casing stones.  The Black Pyramid (Middle Kingdom mud brick) can also be seen from here.

After lunch in the Sakkara area, we will have time to align our energies and go to a deeper level with the experiences that will be unfolding for us during the tour.

Dinner is on your own this evening at our hotel near the Giza Pyramids.

DAY 3 – Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024: Giza Plateau – Great Pyramid, Sphinx, Valley Temple, camel ride (not obligatory), Khafre or Menkaure Pyramid.
Private Visit inside the Sphinx Enclosure* and a Private Visiit inside the Great Pyramid.* 
Hotel: Giza hotel night #2. Meals: BB, L  

Today we spend a full day on the Giza Plateau. You can go inside whichever pyramids are open. Of the three pyramids, two are usually open while one is closed for renovations – dates are not announced in advance. Tickets for entering the individual pyramids are included in your tour package. The exact time of our private visit inside the Great Pyramid (with all 3 chambers open to us – Kings, Queens and subterranean”Pit”) has not yet been determined, but it will either be in the early morning or in the evening when the area is closed to the normal tourists.

We will also see the Great Sphinx & Valley Temple. There are legends of the Sphinx speaking. Does the Sphinx have a message for you? Unlike the other tourists who only see the Great Sphinx from a distance, our group will have special permission to enter the Sphinx enclosure where you will be able to touch the Sphinx and go into the sacred area between the paws! The Valley Temple is built with huge granite blocks that fit together snugly even today, almost 5,000 years later. Some think it is even older than that! 

Camel rides for the adventurous (no additional fee).  Camel videos HERE.

For those who like to shop, after lunch there is a visit to a perfumery with Egyptian perfume oils. 

*Note: We are applying for special government-issued permits which will allow us to have a private visit for our group alone in the Great Pyramid after the other tourists have left for the day or in the early morning before they arrive and a private access inside the Sphinx Enclosure.  We have every reason to believe that we will receive these permissions, as we have on our previous tours.  However, we cannot guarantee this because government policies can change unexpectedly.

Also note that the Solar Boat is no longer on the Giza Plateau but has been moved to the new museum (GEM) for restoration.

DAY 4 – Sunday, Dec 8, 2024: Saqqara: Step Pyramid, Unas Pyramid, Old Kingdom Tombs, Teti Pyramid, Serapeum, Imhotep Museum. Flight from Cairo to Luxor.
Hotel: Luxor Steigenberger Hotel or similar, night #1. Meals: BB, L, D.

On our way to Saqqara, we drive through the Black Land where the people have farmed the rich Nile silt for thousands of years.

Our sightseeing will be at the Saqqara Complex (also spelled Sakkara) today. Special treats for our previous travelers are that a passage under the Step Pyramid has been opened and also the famous Pyramid of Unas. The Unas Pyramid is where we find the earliest inscriptions of the Pyramid Texts, what has become known as the “Egyptian Book of the Dead.”

Here at Saqqara we also visit the Teti Pyramid and some Old Kingdom tombs with fascinating scenes of the daily life in Ancient Egypt’s Old Kingdom and the Serapeum, a place shrouded in mystery. Before leaving we are delighted to see that the Imhotep Museum has now reopened. A perfect way to finish our tour of Saqqara.

After lunch, we may also stop to see some of the local carpet weavers, if people are interested.

Dinner together near Cairo Airport before our departure. Evening flight to Luxor.

DAY 5 – Monday, Dec 9, 2024: Luxor Temple, Luxor Museum, Shopping: Egyptian Jewelry, Papyrus shop with demonstration, grocery store, Luxor street bazaar.
Hotel: Luxor Steigenberger Hotel or similar, night #2. Meals: BB, L  

Welcome to Luxor! Luxor has been a tourist attraction from long before the New Testament era. The Greeks looked to Egypt as the place of great wisdom and were enthralled by the temple ruins they found there. We begin our visits here with the Luxor Temple. Both gently beautiful and full of awesome grandness, this temple was the “Bride of Karnak” during the annual Apet festival.  There is an Avenue of Sphinxes that connects Luxor Temple with Karnak Temple and it is one of the newly opened attractions! You may have seen the extravagant ceremony that was broadcast recently when it opened. Youtube video.

Afterwards, we visit the Luxor Museum. There is a special exhibit room for a cache of statues found in near-perfect condition. They were buried under a courtyard at the Luxor Temple and found only recently during renovations.  There is also a new wing to the museum with an excellent mummy exhibit and a number of splendid artifacts. 

In the afternoon we visit a shop that sells jewelry with Egyptian motifs and a papyrus shop. We will also visit a local grocery store where we will get snacks and lunches to eat for our day-long bus trip to Abydos and Dendera tomorrow. If you enjoy bargaining and shopping, or just plain people-watching, you might enjoy a late-afternoon/evening visit to the Luxor Bazaar. Souvenirs, scarves, dresses, and more. You can even try smoking the shisha (flavored tobacco) in a water pipe.

DAY 11 – Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024: Aswan – Nubian Museum, Spice Shop, Goddess Isis Temple at Philae. 
Hotel: Nile Cruise #4. Meals: BB, L, D.

Our cruise boat has arrived in Aswan. Some people think of Aswan as the “Jamaica of Egypt.” The local Nubian culture has a more laid-back feel to it and their bright-colored clothing and painted buildings have a very different feel from the northern parts of Egypt. Aswan has been a trading center for more than 5,000 years. The cataracts here in the Nile mean that trading boats were unable to pass through this area with their goods. So the traders from Africa stopped here and met the traders from the Mediterranean. One of the prized items of trade was exotic spices, so Aswan became renowned for its spice trade. We will visit a spice shop here, which will be a treat for any chefs in our group!

The Nubian Museum is a small museum with artifacts from this area and a display about the local Nubian culture, so we will visit that as well.

In the afternoon, we visit the beautiful Goddess Isis Temple at Philae Island. 

Tonight is our last night on our Nile Cruise boat. Sometimes there is a party with dancing. We will see what the boat has on its schedule.

DAY 13 – Tuesday, Dec. 17: Museum Day in Cairo.
Hotel: Airport Hotel. #2 Meals: BB, L.

We have high hopes that the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) will be open at the time of this tour. Just as the name implies, this will be a world-renowned museum. It is the largest museum in Africa and will also house the largest collection of Egyptian antiquities.

If for some reason the GEM is not open yet, we will visit the Cairo Egyptian Museum. or wherever the King Tutankhamen treasures are currently on display.

Dinner is on your own tonight at our hotel. It’s time to reorganize your belongings and make them ready for your flight home tomorrow night. Check-out from the hotel is in the morning before we leave for sightseeing.

DAY 14 – Wed., Dec 18, 2024: Visit to the sites in Old Cairo – Coptic Christian Churches and a Synagogue, Khan El Khalili Bazaar. Farewell Meeting.
Hotel: none. Meals: BB, L

Today we journey into Downtown Cairo to explore the area known as “Old Cairo.” Although these buildings are newer than the ancient Egyptian temples we have been visiting, sometimes they feel even older to us because we can better imagine what it was like for the people who walked these cobble-stone streets. The “Hanging Church” is said to have been built about 690 AD. That is still 1,300 years old!! The Ben Ezra Synagogue was originally a church but was sold to the Jews to use as a synagogue in 882 AD. It was later torn down but rebuilt in about 1030 AD. If there is interest, we will also spend some time at the historic Khan El-Khalili street bazaar. 

After lunch in Cairo, the afternoon will be dedicated to a group meeting to digest and process all that we have learned and experienced. It’s hard to believe our time has reached an end and soon it will be time to go our separate ways.

Most people will probably have flights leaving during the night tonight. If your flight does not leave until tomorrow morning, you will need to book an additional hotel night for tonight. The hotel is right within the airport perimeter and there is a shuttle that will take you to whichever terminal you need to leave from. 

Farewell Egypt! You will continue to live in our hearts!