 An
Archaeological Study Tour
The
Splendors of Ancient Egypt
In Two Weeks
October
17– 30, 2010
Led
by Professor Lanny Bell
Brown University
This
tour is a shorter version of our most popular Egypt tour.
Our four days in Cairo give us time to linger in the Egyptian
Museum, visit Cairo’s Islamic sites and spend two
days exploring the Giza Plateau and Sakkara. We will visit
the Delta site of Tanis, first excavated by Flinders Petrie
in 1884. We will spend five days in Luxor, time for a thorough
exploration of Thebes, as well as the temples of Hathor
at Dendera, decorated in the name of Cleopatra the Great,
and of Seti I at Abydos. Our five-day Nile Cruise will be
aboard the deluxe Sonesta Nile Goddess. We will visit Edfu’s
Temple of Horus, the most perfectly preserved ancient Egyptian
temple in existence today, the fascinating Temple at Kom
Ombo, perched on a spectacular site overlooking the Nile.
The tour ends in Aswan with a visit to the Nubian Museum
and a flying visit to Abu Simbel.
Sunday, Monday, October 17 & 18: CAIRO: Our
group departure from New York will be in the evening. We
will arrive into Cairo in the late afternoon. We will be
met by our Egyptian staff and transfer to the Meridien Pyramids
Hotel, situated in view of the Great Pyramids of Giza. This
evening we will meet with Professor Bell for dinner.
Meals: Dinner
Tuesday, October 19: CAIRO: We begin our touring
at Memphis, the first capital of a united Egypt, and Sakkara,
the necropolis of Memphis. At Sakkara we will visit the
newly opened museum and tour the Step Pyramid complex of
Djoser, which predates the Giza pyramids and is the world’s
first monumental building constructed entirely in stone.
We will also tour the smaller Pyramid of Teti, built for
a Sixth Dynasty king, whose burial chamber is covered with
pyramid texts to ensure the survival of his soul, and the
mastaba tombs of the Nobles Ti and Ptahhotep.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Wednesday,
October 20: CAIRO: Our touring today brings us to the
only surviving representatives of the Seven Wonders of the
Ancient World, the Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx. We will
also visit the museum, where the remarkably preserved remains
of the Solar Boat of Cheops are displayed.
Meals: Breakfast & lunch
Thursday,
October 21: CAIRO: The focus of this day is the Egyptian
Museum, where we will view the highlights of its huge collection,
including the new mummy room and the objects from the tomb
of Tutankhamun. After lunch, touring continues at the Citadel,
built in 1176 and famed as the stronghold of Salah el-Din.
The day ends with a stroll through Khan el-Khalili Bazaar,
one of the largest suqs in the Middle East. For over 600
years Egyptians have been shopping along its narrow, winding
streets filled with exotic spices, fruits, vegetables and
household goods as well as jewelry and souvenirs and perfumes.
Meals: Breakfast & lunch
Friday,
October 22: LUXOR: This morning we fly to Luxor and
transfer to the Steigenberger Luxor Hotel, selected for
its excellent location on the Corniche and within walking
distance of the market, museum and some of the sites. The
ancient city was built on the east bank of the Nile while
the west bank was the city of the dead, mostly reserved
for tombs and funerary monuments. We will begin our exploration
with a full afternoon of touring at the magnificent sanctuary
of Amun-Re at Karnak. This fascinating temple’s maze
of monumental gateways, obelisks, pillared halls and subsidiary
shrines is reached via an avenue lined with fantastic beasts.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Saturday,
October 23: LUXOR: Today we will cross the Nile to visit
the tombs of the Valleys of the Kings and Queens. Although
the decorated tombs open to the public are rotated in order
to preserve them, those that we will see today will give
us a very good sample of the styles used during the four
centuries in which the royal cemetery was used. The tombs
to be visited are those of Tutankhamun and three other Pharaohs
selected from the tombs open to the public today. We will
also visit the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri,
one of the most spectacular monuments in Egypt. The fine
low relief carved onto its walls is among the most delicate
we will see.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Sunday,
October 24: LUXOR: Driving north through villages of
baked-mud houses and lush cultivated lands bordering the
Nile, we arrive in Dendera and visit the Temple of Hathor,
goddess of love, music and wine. Although this temple was
largely built in the first century BCE, it occupies the
site of a much older building. On the roof of the temple
is a plaster cast of the famous Zodiac of Dendera (original
in Paris), one of the three circular representations of
the heavens found in Egypt. We continue to Abydos, where
we will tour the Temple of Seti I, viewing the famous List
of Kings and some of the most beautifully painted reliefs
surviving from Pharaonic times.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Monday,
October 25: LUXOR: We will return to the west bank and
continue our touring with the Colossi of Memnon and the
temples and chapels of Medinet Habu, the largest built by
Ramesses III. We will explore the Ramesseum, where the fallen
statue of Ramesses II inspired Shelley’s famous poem
“Ozymandias.” The morning is concluded with
the rarely visited tombs of Kheruef and Ankh-Hor, returning
to the east bank to board the deluxe Sonesta Nile Goddess,
our floating hotel for the next four nights. In the late
afternoon we will walk to the Temple of Luxor for a leisurely
visit of this magnificent temple, including the depiction
of the procession of the Opet Festival and scenes of the
divine conception and birth of Amenhotep III.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Tuesday, October 26: SAIL/EDFU: Our last visit to
the west bank of the Nile includes some of the hundreds
of tombs of the Nobles, spread over two square miles. These
tombs are of special interest for their naturalistic murals,
which give us an intimate view of life in ancient Egypt.
We will also stop at the ancient village of the artisans,
Deir el-Medina, one of the best-preserved town sites in
Egypt and the subject of the television series Ancient Lives.
We return to the Nile Goddess for lunch. This afternoon
we sail to Edfu to dock for the night.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Wednesday, October 27: ASWAN: Touring
begins this morning at the Temple of Edfu, a completely
preserved Ptolemaic temple of the falcon god Horus. We will
have several hours to enjoy the sundeck and pool, as well
as the ever-changing panorama of life along the Nile as
we sail on to Kom Ombo. Often called the acropolis of Egypt
for its spectacular site overlooking the Nile, Kom Ombo
is unusual in being dedicated equally to two gods, Horus
the Elder and the crocodile god Sobek. After completing
our touring we sail to Aswan to dock for the night.
Meals:
Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Thursday, October 28: ASWAN: Our
touring today will include the Quarries, where an unfinished
obelisk remains embedded in its native stone, and the High
Dam. We will also visit Philae, the Ptolemaic temple dedicated
to Isis, an incredible complex of chapels and shrines as
well as the last bastion of paganism in the Byzantine Empire.
In the afternoon we will visit the Museum of Nubian Civilization.
The remainder of the day will be at leisure to explore the
town and its fascinating spice bazaar, charter a felucca
or relax at the pool.
Meals:
Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Friday, October 29: CAIRO: A memorable day! We fly
to Abu Simbel, where the rock-cut temples of Ramesses II
and his favorite queen, Nefertari, have been saved from
the rising waters of the Nile resulting from the Aswan High
Dam. Although the temples were built to honor the deified
royal pair and to awe the Nubians, that awesome feeling
exists today no less than it did 3,200 years ago. After
completing our visit to this fascinating complex, our return
flight connects in Aswan to Cairo. We will have time to
relax at the Meridien Heliopolis Airport Hotel before gathering
for our farewell dinner at our hotel.
Meals:
Breakfast & dinner
Saturday,
October 30: We will transfer to the airport for our
group flight to New York.
|
|
