D1: Meet at the hotel in Cairo
D2: Free day in Cairo, board the evening train to Aswan.
D3: Arrive Aswan early morning. Free day in Aswan, hotel. You may take a felucca to sail to Elephantine island and visit the nilometer, then traverse to the other bank and visit the Noble's Tombs. Then hike to St Simeon's monastery returning via the Aga Khan's mausoleum.
D4: Early morning drive to Abu Simbel in the
deep south.
At Abu Simbel we will visit the colossuses at Ramses II (XIII
century bC) main temple, and the Hathor temple built for his
wife, Nefertari. Both are built on lake Nasser western bank and
exhibit a profuse and very interesting polichrome bass reliefs
depicting the grandeur of the pharaoh's feats. Return to Aswan
by noon.
In the afternoon you may visit the nilometer, the
Aswan museum, Knhum's temple (IV cent bC) and the
very typical Nubian village amid its palm tree groves
on Elephantine island, and the Nobles' tombs and
St Simeon's monastery (VI cent aD) both on the Nile's
left bank.
By evening it will be interesting to wander through the souk'salleys,
the open market, which is a very cosmopolitan area full of sounds
and odours.
D5: Morning drive to the enormous unfinished obelisk (42m) still lying on its ancient stone-pit. On lake Nasser we will board a boat that takes us to Agilkaisland where we visit the splendid Philae temple (IV century bC), composed of various buildings some of them already of greco-roman architecture.
In the afternoon we board our felucca, the typical sailing boat of the Nile, and start the cruise that will take us to Edfu.
D6 and D7: Sailing slowly and placidly down river, watching the green fields landscape enveloped by groves of palmtrees and large sugar cane plantations. We will see the villages with their white houses go by and will hear the rivers' whisper and the peoples' sounds far away. Now and then we pass by fishermen throwing their nets from wooden boats. Some areas are desertic and very arid others authentic oases of luxurious vegetation.
At the end of the day we will unboard and cook dinner enjoying the calm sunset in a sky that turns dramatic in orange colour. We will sleep in the open air on the boat's deck, under a canvas, listening to the relaxing sound of the water moving slowly
. 
Our cruise calls at the big Kom Ombo temple (II century bC) built on the Nile banks in a greco-roman style. It was dedicated to Sobek (crocodile) and to Haroeris (hawk) gods. This is the reason why the sanctuaries, temples, public and other worship places are duplicated. Here we also find the nilometer which served to evaluate the fertility of the agricultural year by measuring the Nile's level. With these values the authorities would calculate the due taxes and collect them
D8: We will our cruise at Edfu where we will
visit the magnificent Horus temple. This is the biggest
and the best preserved pharaonic temple in Egypt.
Its construction started in the beginning of the III century
bC, and lasted 200 years. It is huge, low reliefs and hieroglyphs
cover its internal an external walls. Its massive front wall
shows representations of the pharaoh Ptolomew III subduing his
enemies.
We then drive to Luxor.
D9: In the morning we will visit the Kings' Valley, on the other river bank. This is a large area containing dozens of pharaonic tombs dating from the XV century bC. Till now 62 tombs were dug. It is probable that many more await being dug. It is a fascinating experience to wander through those galleries, opened in the rock, covered with interesting and colourful frescoes, that lead us to the antechamber and finally to the sarcophagus' room. Some of them take us deep into the mountain and offer us the strange sensation of enjoying something that was meant for eternity!
In the afternoon, we will visit the great temple of Karnak dedicated to the god Amon. This vast religious area measures 1.5 km by 800m and we find there constructions of several periods: it is thought that the additions, repairings, demolitions, and amplifications occured during a period of 1500 years. The oldest temple belongs to the Sesostris I period (XVIII century bC). Its main entrance alley is famous for it is long and lined with trees and interesting sculptures of sheep sphinxs.
D10: Free day in Luxor, where we may visit
Luxor's museum and temple.
In the evenning we board an express train to Cairo.
D11: Free Day in Cairo. The Egyptian's Antiquities Museum ends the enormous collections of masterpieces, artefacts and the remains of the wealthy history of these country. Behond these, it will be difficult for you to choose what to visit, because Cairo offers an enormous diversity of monuments and places to visit of about every periods of history. At the end of the day, it will be interesting to wander on the traditional bazars in the ancient area and to absorb the cosmopolitism and the exotism of its atmosphere.
D12: end after breakfast.
Difficulty: easy.
Dates: Feb 18-29, Mar 30-Apr 10, Sep 29-Oct 10, Oct 27-Nov 7, Nov 27-Dec 8, Dec 29-Jan 9; 2005: Feb 2-13, Mar 16-27, Apr 20-May 1
Price: Eur 860. per person;
Single room suplement: Eur 134.
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