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
They then visited the Jewelry museum (LALAOUNIS) before breaking for lunch.
They used the metro 3 times (because they wanted to).

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 Theater/ Ancient Agora/ Roman Agora

Guests who have been on the organized tour (the day before) can use the same entrance ticket to all the archaeological sites mentioned above.

Above are only suggestions , you may discuss with the guide and modify (add/subtract) according to what you are most interested in. The guide will advise you on what is feasible to cover in a half-day. Or add another half day : additional $$$ apply

DAY 3 - Day 7 CRETE
We escort you to the airport for your flight to Crete, where our staff awaits you to take you to your deluxe hotel : Porto Elounda Mare Resort or similar . For the next four days and nights, your hideaway will be a one-bedroom villa with its own secluded pool, private breakfast service included. Venture out to explore caves, beaches fringed by cliffs, and ancient temples; but nobody will blame you if you just relax in your villa!

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

DAY 9 - CAIRO (BL)
After breakfast, you'll explore the wonders of the Egyptian Museum, with its treasures of the ancient pharaohs: mummies, statuary, gold and gems. Travellers have long come to Cairo just to gaze on these sights, but your day has just started. You'll lunch at the charming local El Pacha Restaurant, then depart to Khan El Khalili old bazaar district for an afternoon guided visit of this charming part of Old Cairo . Dinner is included at your hotel in Cairo

DAY 10 - CAIRO (BLD)
After breakfast, we are off to the mysterious Sphinx, the Pyramids, and the Valley Temple. Taking a camel ride is entirely your own choice! After lunch at the Mena House Oberoi we head for Memphis, and Sakkara, including Zoser Pyramid.
Conclude a memorable day as we host you on a Nile dinner cruise complete with exotic Egyptian entertainment.

DAY 11 - Cairo Fayoum (BL)
On Desert Safari for the Day - Fayoum Oases - And you thought the Pyramids were old

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 12 - RETURN HOME (B)
We escort you to the airport for your flight home . Bon Voyage

RATES per person (double occupancy)

Rate is in US $ and is per person & includes:

• Air fare in Greece as well as air fare Athens/Cairo in economy class, tax included
  
• All transfers on a private basis in Greece and Egypt
  
• Hotel accommodations with tax
  
• Sightseeing with guide and entrance fees as indicated
  
• Meals as indicated, with pre-set menu (B = Breakfast, aB = full American breakfast, cB= Continental Breakfast, L = Lunch, D = Dinner)
  
• Egyptian visa fee issued on a complimentary basis upon arrival at Cairo Airport for the following nationalities : Australian, NZ, Canadian,EU , US & Japanese citizens, passports must be valid for at least 6 month upon arrival

   

   

Not included:

• International Air fare .
• Trip interruption and cancellation insurance (please see your insurance agent ).
• Personal expenses
• Gratuities

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