Your
Own Forum on Egypt and Jordan
A Monthly Roundtable on Middle East History, Politics,
Economics and Beliefs
Egypt
and Jordan in 14 Days
Space is limited to a maximum of 6 guests in each departure
You couldn't squeeze more adventure into a 14 -day journey: Cairo, Fayoum
Oases , Luxor and
a trek to the mysterious ruins of Petra in Jordan. Tour
starts monthly in Cairo .
Add Syria Magic
of the Arabian Empire : Syria,
Jordan & Egypt . Compare with the Alexandria
version : 9 Days ?
DAY 1 - CAIRO -
Sunday :
Monthly arrival. Tour starts on the First Sunday of each month
except : June, July and Aug
Our staff meets you at the airport and escorts you to your hotel.
Transfers are always in a private air-conditioned vehicle, private chauffeur.
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
: Cairo Grand Hyatt or Cairo Conrad Hotel
DAY 2 - CAIRO (BL) -
Monday
We start with the best of Cairo: the Egyptian Museum, Citadel of Saladin
and its
Alabaster Mosque. After lunch at a charming
local restaurant, your guide will point out two of the most important
mosques on the local and regional Islamic scene : Al-Azhar Mosque / University
as well as Al-Hussein Mosque.
We wander through the alleys of Khan el-Khalili
bazaar in search of souvenirs before we head back to the hotel .
DAY 3 - CAIRO (BLD)
- Islam in Egypt - The Coptic Church in Egypt - Home Hosted Dinner - Tuesday
After breakfast we had to one of the local universities to attend
an open forum on Islam in Egypt , as Top local professors including some
who will be from Al-Azhar University will be on hand to answer any of
your questions.
You will get to meet the local under-graduates who will participate as
well in this open forum.
The speakers
will be invited to join us for lunch at a charming local Restaurant
Head back to the hotel for a brief siesta. The afternoon seminar
will be at one of the local churches , as we learn about the history of
the Egyptian Coptic Church . Return
to the hotel early evening . After
a brief rest off
to
Meet the locals: you
may wish to bring token gifts to exchange with the host family ( T shirt
, small souvenirs of your home town):
This
evening we'll venture where few ordinary visitors ever tread . . . right
into the homes of some of the people of Cairo l! You'll be invited to
a family dinner, and while you enjoy wholesome home-cooked specialties,
you'll learn about and appreciate the outlook, aspirations, and way of
life of your hosts.
Be assured, as curious as you may be about your new friends, they're sure
to have questions about your own background. Once the ice is broken, you'll
enjoy a lively afternoon , and find that you have more in common than
you ever suspected. This is a people to people event , not a tourist trap
as some have inquired . The whole point is for you to get to meet real
Arabs, real Egyptians, not the ones that are stereotyped on the media.
DAY
4 - CAIRO (BL) - Wednesday
After breakfast we drive to where it all began: the old Roman fort
at Babylon, the site where it is said that " Baby Moses " was
found by the Pharaoh' s wife. We walk the narrow
streets of Old Cairo, once a Roman quarter , later the
Jewish Quarter, then becoming the Coptic Christian
Quarter. We visit the Coptic churches of Abu Serghius and Al Molaka,
the Coptic Museum, and Ben Ezra synagogue.
DAY 5 - CAIRO-
Thursday (BLD)
In the morning, we visit the majestic pyramids
of Giza, the Valley Temple and the timeless Sphinx.
Those who are fit
and adventurous enough may wish to penetrate into the heart of the Great
Pyramid, to the King's Chamber your ticket is included with our compliments
(or the interior of Kephren Pyramid). Taking a camel ride (Included) is
entirely your own choice!
After lunch at the
Mena House Oberoi or Meridien
Pyramids , we drive to Dahshour, ,
the newly-opened pyramid field south of Cairo. We visit the great pyramid
of Senfru, father of Cheops, and other structure:
The "Discovery" of Dahshour : For almost half a century, the great
field of huge pyramids near the desert village of Dahshour, 25 miles south
of Cairo, has been off limits to the public. Confined within the perimeter
of a military base were many pyramids, including the great 4500-year-old
pyramid built by Senfru, father of Cheops. Senfru's pyramid, the largest
in Egypt until his son built Giza's Great Pyramid, is rhomboidal in shape:
it tapers more distinctly on its upper half. All the pyramids were coated
in thick plaster at one time. Most have lost these protective, decorative
sheaths, but Senfru's--miraculously--is still in place.
Diner cruise with
folk show on the Hyatt cruise or similar.
DAY 6 - LUXOR- Friday
(B)
Very early morning breakfast before we head for the airport and fly to
Luxor . Upon arrival, we proceed to cross the
Nile by ferry to visit the Valley of the Kings , Queen
Hatshepsut, Medinet Habu , the Ramesseum, and the Colossi of Memnon.
In the afternoon , we visit one of the local high schools ( if closed
due to a holiday then , we will visit one of the local charities.
We will then enjoy a horse drawn carriage ride through the local souks
of Luxor . Please take note of the mosque at the street level , built
on top of the Luxor Amon -Ra Temple, we will discuss later today , Egypt
change of religions . After you return to your hotel, we will have a round
table discussion with your guides(s) on the Ancient Egyptian beliefs ,
particularly Isis and the impact of such beliefs on Egypt as well as the
rest of the world.
DAY 7 - LUXOR - CAIRO
- Saturday (BLD)
Today morning
we tour the Great Temple of Amon at Karnak, and visit the
Sacred Lake and red granite quarries with their unfinished obelisk. We
tour the great temple of Amon Ra at Luxor before we head for the
airport for our flight back to Cairo, and our hotel. The
J. W. Marriott or Sonesta Hotel . Dinner is included at the hotel
DAY 8 - Cairo-
Fayoum Oases - A Gift from Joseph to the Pharaoh ?? - Sunday (BL)
Whales in the Egyptian Desert !!!
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. Incredibly, these great mammals
once thrived in waters surrounded by sands. We’ll stop and gaze
in amazement at their fossilized remains alongside smaller sea creatures
that remain in stone.
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 9 - CAIRO -
A Very Full day on the Middle East - Monday (BL)
Breakfast roundtable: Women in Egypt, Women in Islam
MEET AMERICAN & EUROPEAN WOMEN IN CAIRO
In the morning, and as we enjoy a late breakfast , we'll have a group
discussion , that will include an American and /or a European woman /women
who settled in Cairo to share their own insight on/about the Egyptian
Society and Egyptian Women.
After a short break,
we resume , we continue with our next topic, with the possible participation
of local Egyptian diplomats, professors in political science , and others
: How The Middle East Was Lost ... by the West !
This is not an in-depth presentation, there is no way to do it in such
short time:
We will try to offer a very brief intro to topics such as :
- Napoleon's invasion
of Egypt , and how England had to chase him out of it to protect her
routes to India.
- The collapse of
the Ottoman Empire and how Egypt fits in the big jigsaw of the Middle
East during WWI and WWII
- The Egyptian revolution
of 1952 . And how Israel reacted to it with fear , attacking Egypt in
Gaza in 1954, forcing Egypt to seek modern weapons, which the West was
never willing now to sell to Egypt.
- How Egypt was forced
to go to the Soviets, for weapons and help building the High Dam.
- How the Soviets
were only glad to oblige, and how this lead to a chain reaction that
placed Egypt at the heart of the cold war between the Soviets and the
West , this resulted in 1956 as well as 1976 wars
- American Policy
in the Middle East , particularly in Egypt and Saudia Arabia.
- Why the Dubai economic
model is impossible to replicate in the Middle East even in Israel ,
in our life time.
- "Peace Dividends"
: A Mirage that will never be seen on a dry hot day by the majority
of the Middle East inhabitants.
We break for lunch
:Our panelist will join us for lunch
After lunch , you
will be meeting Egyptian women , both moslems and coptic in another roundtable
, where
you will participate in a " Q & A " presentation
on "Women in Islam " as well as "Women in Egypt"
DAY 10 - Cairo / Amman
(B)
Our staff escorts you to the airport for your flight to Amman.
Air fare is included in business class , tax included .
Upon arrival, our local rep. will assist with your visa ( visa fee is
included for a limited number of nationalities, such as USA , Canadians,
Australian, NZ, EU, Japanese etc )
Amman : Capital of the Kingdom of Jordan. You'll learn about this surprisingly
cosmopolitan city of Palestinians, Bedouins, and descendants
of migrants from the Caucasus.
Round table meeting with local professors at your hotel or at one of the
local universities with the topic covering " Peace Dividends "
and the impact on the economic fortune of the region should there be peace
between Israel and the Arabs as a whole.
Your hotel : Hyatt or Sheraton . Dinner is included at
your hotel.
DAY 11 - JERASH - Thursday
(BL)
Breakfast. . We drive to Jerash, among the best-preserved Roman
cities in the world, to tour its temples, theaters, churches and colonnaded
streets. Lunch is included at a charming local restaurant, back to Amman
and your hotel . Remainder of the day at leisure.
DAY 12 - MADABA, KERAK
& Petra- Friday (BLD)
Your guide escorts
the tour at all times from Amman . We drive south along the King's
Highway, an ancient caravan route, to Madaba to visit the church containing
the oldest known map of the Holy Land. Continuing to Mount Nebo, we enjoy
the panoramic view of the Promised Land the way Moses saw it for the first
time. Farther on, at Kerak, we tour the ruins of its romantic Crusaders'
castle of Renaud de Chatillon, one of a line which stretched from Aqaba
to Turkey. Lunch is included enroute at a local restaurant . Finally,
we arrive in Petra, and settle in at our hotel, where dinner and comfortable
beds await you .
DAY 13 - PETRA - Saturday
(B)
We'll spend the entire day at Petra, the stunning desert city hewn
by the Nabateans
from solid cliffs of pink and violet sandstone. Petra was known in
the bible as Sela, and rediscovered only in 1812.
You'll feel like Indiana Jones in Raiders of the
Lost Ark as you penetrate into the city through a narrow
sandstone gorge, the Siq, and wander among the Temple of the Winged
Lion, tombs, Roman theater, and the imposing treasury.
DAY 14 - DEPARTURE FOR
HOME (aB)
Our staff escorts you to the airport of Amman or Aqqaba, or to the border
with Israel Aqaba / Eilat
Please advise your preference ) . Departure tax is included. Bon Voyage
RATES are per person
in USD $
| |
Deluxe |
| In Triple
Occupancy |
US$
3450.00 |
| In Double
Occupancy |
US$
3525.00 |
| In Single
Occupancy |
US$
4590.00 |
Visa for Egypt & Jordan is included on a complimentary
basis ( for limited number of nationalities such as : Australian, NZ,
EU , American, and Japanese passports), you must have a passport that
is valid at least for 6 month at the time you land in Cairo.
Inclusions:
- All transfers in
Egypt and Jordan.
- Deluxe Hotel accommodation,
as listed including tax.
- Meals as listed:
ab:American or Buffet breakfast. L/D: pre set menu lunch/dinner.
- Guided sightseeing
as indicated including all entrance fees.
- Domestic air
within Egypt in business class.
- One way : Air ticket
Cairo / Amman. Business class . Tax included
Not Included :
|
