Tour Cairo and Istanbul

in Eight Days

Can you afford a week ? We'll show you the top sights of the City of the Sultans : Tour Istanbul , ancient Constantinople and Cairo .
Arrive any day - Tips are included in our rate.

Turkish Hamam

Click here for a 15 day edition including a Nile cruise

DAY 1 -- ISTANBUL
Our staff meets your flight and escorts you to your hotel. Remainder of the day at leisure.

DAY 2 -- ISTANBUL (BLD)
We dive right into this fascinating city with visits to its top sights: Topkapi, the palace of the Sultans for centuries; Hagia Sophia, the greatest church in Christendom for a thousand years; the Blue Mosque, with its exquisite blue tiles; the Byzantine Hippodrome, scene of chariot races and gladiator combat; and the eerie Sunken Palace cistern beneath it. Then a drive through modern neighborhoods brings us to the ancient city walls and the Kariye Museum (Chora Church), filled with brilliant Byzantine mosaics.

DAY 3 - ISTANBUL (BLD)
After breakfast we board a ferryboat, help ourselves to fresh Turkish coffee or tea, and cruise northward along the Bosphorus, the strait which separates Europe and Asia. Disembarking at a fishing village, we enjoy a seafood lunch at a local restaurant, then drive south to go on a shopping spree at the labyrinth of the Grand Bazaar. Then join us for Istanbul by Night, a dinner tour with live music and belly dancing

DAY 4 - DEPARTURE FOR CAIRO (cBLD)
After breakfast, transfer to the airport to connect with your flight to Cairo. Air fare is included in our rate in economy class , tax included . Fly to Cairo Where our local rep meets you at the airport and escorts you to your hotel. Complimentary visa issued upon arrival for American , Canadian EU , Mexican , Singaporean , S. Korean & Japanese citizens.All meals are included today

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 5 - CAIRO (cBLD)
The renowned Egyptian Museum, filled with the wealth of the pharaohs, is our first stop. Following lunch at the charming local Restaurant, we drive to Giza for a visit to the Sphinx and the valley temple, and a tour of the Pyramids. In the evening, we host you on a Nile dinner cruise complete with exotic Egyptian entertainment.

DAY 6 - CAIRO (BD)
Enjoy breakfast at the hotel, and a full day at leisure, or join one of the local optional tours. Dinner is included at a local home:
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 evening, and find that you have more in common than you ever suspected. Of course, you may enjoy a quiet evening with your travel companions, by letting us know your preferences.

DAY 7 - Cairo Fayoum - Sunday (cBL)
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 include

DAY 8 - DEPARTURE (B)
After a full breakfast, our staff escorts you to the airport for your flight home.

INCLUSIONS:

• Airfare between CAIRO and ISTANBUL in economy class , including tax
  
  
• Meals, as listed: B = Continental breakfast, L/D = Preset men lunch/dinner. * Guided sightseeing, all transfers in Turkey & Egypt, as per itinerary, including all entrance fees.
  
• Hotel accommodations, including tax and service charges.
  
• Locally hosted guide will escort you at all times during sightseeing.
  
• Visa fee for Egypt. Visa issued upon arrival at Cairo Airport. Valid only for EU , American, Japanese, Australian & NZ passports. Passports must be valid for at least 6 month beyond date of arrival.
  
• Complimentary travel guide book on Istanbul & Egypt

• Tips to drivers, guides, porters etc.

Tour operates daily- RATES per person

	Deluxe	First Class	Tourist Class
Triple	US$ 2400.00	US$ 2150.00	US$ 1980
Double	US$ 2560.00	US$ 2340.00	US$ 2110
Single	US$ 3400.00	US$ 3180.00	US$ 2800

For Christmas, New Year's & Easter weeks, please add %15 supplement to the rates.

Not included: