The
Grand Dahabiya Nile Voyage
With
a foray into Istanbul - All in 15 Days
Can
you afford two week ? We'll show you the top sights of the City of the
Sultans : Tour Istanbul , ancient Constantinople , cruise the Nile in
Regal Pharaonic style on board one of the Deluxe Dahabiays, and of course
Giza and Cairo . Weekly - Year Round - We have even included tips in our
rate.
Turkish
Hamam
Click
here for a 15 day edition including a Nile cruise
Compare with the one week Cairo and Istanbul
DAY
1 -- ISTANBUL- Sunday - Weekly - Year Round
Our staff meets your flight and escorts you to your hotel. Remainder of
the day at leisure.
DAY
2 -- ISTANBUL- Monday (BL)
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.
DAY
3 - ISTANBUL- Tuesday (BL)
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.
DAY
4 - DEPARTURE FOR CAIRO - Wednesday (BLD)
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 - Thursday (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 Fayoum - Friday (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
7 : Cairo to Luxor - Saturday- Board your Yacht Felucca in Luxor
(Breakfast Lunch, Dinner)
After an early
breakfast in Cairo , we fly to Luxor and board your Dahabiya Nile Cruise
Domestic air fare is included between Cairo and the cruise , with all
taxes, with possible free upgrade to business class ( subject to availability)
.
Transfer is included from Luxor Airport to the Cruise , always
in a private air-conditioned vehicle. Get ready for
a relaxing week sailing the Nile on a luxuriously appointed Dahabbiya.
After
lunch, excursion to the West Bank for visits to the burial places of the
Pharaohs - the Valley of the Kings - where Howard Carter discovered the
tomb of Tutankhamen in 1922. Continue to the adjacent Valley of the Queens,
the temple of Medinet Habu and the Colossi of Memnon. Overnight moored
on the Nile banks of Luxor.
Daily
Telegraph
Peter Hughes
Saturday 13 May 2006
'Going
with the flow'
...'The
riad I found was not in the city but on the Nile. It's a dahabiya, a
traditional, two-masted Nile sailing cruiser. Anywhere else it would
be called a yacht. King Farouk had several. So if a riad is a small
princely palace on land - now given over to holiday making - a dahabiya
is a riad on the river...'
...'Mahogany
panelled and with two faux-glass oil lamps swinging from the beams -
a perfect touch for a sailing ship - the look was of a colonial club.
Hercule Poirot could have popped up at any moment. There were button-back
leather sofa and chairs, an antique bookcase and Scrabble, and tables
where we ate when the weather was too chilly for the deck. The food
was outstandingly good...'
...'
While the big ships charged by as if permanently late, the El Bey moved
at the same courtly pace as the Nile - slow enough to enable us to smell
woodsmoke from the villages and watch the kingfishers hover. Under our
isosceles sails we were as much a curiosity as the boys laying fishing
nets and the women doing laundry, the donkey carts and buffalo. But
it was the sight of some 40 huge cruise boats, moored in ranks, cheek
by gunwale up to 10 deep, at the pretty little temple of Kom Ombo that
made the greatest sense of dahabiya travel. The dahabiyas don't take
you to sites different from the norm, but they do take you in irresistibly
different style...'
...'The
greatest compliment to the El Bey was that, for all the wonders of ancient
Egypt, shown to us by our own guide, the part of the week my fellow
passengers enjoyed most was the time on the river...'
Day
8 : Sunday - Luxor - On board - (Breakfast , Lunch, Dinner)
You will visit the magnificent temple complex of Amon-Ra at Karnak, with
its vast hypostyle hall of 137 columns, followed by the imposing 28 th
Dynasty Luxor Temple. Overnight
moored in Luxor.
Day
9 : Monday - Luxor - Esna - On board your Cruise (Breakfast
, Lunch, Dinner)
Today will be a leisurely day. After breakfast, sail to Esna where your
dahabiyya will moor overnight.
Day
10 : Tuesday - Edfu - On board your Dahabiya Cruise (Breakfast
, Lunch, Dinner)
This morning you will sail to Edfu to visit the wonderfully preserved
Temple of Edfu. Overnight
moored beside a Nile island.
Day
11 : Wednesday - Kom Ombo - on Board your Dahabbiya Cruise (Breakfast
, Lunch, Dinner)
Today you will sail to Kom Ombo visit see the Ptolemaic temple dedicated
to the crocodile god Sobek and the falcon-headed Horus, god of the morning
sun. Overnight
moored beside a Nile island.
Day
12 : Thursday - Aswan - on Board your Dahabiya Cruise (Breakfast
,Lunch, Dinner)
A full day sailing to Aswan where the dahabiyya moors overnight.
Day
13 : Friday - Aswan - on Board your Dahabia Cruise (Breakfast,
Lunch, Dinner)
Today you will visit the Aswan High Dam (completed in 1971); the Old Dam
(completed in 1902) and the ' unfinished obelisk', lying in situ since
the days of the pharaohs. You will also visit the Philae Temple, dedicated
to the goddess Isis, a structure rescued from the rising waters of Lake
Nasser at the time of the High Dam's construction.
Day
14 : Saturday- Aswan - Disembarkation - Abu Simbel (Breakfast
and lunch box )
Private guide in Abu Simbel. Private driver. Private air-conditioned vehicle
Breakfast aboard the dahabiyya and check-out.
Abu Simbel We've planned our visit to Abu Simbel to be a highlight of
your Egyptian adventure. Rising before dawn, we drive along the shore
of Lake Nasser, watching the sky lighten and the sacred sun rise above
the horizon. We reach the great temples while the air is clean, clear
and cool, and the sun's light still golden;just right for photographs.
In the larger temple, colossal figures of Ramses are seated with
the gods and attended by his queen and daughters. The smaller temple
is dedicated to Queen Nefertari, who appears as Hathor, the goddess of
love, joy and fertility, symbolized by the benevolent cow. We explore
these fine temple , admiring their ancient aura and artistry, after which
retire to a comfortable hotel for our lunch and refreshments.
Just as planeloads of visitors arrive to throng the temples we head for
Abu Simbel Airport.
Air fare is included : Abu Simbel
back to Cairo , air fare is included with all taxes, with possible free
upgrade to business class, subject to availability.
In Cairo , we 'll assist with your transfer to your hotel of course in
Cairo
DAY
15 - DEPARTURE -Sunday (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 and Egypt, are always
on a private basis as per itinerary, including all entrance fees.
- Hotel
accommodations, including tax and service charges.
- Dahabiya
Nile cruise , group touring while on board the Dahabiya cruise
- 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 and Egypt
- Tea/
coffle and afternoon tea while on board the Deluxe Nile Cruise
- Domestic
air in Egypt, with taxes, and a possible free upgrade to business class
subject to availability.
- Abu
Simbel excursion as per itinerary , with a private Egyptologist and
private air-conditioned vehicle
- Tips
to drivers, guides, porters etc.
Tour
operates daily- RATES per person
The Dahabiyas is always a DELUXE category Dahabiya
| |
Deluxe
Hotels |
First
Class
Hotels |
Tourist
Class
Hotels |
| Triple |
US$ 5850.00 |
US$ 5340.00 |
US$
4995 |
| Double |
US$ 5940.00 |
US$ 5580.00 |
US$
5189 |
| Single |
US$ 8930.00 |
US$ 8199.00 |
US$
7895 |
For
Christmas, New Year's & Easter weeks, please add %15 supplement to
the rates.
Dahabiya
Nile Cruise Notes
Not
included:
- International
airfare from / to your home country
- Visa
fee for Turkey
( Please contact the Turkish Consulate , or pay the $ 20 for Americans
or for Canadians it's $45 in cash upon arrival) .
-
Travel Insurance
The
Cabins:
Each boat has six delightfully appointed private cabins measuring 5.75
meters x 2.50 meters . The cabins (maximum occupancy two persons) have
private bathrooms of 1.25 meters x 2.50 meters with a wc, wash basin,
shower and hairdryer. Some cabins offer two single beds and others have
a double. Each Dahabia comfortably accommodates twelve passengers sharing
in doubles . Yet of course in a lot of cases we have smaller parties that
prefer to charter the boat for four, five or six guests only .
The
cabins are named them in keeping with the ship's theme. For example, on
the Zahra ('flower') you will find the 'white lotus' cabin; on the Nesma
('breeze') you have 'the zephyr', each with tasteful, individualized embellishments.
Food
on board:
Our onboard chef is expert at preparing wholesome, appetizing Egyptian
and international cuisines, while barbeques and picnics will be organized
on the riverbanks and islands in the Nile. Your meals (starting with lunch
at embarkation and ending with breakfast at disembarkation) are all inclusive,
along with tea, coffee and soft drinks as well as a daily high tea. Passengers
are, however, invited to bring their own alcoholic beverages - none are
available onboard due to licensing restrictions - but we'll supply the
ice and the mixers at no additional charge.
More time? Consider one of our our many tours to
Egypt and neighboring countries
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