An Archaeological Study Tour
The Splendors of Ancient Egypt
In Two Weeks
November 3 – 17, 2012
15 Days
Led by Professor Lanny Bell, Brown University

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This tour is a shorter version of our most popular Egypt tour. Our four days in Cairo give us time to linger in the Egyptian Museum, visit Cairo’s Islamic sites and spend two days exploring the Giza Plateau and Sakkara. We will visit the Delta site of Tanis, first excavated by Flinders Petrie in 1884. We will spend five days in Luxor, time for a thorough exploration of Thebes, as well as the temples of Hathor at Dendera, decorated in the name of Cleopatra the Great, and of Seti I at Abydos. Our five-day Nile Cruise will be aboard the deluxe Sonesta Nile Goddess. We will visit Edfu’s Temple of Horus, the most perfectly preserved ancient Egyptian temple in existence today, the fascinating Temple at Kom Ombo, perched on a spectacular site overlooking the Nile. The tour ends in Aswan with a visit to the Nubian Museum and a flying visit to Abu Simbel.

Saturday, Sunday, November 3 & 4: CAIRO: Our group departure from New York will be in the evening. We will arrive into Cairo in the late afternoon. We will be met by our Egyptian staff and transfer to the Mena House Hotel, situated in view of the Great Pyramids of Giza. This evening we will meet with Professor Bell for dinner.
Meals: Dinner

Monday, November 5: CAIRO: We begin our touring at Memphis, the first capital of a united Egypt, and Sakkara, the necropolis of Memphis. At Sakkara we will visit the newly opened museum and tour the Step Pyramid complex of Djoser, which predates the Giza pyramids and is the world’s first monumental building constructed entirely in stone. We will also tour the smaller Pyramid of Teti, built for a Sixth-Dynasty king, whose burial chamber is covered with pyramid texts to ensure the survival of his soul, and the mastaba tombs of the Nobles Ti and Ptahhotep.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch & dinner

Tuesday, November 6: CAIRO: Our touring today brings us to the only surviving representatives of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx. We will also visit the museum, where the remarkably preserved remains of the Solar Boat of Cheops are displayed.
Meals: Breakfast & lunch

Wednesday, November 7: CAIRO: The focus of this day is the Egyptian Museum, where we will view the highlights of its huge collection, including the new mummy room and the objects from the tomb of Tutankhamun. After lunch, touring continues at the Citadel, built in 1176 and famed as the stronghold of Salah el-Din. The day ends with a stroll through Khan el-Khalili Bazaar, one of the largest suqs in the Middle East. For over 600 years Egyptians have been shopping along its narrow, winding streets filled with exotic spices, fruits, vegetables and household goods as well as jewelry and souvenirs and perfumes.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch & dinner

Thursday, November 8: LUXOR: This morning we fly to Luxor and transfer to the Steigenberger Hotel, selected for its excellent location on the Corniche and within walking distance of the market, museum and some of the sites. The ancient city was built on the east bank of the Nile, while the west bank was the city of the dead, mostly reserved for tombs and funerary monuments. We will begin our exploration with a full afternoon of touring at the magnificent sanctuary of Amun-Re at Karnak. This fascinating temple’s maze of monumental gateways, obelisks, pillared halls and subsidiary shrines is reached via an avenue lined with fantastic beasts.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch & dinner

Friday, November 9: LUXOR: Today we will cross the Nile to visit the tombs of the Valleys of the Kings and Queens. Although the decorated tombs open to the public are rotated in order to preserve them, those that we will see today will give us a very good sample of the styles used during the four centuries in which the royal cemetery was used. The tombs to be visited are those of Tutankhamun and three other Pharaohs selected from the tombs open to the public today. We will also visit the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri, one of the most spectacular monuments in Egypt. The fine low relief carved onto its walls is among the most delicate we will see.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch & dinner

Saturday, November 10: LUXOR: Driving north through villages of baked-mud houses and lush cultivated lands bordering the Nile, we arrive in Dendera and visit the Temple of Hathor, goddess of love, music and wine. Although this temple was largely built in the first century BCE, it occupies the site of a much older building. On the roof of the temple is a plaster cast of the famous Zodiac of Dendera (original in Paris), one of the three circular representations of the heavens found in Egypt. We continue to Abydos, where we will tour the Temple of Seti I, viewing the famous List of Kings and some of the most beautifully painted reliefs surviving from Pharaonic times.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch & dinner

Sunday, November 11: LUXOR: We will return to the west bank of the Nile includes some of the hundreds of tombs of the Nobles, spread over two square miles. These tombs are of special interest for their naturalistic murals, which give us an intimate view of life in ancient Egypt. We will also stop at the ancient village of the artisans, Deir el-Medina, one of the best-preserved town sites in Egypt and the subject of the television series Ancient Lives.
Meals: Breakfast & lunch

Monday, November 12: LUXOR: Our last visit to the west bank will include the Colossi of Memnon and the temples and chapels of Medinet Habu, the largest built by Ramesses III. We will explore the Ramesseum, where the fallen statue of Ramesses II inspired Shelley’s famous poem “Ozymandias.” The morning is concluded with the rarely visited tombs of Kheruef and Ankh-Hor, returning to the east bank to board the deluxe M.S. Farah , our floating hotel for the next four nights. In the late afternoon we will walk to the Temple of Luxor for a leisurely visit of this magnificent temple, including the depiction of the procession of the Opet Festival and scenes of the divine conception and birth of Amenhotep III.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch & dinner

Tuesday, November 13: SAIL/EDFU: Our last morning in Luxor will be at leisure to give us time to visit the Luxor Museum or new Mummy Museum. After lunch on board the M.S. Farah, we sail to Edfu to dock for the night.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch & dinner

Wednesday, November 14: ASWAN: Touring begins this morning at the Temple of Edfu, a completely preserved Ptolemaic temple of the falcon god Horus. We will have several hours to enjoy the sundeck and pool, as well as the ever-changing panorama of life along the Nile as we sail on to Kom Ombo. Often called the Acropolis of Egypt for its spectacular site overlooking the Nile, Kom Ombo is unusual in being dedicated equally to two gods, Horus the Elder and the crocodile god Sobek. After completing our touring we sail to Aswan to dock for the night.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch & dinner

Thursday, November 15: ASWAN: Our touring today will include the Quarries, where an unfinished obelisk remains embedded in its native stone, and the High Dam. We will also visit Philae, the Ptolemaic temple dedicated to Isis, an incredible complex of chapels and shrines as well as the last bastion of paganism in the Byzantine Empire. In the afternoon we will visit the Museum of Nubian Civilization. The remainder of the day will be at leisure to explore the town and its fascinating spice bazaar, charter a felucca or relax at the pool.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch & dinner

Friday, November 16: CAIRO: A memorable day! We fly to Abu Simbel, where the rock-cut temples of Ramesses II and his favorite queen, Nefertari, have been saved from the rising waters of the Nile resulting from the Aswan High Dam. Although the temples were built to honor the deified royal pair and to awe the Nubians, that awesome feeling exists today no less than it did 3,200 years ago. After completing our visit to this fascinating complex, our return flight connects in Aswan to Cairo. We will have time to relax at the Meridien Heliopolis Airport Hotel before gathering for our farewell dinner at our hotel.
Meals: Breakfast & dinner

Saturday, November 17: We will transfer to the airport for our flights home.