The 2018 Pilgrimage to the Holy Land
with Bishop Larry Silva AND THE CONGREGATION OF
THE SACRED HEARTS OF JESUS & Mary (U.S. Province)
With DELUXE EGYPT: CAIRO & NILE CRUISE EXTENSION
October 07 - 27, 2018
Tour C Itinerary
Sunday, October 07, 2018 - Wednesday, October 17, 2018
Please see Tour A for Holy Land. Below is the Deluxe Egypt extension.
Thursday, October 18, 2018 (Cairo)
- Transfer to the Ben Gurion Airport for your Air Sinai flight # 55 to Cairo, leave at
11:05am arrives at 12:05pm. Upon arrival in Cairo you will be met by a USA Egypt representative and your private Egyptologist tour guide and driver to start your tour.
- We will start early morning by visiting the Maadi Church, where it got its name from the time of the Holy Family when Mary stood there to cross the Nile with the baby Jesus, and that is where it took its name “crossing”, in Arabic Maadi.
This church also, has the Bible that was found floating on the Nile almost 40 years ago when the Copts were starting to have problems with the Egyptian Regime, the bible was open on the page: blessed Egypt my people. The whole story and the bible are displayed for the public in the church.
- Then, transferred to your hotel for overnight.
- Our hotel, MERIDIEN PYRAMIDS, is a 5-star property located near the Pyramids and only 15 minutes from the center of Cairo. This resort hotel is beautifully set in landscaped gardens with unrivalled views of the Giza Pyramids. The hotel offers a swimming pool, health club with sauna and massage, as well as a Royal Club floor and a variety of superb restaurants with Oriental, Mediterranean and Mexican cuisines. Rooms have bathtub and shower, hairdryer, phone, high-speed internet access, satellite TV, mini-bar, and air-conditioning. www.starwoodhotels.com
Friday, October 19, 2018 (Cairo)
- Full day tour of the Giza Plateau.
- Drive to Sakkara the burial place of the pharaohs of the Old Kingdom, to see the Step Pyramid,
one of the world's oldest stone structures of its size and Giza Plateau with the Great Pyramid of Khufu, the last remaining of the original Seven Wonders of the World, and the pyramids of Khafre and Menkaure.
- Then continue through Khafre’s Valley Temple to the Great Sphinx.
- Have lunch en route.
- Return to Cairo and visit a Papyrus Institute.
- End the day with a treat: visit a Carpet School to see and watch the young Egyptian children weaving carpets the same way their grandparents used to do.
- Return to your hotel for overnight.
Meals Included: B,L
Saturday, October 20, 2018 (Cairo)
- Visit the Egyptian Museum and the Mummies room now home to the bodies of Ramses II, his father Seti I, and Tuthmosis II. This is a climate-controlled room where the mummies are kept in glass cases.
- Visit Medieval Cairo to see the “Hanging Church” or “El- Muallaqa” (said to have been built between the end of the 3rd and the beginning of the 4th century and dedicated to the Virgin Mary).
- Walk to the Church of St. Sergius (a typical example of the early Christian Churches and monasteries, it was founded at the end of the 4th century and stands on a crypt that is said to have sheltered the Holy Family during their flight from Egypt).
- Walk to the Ben Ezra Synagogue.
- Lunch en route.
- In the afternoon, take a felucca ride on the Nile for an hour.
- Then, scroll the streets of Khan el Khalili.
- Enjoy a typical Egyptian dinner and then return to your hotel for overnight.
Meals Included: B,L,D
Sunday, October 21, 2018 (Luxor)
- Transferred to the Cairo Airport for your Egypt Air flight # 235 to Luxor, leave 10:20am arrive 11:20am.
- Upon arrival, you will be met by a USA representative and transferred to your hotel on the Nile for a relaxed afternoon and overnight.
- Our hotel, SONESTA ST. GEORGE, is a beautiful 4.5-star property located on the east bank of the Nile. All guest rooms are equipped with air-conditioning, hair dryer, mini-bar, satellite TV, safety deposit box, and direct-dial telephone. Facilities include 4 restaurants, heated swimming pool, beauty salon and spa and a night club. www.sonesta.com/luxor/
Meals Included: B
Monday, October 22, 2018 (Luxor)
- A USA representative will meet you at your hotel and transfer you to your Nile cruise vessel, Radamis, for lunch.
- After lunch, begin touring with a visit to Karnak Temple, called by some “the Temple of Temples.” It is the largest place of worship ever built. Its ancient name Ipet-isut means “the most sacred of places.” The temple, or, more correctly, the complex of temples, was built over more than two thousand years by generation after generation of pharaohs. Within the complex, the great “Hypostyle Hall” is an incredible forest of giant pillars covering an area larger than the whole of Notre Dame Cathedral.
- Then visit the graceful Temple of Luxor built by Amenhotep III and Ramses II for ritual and festivals and dedicated to the god Amun.
- Return to your cruise for dinner and overnight on board.
- Our Nile cruise, RADAMIS I, is a five-star cruise ship designed for comfort, and relaxation and offering impeccable service. The seventy deluxe, air-conditioned cabins all have private bathrooms with bathtubs, in-house music, video channels, internal telephone, stocked mini-bar, hairdryer and a panoramic wall-to-wall window for fabulous views of the scenery along the Nile.
Meals Included: B,L,D
Tuesday, October 23, 2018 (Edfu)
- After breakfast onboard, cross to the West Bank of the Nile and visit the wondrous Valley of the Kings, a vast city of the dead where the magnificent tombs of 62 pharaohs have been discovered. The tombs were carved deep into the desert rock, richly decorated and filled with treasures for the afterlife of the pharaohs. Visit several of the tombs.
- Next, visit the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut. This beautiful monument to the reign of the only female pharaoh rises out of the desert plain in a series of terraces and merges with the sheer limestone cliffs that surround it.
- On the way back to your Nile cruise, stop at the famed Colossi of Memnon, two 66ft, 1 thousand-ton statues of Amenhotep III. These colossal statures were known by the ancient Greeks to emit haunting voices at dawn. Though damaged by nature and ancient tourists, the statues are still impressive. Return to your cruise and set sail for Edfu.
- The afternoon is at leisure.
- Lunch and dinner on board. Overnight at Edfu.
Meals Included: B,L,D
Wednesday, October 24, 2018 (Aswan)
- After breakfast on board, set out by horse-drawn carriage to visit the Temple of Horus, the most perfectly preserved of all the Nile Temples. Horus, also known as Haroeris, was the falcon-headed solar war god. Return to your cruise vessel by carriage and sail to Kom Ombo.
- Visit the Temple of Sobek, the crocodile-headed god of fertility and creator of the world. The temple stands at a bend in the Nile where, in ancient times, sacred crocodiles basked in the sun on the riverbank.
- Lunch, dinner and overnight on board. Sail to Aswan for overnight.
Meals Included: B,L,D
Thursday, October 25, 2018 (Aswan)
- After breakfast on board, take a tour of Aswan High Dam, Egypt’s contemporary example of building on a monumental scale. Continue by a short motor-boat ride to the Temple of Philae on the island of Agilka. The temple was dedicated to Isis, sister/wife of Osiris and patroness of the Ptolemaic rule.
- After lunch on your cruise, sail around Elephantine Island on a felucca, the traditional Egyptian sail boat. Elephantine Island is the largest of the Aswan area islands, and is the site of some of the most ancient remains in Egypt, with artifacts dating to pre-dynastic periods. Elephantine is Greek for Elephant. In ancient times, the island was called Abu or Yabu, which also means elephant. The name may indicate that the island was once a center for the trade of ivory. Continue sailing around Kitchener Island (also known as Lord Kitchener’s Botanical Garden, Plant Island, Gizirat al-Nacarat, Plantation Island, or Gizirat al-Bussan). Lord Kitchener moved there after being given the island for his campaigns in the Sudan. He imported plants from around the world to create his famous garden. From the river you have a nice view of the Aga Khan Mausoleum, an elegant pink granite structure built in the late 1950’s.
- Return to your Cruise for dinner and overnight in Aswan.
Meals Included: B,L,D
Friday, October 26, 2018 (Cairo)
- After an early breakfast, you will be transferred to Aswan airport for your Egypt Air flight # 409 to Abu Simbel leave at 9:30am arrive 10:15am. Visit the temples that were built over a 25-year span and are one of the most prodigious feats of engineering in Egypt. The entire complex of temples was moved to its present location 90 feet above its old site to protect it from the rising water of the Nile when the Aswan Dam was built in the early sixties.
- Fly back to Cairo on Egypt Air flight # 412 leave at 1:15pm arrive 3:35pm. Upon arrival, you will be met by a USA representative and transferred to your hotel near the airport for overnight.
Meals Included: B
Saturday, October 27, 2018
- You will be transferred to Cairo Airport for your flight back to the USA.
Meals Included: B
If interested in this tour, please indicate when registering. Tour pricing will be determined by the total number of participants.