Day 1 - Flight to Cairo, an extraordinary city filled with many marvels. 

Day 2 - From Cairo airport to our five-star hotel on the banks of the Nile we pass one of the most famous cities of antiquity, Heliopolis, birthplace of ancient cosmogony. 

Day 3 - Memphis is the capital of the oldest kingdom in the world and cult center of Ptah, god of creation. As we wander around the old capital we can consider the Egyptian creation myths and the strong similarities to John 1.1. The necropolis of Memphis is Saqqara. Here in the 3rd millennium B.C., insight struck Imhotep. The great vizier built Zozer's Step Pyramid, the first stone structure in the West. A statue of Zozer is still here in his statue-house: A window put there by the excavators allows you to peer in. And there is Zozer! For all the world like a strapped-in astronaut, his eyes fixed through the holes on the North star, awaiting blast-off and immortality. 

Day 4 - Off to fabulous Old Cairo, where three philosophies meet: Judaic, Christian, Islamic. After visiting Coptic churches, the synagogue, and the mosque of Sultan Hassan, we reach the city of A Thousand and One Nights, Khan el Khalili Bazaar, itself worth a trip to Cairo.

Day 5 - Our morning flight takes us from Cairo to Luxor - ancient Thebes, religious capital of Egypt from deep antiquity. The West bank of Thebes is a great open-air museum. Here sleep kings, queens, and commoners. A visit to the Tombs of the Nobles and the Tombs of the Workers at Deir el Medina will give us some insight into daily life. Our path takes us through the village of Gurna, home of ancient tomb-robbers.

Day 6 - Abydos and Dendera are normally footnotes to tours of Egypt, but not this one! Abydos is the burial place of the head of Osiris, king of the dead and of resurrection, so a fitting burial place for early pharaohs. Wander through the temple of Seti I and enjoy the beautiful wall reliefs - a renaissance of Old Kingdom style and grace.

Dendera was the seat of worship of Hathor, a sky-goddess and patron of joy, song, wine and beer, love, women, sexuality, and motherhood. She is truly a goddess for all seasons. The Hall of Offerings is the path from dark to enlightenment; the Hall of the Ennead that of cosmic order. Enlightenment, order, and joy: We shall see if we can attain them.

Nearby at Nag Hammadi, the Gnostic Gospels were discovered. Gnosticism holds that knowledge is the key to knowing oneself, human nature, destiny, and God.

Day 7 - Welcome aboard our 5-star cruise ship, our home for the next 5 days. After lunch our Egyptologist will explain nuances of the giant temples of Luxor and Karnak as we wander around the forest of columns just as the priests and pharaohs once did. 

Day 8 - Hatshepsut was the first female pharaoh. Her enlightened administration and mysterious fortune ensure her an enigmatic place in history. Speculate on her role and that of her lover, Senmut, as we explore her temple at Deir el Bahri - At the finest building in Egypt; elegant, revolutionary. Around the other side of the mountain lies the Valley of the Kings, burial place of Egypt's Pharaohs. We will discuss the afterlife and its relation to life, then and now.

Day 8 (continued) - 10 - As we glide up the Nile through dancing shades of pharaohs, Indiana Jones, and Agatha Christie we delight in the river, scenery, and antiquities. At Esna we visit the temple of Khnum, the god who fashioned man on a potter's wheel. Cruising south we reach the temple of Horus at Edfu. Horus is a sky-god and protector of order. His falcon's form scrutinizes us with keen eyes.

At a serene bend in the river stands the temple of Kom Ombo, dedicated to two gods, Horus the Elder and Sobek. Sobek, the crocodile god, was associated with fertility and Horus the Elder (the Healer) with curing diseases. Here we find an intact nilometer, used by pharaohs to determine taxes; mummified crocodiles in the chapel of Hathor; and most notably, wall incising of medical instruments: scalpels, retractors, bone saws, chisels for endocranial surgery, dental instruments; all presumably used on patients who came to the temple seeking cure. One scene prefigures St. Peter's confirmation of a soul's entry into heaven. Holistic healing?

Day 11-13 - We have reached beautiful Aswan, a place whose genius lies in the inducement to idle contentment. From our home in the Old Cataract Hotel we will discover the pleasures of Aswan: the quarry from which were cut the giant obelisks, millions of tons of granite cut and moved 600 miles from Aswan to Memphis; the Aswan High Dam, creating hydro-electric power but preventing crocs and hippos from advancing north. We will enjoy Nile-side dining, the desert, and Abu Simbel, the grandest site in Upper Egypt. Here Rhamses II cut out of the living stone a temple for himself and another for his favorite wife, Nefertari. AThere is here the uncanny impression that they are emerging from the rock, that they are forming and will at any moment stride out towards the sun-rise. Next we visit the Temple of Isis at Philae. It stands on Agilkia Island whose lake is surrounded by desert. The natural beauty of the site complements the legend of beautiful Isis, goddess of resurrection and reincarnation. There are strong parallels with the Virgin Mary. One of the most pleasant activities in Aswan is a felucca ride on the Nile. Out and around Elephantine Island we sail, to Kitchener's Island and the botanical gardens. 

Day 14 - This afternoon after our flight north we can relax, walk about, or perhaps return to Khan el Khalili.

Day 15 - Today is reserved for an optional excursion into the desert to the pyramids of Meidum and Dashur, forerunners of the Great Pyramid.

Day 16 - We will visit the fabulous Pyramids and Sphinx, remarkable expressions of the human spirit in its quest to understand its connection with the universe. We will delight in the structures and the stories.

Day 17 - Today, a summary of grandeur. The Egyptian Museum contains perhaps more wonders than any single museum in the world. The King Tut exhibit is most famous, but here we also find beautiful reflections of humanity from our earliest civilized days: some of the first writing on Narmer's palette; strange and beautiful art from the Amarna period; the Royal Mummies.

Day 18 - Like Ra, we will travel across the sky to our western home.

This program is limited to 25 participants

28 Nov - 16 Dec 2008

Cash discount rate from JFK: $4652.
Single supplement: $850

Credit cards please add 9%

Included as part of the tour: 

* Roundtrip scheduled air from New York
* Flights within Egypt
* 5 star hotels
* 5 star cruise ship   
* Guiding by an expert Egyptologist
* All meals on the cruise 
* Breakfasts, two dinners, two lunches 
* Transfers
* Admissions as mentioned

Not included with the tour: 

* Passport 
* Tips to guides and drivers
* Visa 
* Items of a personal nature