Foreign tour to Egypt
RCPTA annual foreign tour organized a “ nine nights /ten-day tour to the country of Pyramids in May 2024. The group consisting of Royal College Past Teachers, their spouses & friends took off on 17th May via Dubai to Cairo in the following morning. A welcome surprise awaited us in that the Tour Bus waiting for us Royal Blue & Gold Colours named “Royal Way Tours”.We checked in to Cairo Hilton International to enjoy 5-star comfort for the first four days of our stay in Egypt. On the second day, after having a sumptuous breakfast we were taken to Egyptian Antiquities Museum where a comprehensive insight of ancient history and headed to the remaining world wonders of Pyramids of Giza, spectacular panoramic sight of the three Pyramids and the legendry human-headed sandstone lion figure known as Great Sphinx. The visit to perfumery was the first opportunity for shopping for the lady past teachers of Royal..
On the Third day, While on the costal way of the Mediterranean sea, at a distance in the extreme north of the headland in the city of Alexandria, was Citadel of Qaitbay. Qaitbay was well known for his wide range of architectural monuments that are spread in Cairo & Alexandria. ,After lunch we reached the Pompey’s Piller, a magnificent column made of red granite rising about 27 m off the debris of an ancient Temple of Serapeum. It named by travelers to relate the murder of the Roman general Pompey by Cleopatra’s brother. On the Third day in the extreme north of the headland in the city of Alexandria, we could spot the impressive defense fortress or Citadel of Qaitbay appearing and easily recognizable as a sandcastle with a lighthouse. Qaitbay was well known for his wide range of architectural monuments that are spread in Cairo & Alexandria. ,After our lunch we reached the Pompey’s Piller, a magnificent column made of red granite rising about 27 m off the debris of an ancient Temple of Serapeum. The column relate the murder of the Roman general Pompey by Cleopatra’s brother and the column is also called victory column, set up in honour of the Roman emperor. We were then taken “From Piller to Catacombs”-the largest Roman burial place having private tombs of a rich family and later continued as a public cemetery. To reach the original burial chapel and to view tombs of dead in Kom El-Shoqafa, we had to walk down a spiral staircase of 6 meters in diameter and approximately 10 meters deep leading to three levels of numerous burial chambers. On the surface, in open-air, exhibited are various building fragments, sarcophagi, Islamic gravestones etc.
At the Gardens of Montaza Palace occupying almost half of the land of 350 acre ground of Royal Palace, we enjoyed and had several photo shoots of the beautiful beaches and the warm waters of the Mediterranean Sea on the nearby shoreline park area before leaving to Cairo.
Fourth Day of the Tour, after breakfast took the domestic flight from Cairo to Luxor and before check in for Nyle Cruise, visited Karnak and Luxor Temple. Amun-Ra is the largest temple where the god Amun-Re along with his consort goddess Mut and their son Khonsu lived. Luxor temple is where most of the great pharaohs were coronated. Egyptians believed that Amun, the God of Air, experienced a ‘rebirth’ with each new Pharoah and also the resting place for the pharaohs, with many buried in the tombs. After being at Luxor temple, we boarded the luxurious modern cruise ship for our lunch and the ship provided evening entertainments of sing song & dance, magic shows, belly dancing etc . On the Nile cruise from Luxor to Aswan had stop over visits to popular sites of Edfu, Esna and Kom Ombo before disembarking.
Fifth Day– In the New Kingdom, the Pharaohs built their tombs or burial chambers in the hills of barren tract of west Luxor, now called the Valley of the Kings where the tombs of Tutankhamun, Ramses II and other rulers were buried. Hatshepsut Temple -
Small Egyptian boats approach your cruise ship and trying to tempt to buy their goods by throwing their goods, carpets, table-clothes, towards us to the deck with lots of enticing efforts. Returned to the cruise ship for overnight sail to our first stop at Edfu on the cruise. It was our first-time experience to sail through the Esna Lock System that elevates a ship to a higher level. When our ship was reaching everybody was on the deck to experience the ship sailing through the lock. On the way through the Esna barrage on the Nile, Esna Lock is supposed to be 14.6 meters deep, 17 metres wide and 221 meters long. Sailing from Luxor, heading towards Aswan, we entered at the low water level at the lock and elevated to high water by raising the water level which took us about 10- 12 minutes.
Sixth Day at Edfu -. To enter the Edfu Temple, we had to pass though a long row of shops selling tourist jumbles, and a new visitors center with the ticket office, clean toilets, a cafeteria. Returned to ship on the same Horse carriages for lunch while sailing to next stop at Kom Ombo : Dedicated to two deities: the crocodile god Sobek, and the falcon god Harwer, Temple has a unique divinely design with two parallel axial passages running through its columned halls, leading to two sanctuaries, one for each god whose pictures are seen on the very back of the temple on their respective sides. In addition to beautiful columns, the walls of the temple of Kom Ombo features fascinating decorations of festivals and other cultic activities including engraved surgical instruments, evidencing the level ofIn addition to beautiful columns, the walls of the temple of Kom Ombo features fascinating decorations of festivals and other cultic activities including engraved surgical instruments, evidencing the level of sophistication of ancient Egyptian medicine.
Sixth Day at Edfu - A Horse carriage (Hantour Carriage) ride to a settlement and cemetery site that was the home & cult center of the falcon god Horus of old Edfu Temple that was dedicated to the falcon headed god Horus. The temple was buried by sand & excavated in this century was with the roof intact. To enter the Temple, we had to pass though a long row of shops selling tourist jumbles, and a new visitors center with the ticket office, clean toilets, a cafeteria. Returned to ship on the same Horse carriages for lunch while sailing to next stop at Kom Ombo : Dedicated to two deities: the crocodile god Sobek, and the falcon god Harwer, Temple has a unique divinely design with two parallel axial passages running through its columned halls, leading to two sanctuaries, one for each god whose pictures are seen on the very back of the temple on their respective sides. In addition to beautiful columns, the walls of the temple of Kom Ombo features fascinating decorations of festivals and other cultic activities including engraved surgical instruments, evidencing the level of
By a boat we arrived at the Nubian village & walked through dusty street with shops selling traditional goods on both sides. The houses in the village have a typical architecture similar to wattle and daubed houses ( of ours) but painted colorfully. We were welcomed to household family the village & served cheese paste & some other titbits tea and hibiscus tea on the tray. None of us was willing to taste. The family had a cage in their yard containing baby crocodiles and offered them to hold & photograph. We experienced a Nambian lesson in a class room of the village school which gave us lot of fun with the master.
Eighth Day Aswan- Cairo. After breakfast, check out & disembarked the Cruise ship to visit Aswan High Dam & Phile temple. Carved into the existing granite, Aswan Dam is 11,811ft long, 3215ft thick at the base, 364ft tall was built in 1960 to provide irrigation and electricity to whole Egypt. From the High Dam top, Lake Nasser to Kalabsha temple in the south and the huge power station to the north can be seen. Phile temple- Located on a peaceful island and dedicated to the goddess of love,
Nineth Day – Suez Canal a man-made sea- level waterway in Egypt, which connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea. In average it facilitates 78 standard ships per day to cross from Atlantic via Mediterranean to Indian ocean reducing nothing less than 7000 kms without navigating around Africa. Tenth Day – Cairo / Hanging Church & National Museum Built on Babylon Fortress or the Old Cairo is the Hanging Church we learned for our lessons in history is a unique suspended design engineered to tower 30 feet above the ground with a wooden roof of Noah’s ark. Over the past centuries, it was modified & expanded but had kept its suspended appearance. It is called the Hanging Church because it was built on the southern of Babylon Fortress, the Roman fortress in Coptic Cairo (Old Cairo). Logs of palm trees and layers of stones were constructed above the ruins of the Roman fortress to be used as a fundament. The Hanging Church is a unique church and has a wooden roof in the shape of Noah's ark. Architecture The ent
Flight Back Home.
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