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Eastern
Mediterranean Odyssey
Turkey,
Greece, Egypt in 14 days, weekly departure.
We show you the top sights in these three historic countries
Click here for the 14 day edition starting
in Athens
DAY
1 - ISTANBUL - Weekly on Friday year round
Our staff greets you at Istanbul's airport and escorts you to your hotel.
DAY
2 - Saturday- ISTANBUL, BELLE EPOQUE (BL)
Imperial Constantinople in the Belle Epoque
(late 19th century), the exotic romance of the "Paris of the East:"
Morning walking tour
: We start with our guide in Karaköy where the foreign bankers
and shipping companies had their headquarters, then take the Tünel up
to istiklal Caddesi; stop in the whirling dervish tekke, and
walk past the various old embassy buildings (now consulates), and point
out the architecture.
Stop for tea (included) at the famous Pera Palace Hotel.
Walk at least as far as Galatasaray Square, and have lunch
in the Çicek Pasaji (Flower Passage); then walk up to Taksim Square
and be picked up for the afternoon tour.
In the afternoon the tour visit Yildiz Palace Park and the Ihlamur
Kasri, a mini-palace south of Yildiz, and finish up with a visit to
the Military History Museum in Harbiye in time to hear the "Mehter,"
or Ottoman military band (mid-afternoon).
DAY
3 - ISTANBUL Sunday (B)
The
City of the Sultans! We visit the top sights in an all-day tour,
including
the Blue Mosque, the Byzantine Hippodrome, the Turkish and Islamic
Arts Museum with its collection of priceless oriental carpets, and
Topkapi Palace Museum, the residence of the sultans for centuries.
DAY
4 - ISTANBUL - Monday (B)
Full day at leisure maybe for shopping at the Grand Bazaar? Or join
one of our optional tours.
DAY
5 - ISTANBUL & ATHENS - Tuesday (BD)
Today we fly across the Sea of Marmara and the deep blue of the Aegean
to fabled
Athens. Upon arrival, our staff meets you and escorts you to your
hotel in the Greek capital. Evening dinner & Folk show at the
ancient district of Plaka.
DAY
6 - ATHENS Wednesday (B)
A half-day city tour shows you this great city's layout: we visit Syntagma
Square, the heart of Modern Athens, drive by the parliament, and
climb up to the Acropolis.
DAY
7 - GREEK ISLANDS CRUISE - Thursday (BLD)
We drive to the Marina Trocadero and board a boat for a tour of the
Saronic Gulf
and its islands Aegina, Poros and Hydra. After our delightful day at
sea, entertainment on board the cruise offers us traditional Greek
dancing and entertainment.
DAY
8 - Friday (BLD)Athens Markets or BYZANTINE
Churches
- Friday (cBL)
Ride the new Athens Subway alongside the locals today ( always escorted
with your English speaking Guide) ! We take pride in affording you this
experience, entirely by public transportation, with orientation by our
English-speaking representative. You'll get to tour Athens fascinating
vegetable & fruit markets by subway and/ or taxi. Enjoy lunch at
a charming local restaurant before we head back to the hotel . Markets
days/dates are subject to change, we may have to change your program
in Athens to accommodate such changes.
Or if you
prefer you may choose instead to tour one of the following tours:
BYZANTINE CHURCHES
Russian Orthodox Church at Filellinon & Amalias
Athens cathedral (Mitropolis) at Mitropoleos
Kapnikarea at Ermou
Saint Theodore at Klafthmonos
They then visited the Jewelry museum (LALAOUNIS) before breaking for
lunch.
They used the metro 3 times (because they wanted to).
HISTORICAL INTEREST- Museum Tour :
BENAKI MUSEUM - (closed on Tuesdays)
Covering the history of Greece from Paleolithic (prehistoric, 60000
B.C.) till present. Can easily spend over 4 hours in there. There is
also a cafeteria for breaks.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL INTEREST
Temple of Olympian Zeus / Dionissos Theatre/ Ancient Agora/ Roman Agora
Above are only suggestions , you may discuss with the guide and modify
(add/subtract) according to what you are most interested in. The guide
will advise you on what is feasible to cover in a half-day. Or add another
half day : additional $$$ apply
DAY 9 ATHENS CAIRO - Saturday (B)
Full day at leisure for more shopping at the authentic Greek Plaka.
Subject to availability we may use Egyptair or Olympic Airways. Check-out
time from Hotel is delayed until it is time for your transfer to the
airport , even if it's an evening flight . Flights to Cairo are
an evening departure. Day Use Room is included. Enjoy exploring Athens
on your own until its time to meet for the airport transfer.
Drive to Athens airport for our evening flight to Cairo / Egypt.
Transfer to your hotel in Cairo. Complimentary visa fee
for American, Australian , NZ, Western European & Japanese citizens,
will be issued upon arrival. Passports must be valid for at least
6 month at the time of your arrival.
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
10 - Cairo Sunday (BLD)
On your first full day in Egypt we show you the Egyptian Museum, the
Pyramids of
Giza, the Sphinx, the Citadel of Saladin, and the Mohammed Ali Mosque,
made of alabaster. Lunch at a local restaurant. Evening
dinner cruise on the Nile & a belly dance show.
DAY
11 - Cairo /Luxor / Cairo - Monday (BL)
We
leave Cairo around 5 or 6 AM take a short flight to Luxor , as soon
as we land we cross the Nile by ferry to visit the Valley of the Kings
and the Colossi of Memnon. After lunch in Luxor, we tour the Great Temple
of Amon at Karnak, and visit the Sacred Lake and red granite quarries
with their unfinished obelisk. We have a quick look at the great temple
of Amon Ra at Luxor on our way to the airport for our flight back to
Cairo, and our hotel.
12
- CAIRO, ROYAL PALACES, Tuesday (B)
Half day visit to the Royal Palace of Abdeen, seat of power in Egypt
for almost a century, last used by President Sadat. Then on to Manial
Palace, of Prince Mohamed Ali, the last Crown Prince Egypt ever
had. Remainder of the day at leisure, you may wish to explore the 12
century "Khan El Khalili Bazaar" district.
DAY
13 - Cairo Fayoum - Wednesday (BL)
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 included
DAY
14 - DEPARTURE - Thursday (B)
Our staff escorts you to Cairo airport for your flight home.
Rates
are per person in USD $
|
Deluxe |
First
Class |
Tourist
Class |
Triple
occupancy |
US$
4800.00 |
US$
4410.00 |
US$
4001.00 |
Double |
US$
4978.00 |
US$
4598.00 |
US$
4130.00 |
Single |
US$
5668.00 |
US$
5408.00 |
US$
5002.00 |
Rates are subject to change without notice
Inclusion
:
- Hotel
accommodation & hotel tax, service charge .
- Meals
as indicated: B: continental breakfast, L/D preset menu lunch/dinner.
- Guided
sightseeing tours, including all entrance fees.
- All
transfers in Greece, Turkey & Egypt as per itinerary.
- International
air fare is included in economy class / ISTANBUL /ATHENS /CAIRO
- For
departures from December 20 through January 3, please add the 15 %
holiday
surcharge.
Rate
does not include:
- Visa
for Turkey $20 for US citizens , $45 for Canadians, to be secured
from any of the consulates or upon arrival at
Istanbul (cash only in Istanbul , or contact the nearest Turkish Consulate).
- Tips
- Insurance
(we'll be glad to mail you the flyer.
- International
air fare from/to your home country
[ Eastern Med Odyssey ]
[ The Ancient World in Ultimate Style ]
[ Ancient World of Greece and Egypt ]
[ Triangle of Ancient Lands ]
[ Ancient Isles & Treasures ]
[ Legends of the Greek Isles and Nile ]
Please
read our Terms & Conditions. By sending your deposit, you confirm
that
you have read and have accepted these conditions.
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