EGYPT-NILE CRUISE & HOLYLAND JUL/2020

Departure to Egypt, night aboard the flight

Arrival to Cairo. Meeting at the airport with our representative who will help us with Visa procedures (Visa payment on your own) and transfer by bus to the hotel. Rest of the day free. Dinner and overnight.

Breakfast. Meeting with our guide at the hotel and departure by Bus for an excursion that will take us to know: Memphis, the Sakkara Necropolis, with its pyramids. Later we will go to the Giza Esplanade, where we can admire the pyramids of Cheops, Kefren and Micerino, as well as the famous Sphinx with a human face and a lion’s body. Back to the hotel. Dinner and overnight.

Breakfast. Departure by our Bus to make an extensive visit to Cairo: Egyptian Museum with the treasures of Tutankhamun, the Citadel of Saladin with its Alabaster Mosque, and the Medieval Catholic District, where the Sacred Family lived. We will also visit the Khan-Khalili Bazaar. Dinner and overnight.

Breakfast. At the scheduled time, transfer to the airport to board our flight to Asswan. Arrival and transfer to the port to board the motorboat (this is the name of the ships that navigate the Nile) LIBERTY NILE CRUISE. Dinner and overnight.

Breakfast on board. In the morning, disembark to visit the High Dam, considered the largest dam in the world. Visit the Temple of Philae or Temple of the Goddess Isis. Return to our ship. Lunch while sailing on the Nile, arriving at the Temple of Kom Ombo at sunset. Visit of the Temples of Sobek the crocodile-headed god symbolizing the fertility of the Nile and Haroeris the falcon god the elder. Sailing to Edfu, where we will dock for dinner and overnight.

Breakfast on board. Visit of the Temple of Edfu dedicated to Horus, son of Isis and Osiris, represented in the falcon-shaped Egyptian mythology, the best preserved temple in the ancient world and designed by Imhotep. Lunch included on board. Navigation to Esna, we pass the sluice that was built to save a drop of about 10 meters and then to Luxor, the ancient city of Thebes. Visit the Karnak Temple, the great sanctuary of Amun Ra, considered the largest temple in Egypt with its avenue of sphinxes and its 134-column hall. Dinner and overnight on board.

After breakfast and check out, at 06:00 hours we will head to the gigantic necropolis near Luxor. We will visit the Valley of the Kings, the Temple of Hatsepsut and the Colossi of Memnon. We will finish the tour at 11:30 am and we will take you to the Luxor airport to board the flight to Sharm El Sheikh. Arrival and transfer to St. Catherine, at the foot of Mount Sinai. Dinner and overnight.

Early in the morning, departure to Mount Moses or Mount Sinai, where Moses received the tables of the law from God, while the Hebrew people camped at the foot of the mountain. From the top we can see the sunrise and the Mount of St. Catherine. Going down the mountain we will visit the Monastery of St. Catherine (if possible) located 1,570 m high. Back to the hotel. Breakfast and departure to Taba (Egyptian Border / Israel), our guide will help us with the visa procedures and then to the Dead Sea. Possibility of bathing in the sulphurous waters of the lowest site on earth. Dinner and overnight.

Breakfast. Early departure to Jerusalem, where we will arrive singing the psalm and in a high part of the City, we will make a toast, because we have reached the Holy City. We begin our visit walking to the Old City. We will visit the Wailing Wall, the most important place for the Jewish religion, with a view of the Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Sacred Rock. We continue towards the Church of St. Ann, Chapel of the Flagellation where we will make the stations of the Cross on the Via Crucis until we reach the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher. Then we will go to the tomb of King David, Basilica of the Dormition and the room of the Last Supper. In the afternoon we went up to Mount Zion to visit St. Peter in Gallicantu Church, where Peter denied Christ and where Jesus was a prisoner.
Dinner and overnight.

Breakfast. Departure to the Mount of Olives to visit the Garden of Gethsemane, the Church of the Ascension and the Church of the Our Father. Visit to the Church of All Nations. Then we continue to the Kedron Valley to see the Siloam Pool. In the afternoon, departure to Jericho, the oldest city in the world. Upon entering Jericho, there is a sycamore that reminds us of Zacchaeus, there, we will do the corresponding reading. We will arrive in front of the Mount of temptations. There the famous Dead Sea Manuscripts. Back Jerusalem. Dinner and overnight.

Breakfast. We drive through Rachel’s Tomb to the City of Bethlehem. Visit to the Basilica of the Nativity built on the Grotto and the Crib, the Church of Santa Catarina, the Grotto of San Jerónimo and the Grotto of the Milk. In the afternoon we will continue to Ein Karen to know the Church of the Visitation of Mary and the Church of St. John the Baptist. We continue through the New City to see the Monastery of the Cross, the Kenesset building and the Menora. Dinner and overnight..

Breakfast. Departure in the direction of the Jordan River and continue to visit Yardenit, where the place of commemoration of the baptism is located. Renewal of our Baptismal promises. Continuation to Mt. Tabor and taxi ride to visit the Transfiguration church. Arrived at Nazareth, the place where the Son of God became incarnate in the St. Virgin, we will go to the grotto of the Sacred Family. Dinner and overnight.

Breakfast. Visit the Mount of Beatitudes, where we will do our personal meditation. Visit to Capernaum, celebration of Sta. Mass, on the ruins of the house of San. Peter, visit the ruins of the ancient Synagogue. We continue to the place of multiplication of the loaves and fishes. Then we embark to make a journey through the Sea of Galilee, and already offshore, we will make the corresponding readings. We will visit the Primacy of Peter, where Jesus tells his disciples that they are returning from fishing “Boys, bring some of the fish that have just caught”, there is a rock where Jesus had the fire ready, and he waited for them, he asks there to Pedro, do you love me more than these? We continue to Cana of Galilee, where Jesus performed his first miracle. Opportunity to renew the Sacrament of Marriage, for those who are married. Arrival at the end of the day in Tel Aviv. Tonight we will have our farewell dinner and delivery of pilgrimage certificates. Overnight.

Breakfast and transfer by our private bus to Tel Aviv Ben Gurion airport to board our flight back to the USA. Arrival the same day