Highlights of Israel, Jordan & Egypt

• Upon arrival to Tel Aviv Airport you will be met by our representative who will be holding a sign with your name on, immediately after passport control. Our representative will guide you to pick up your luggage, after which you will be escorted via Customs to meet your driver who will transfer you to your hotel. • Evening at leisure in Tel Aviv. • Overnight in Tel Aviv.

• Meet your tour guide in the morning and set off from Tel Aviv, driving south, passing by the cities of Ashdod, Ashkelon and Beersheba, the capital of the Negev Desert. • Continue via Arad to Masada, Israel’s foremost archaeological park. • Ascend via cable-car for a thorough visit that gives insight to the rituals, politics and culture of the people who inhabited this desert fortress, which was the last stronghold of the Jewish Zealots in their war against the Romans. Visit the excavations, Herod’s palaces, the synagogue, bathhouse and cisterns, and enjoy the breathtaking view of the Roman camps and the Dead Sea. • Descend to the lowest place on earth – the Dead Sea, to experience the mineral-rich black mud and to float in its salty waters. • Passing by the oasis of Ein Gedi, proceed through the Judean Desert to Jerusalem. • Overnight in Jerusalem.

Start the day at the Israel Museum’s Shrine of the Book with the famous Dead Sea scrolls, then a visit to the beautifully renovated model of the Herodian city of Jerusalem, dating back to the time of the Second Temple. • Enjoy Ein Karem; a picturesque village in the south western outskirts of Jerusalem. This small village has great significance in Christian traditions, since this is where according to tradition John the Baptist was born. • Visit Yad Vashem the official memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, established in 1953, located at the foot of Mt. Hertzl. • Visit Bethlehem - the birthplace of Jesus at the Church of the Nativity and Manger Square. • Return to your Jerusalem hotel.

• Enter the Old City of Jerusalem where you will see the Western Wall and the actual site of the Second Temple, the Temple Mount. • Walk the Way of the Cross, the Via Dolorosa, to Calvary and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, housing both the traditional site of Crucifixion and the Tomb of the Resurrection. • To the southwest, just outside the Old City, is Mount Zion, with the traditional tomb of King David and the Room of the Last Supper. • Enjoy the spectacular panoramic view of Jerusalem - the holy city for each of the world’s three great religions – Christianity, Judaism and Islam, from atop the Mount of Olives. • Visit the Garden of Gethsemane where Judas betrayed Jesus. • In the heart of a neighborhood in downtown Jerusalem, visit Mahane Yehuda to experience the flavors, aromas, colors and the traders' interaction with the crowds, at the largest open market in Israel. • Return to your Jerusalem hotel.

• Leave Jerusalem and drive north passing by Jericho, the oldest city in the world. • Travel through the Jordan Valley and the new settlements to Beit Shean, and visit the excavations of this beautifully preserved Roman City. • On to Nazareth to visit the Church of the Annunciation and Christian holy sites. • Proceed to Safed, city of the Kabbalah and centre of Jewish mysticism, to visit the beautiful streets of the artists’ colony. • Overnight in a kibbutz hotel in the Galilee.

• Drive up to the Golan Heights passing by Banias, source of the Jordan River, former Syrian fortifications and the Druze villages. • Enjoy an Israeli wine country experience, with vineyards surrounded by breathtaking views. Become acquainted with the collection of fine and rare wines enjoying a tour, wine tasting and understanding of the wine production process. • Descend to the shore of the Sea of Galilee and proceed to Capernaum, to visit the ruins of the ancient synagogue, the Mount of Beatitudes, traditional site of the ‘Sermon on the Mount’ and Tabgha, the traditional site of the ‘miracle of the loaves and the fish’. • Onwards to Tiberias, the old center of Jewish learning. • Optional sailing on a boat across the Sea of Galilee to experience the tranquility and scenery little changed during the past 2000 years (subject to conditions and fee). • Return to the kibbutz hotel for overnight.

• After breakfast drive through the hills of the Galilee, westwards to Acre (Akko) for a visit of the old, famous Crusader stronghold and medieval fortifications. • Continue to Haifa, ascending Mount Carmel for a panoramic view of the city, including the Baha'i Shrine, Persian Garden, and Haifa bay. • Proceed along the Mediterranean coast to Caesarea to visit the Roman Theater and the Crusader fortress at what is known as the “masterpiece of Herod the Great”. • End the day with a short city tour of Tel Aviv and the ancient port of Jaffa. • Overnight in Tel Aviv.

• Drive from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem to the Sheikh Hussein border crossing for procedures to enter Jordan. • Proceed to Jerash - city of the Decapolis, located about 45km north of Amman in the fertile heights of the Gilad. Visit the ancient Roman city with colonnaded streets, the baths and the hill of the top Temple etc. • Drive to Amman for a panoramic city tour of the Jordanian capital. • Overnight in Amman.

• After early breakfast, leave the hotel and travel south on the road to Wadi Musa, the modern village of Petra. • Ride on horseback to the "Siq" (canyon) and then on foot to Petra, known as the red rock city, the ancient capital of the Nabateans from 3rd century B.C. to 2nd Century A.D. • Visit the most interesting monuments such as the Treasury, El Khazneh (a tomb of a Nabatean king) then the field of tombs, obelisks, the altar, (Al Madhbah) - from this point you can view the whole of the rock city. • Return to Wadi Musa village. • Overnight in Petra.

• Drive northwards to Madaba to visit the remains of the Byzantine church with its ancient mosaic floor map, the oldest surviving original cartographic depiction of the mosaic map of the Holy Land and Jerusalem. • Continue about 10kms. to Mount Nebo, from where Moses viewed the Promised Land. From there you will see the Jordan Valley, Jericho and the Dead Sea. • Drive to Queen Alia International Airport in Amman. • Fly from Amman to Cairo. • Upon arrival to Cairo International Airport you will be met by our representative who will be holding a sign with your name on, at passport control. Our representative will assist with passport and visa formalities, after which you will be escorted to meet your driver who will transfer you to your hotel. • Overnight in Cairo.

Begin the day in the capital city starting with a tour of the Egyptian Museum with the treasures from the Tut-Ankh-Amun burial site. • Continue to the Citadel to enjoy a spectacular view of Cairo. • Visit the Alabaster Mosque, which adds a wonderful picture-postcard element to Cairo’s skyline. • You will be given some time at leisure for shopping in the famous Khan-el-Khalili bazaar which is a labyrinth of cobbled alleyways. This vast bazaar tempts the senses with spices, perfume and glittering gold, silver and brass. • Overnight in Cairo.

• Visit Memphis, the ancient capital of the Old Kingdom of Egypt and home of a colossal Statue of Ramesses II and the Alabaster Sphinx. • Continue to the “Cemetery City” of Sakkara and view the Step Pyramid of King Zoser, the oldest of all Pyramids. • In the afternoon you will visit the Great Pyramids of Giza, the only present-day survivor of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. • Nearby, the mystical Sphinx surveys the plains of Giza. The 20m high man-animal Sphinx, created as a “living image of the sun-god”, built by Chephren to guard the entrance to the Pyramids. • Overnight in Cairo.

• Transfer to Cairo Airport for a flight to Aswan.
• After embarkation on your Nile cruise ship, set off to visit the Aswan High Dam, a huge rock-fill dam, which captures the world’s longest river.
• Visit the Philae Temple dedicated to the goddess Isis.
• In the afternoon enjoy a Felucca ride to the lush Botanic Garden on Kitchener’s Island. Also, visit Elephantine Island and cruise past Aga Khan’s Mausoleum on the west bank.
• Overnight on-board Nile Cruiser.

• Cruise to Kom Ombo to visit the Temple of Sobek and Haroeris, dedicated to the crocodile god and the falcon-headed god.
• Thereafter the cruise continues along the Nile towards Edfu.
• Overnight on-board Nile Cruiser.

• Arrive to Edfu and by horse-drawn carriage you are transferred through Edfu to the famous and best-preserved ancient Greek-built Horus temple, dedicated to the Falcon God and built on a rise to escape the annual flooding of the Nile.
• Return to your Nile Cruiser and enjoy the changing scenery as you cruise to Esna and cross through the Esna Lock.
• Overnight on-board Nile Cruiser.

• Travel to the West Bank and visit Thebes Necropolis and the Valley of Kings & Queens, a vast City of the Dead for generations of Pharaohs, where magnificent tombs were carved into the desert rock, richly decorated and filled with treasures for the afterlife, including the tomb of Tut-Ankh-Amun unearthed by Howard Carter.
• Continue to Madinet Habu, an important New Kingdom period structure in the West Bank.
• See the Colossi of Memnon, which is all that remains of the Temple of Amenophis, destroyed by the annual flooding of the Nile.
• Visit the Luxor Temple discovered beneath the shifting desert sands and originally joined to the Karnak Temple by an avenue of Sphinxes.
• Transfer to Luxor Airport for flight to Cairo and transfer to Cairo hotel.
• Overnight in Cairo.

• Transfer to Cairo Airport for departing international flight.