Site Summary - Sakkara Imhotep Museum, Step Pyramid Enclosure, Tombs of Kagemni and Mereruka, Pyramid of Teti. Dahshur - Red and/or Bent Pyramid, Bent Pyramid Valley Temple. Karanis, Hawara, Lahun, Amarna - Royal Tomb, Nobles Tombs, Central City and Palaces, Meir, Tuna el-Gebel, Ashmunein, Sheikh Ibada, Antinoopolis, Beni Hassan, Fraser Tombs, Tihna, Meidum, Giza Pyramids and Sphinex, including Workers Village, South Sakkara,  Cairo Museum.    Special Permits By kind permission of Dr Zahi Hawass and the SCA we have permits to the Giza Workers Village and South Sakkara.   Tour Extensions Why not extend your tour with some time of your own to explore old favourites or perhaps see something completely new?   Travel to Egypt two days early on Saturday 20th March and have an extra two nights at the Movenpick. At the end of the tour you can extend for an additional four nights, again at the Movenpick for relaxation or further exploration. See the price box for details.

Day 1 – Mon 22nd March – London/Cairo

We fly London to Cairo with EgyptAir and check-in to the first-class Movenpick Giza for two nights on bed and breakfast basis.

Day 2 – Tue 23rd March – Sakkara

We begin our tour with a full day at Sakkara starting with a look at the fine displays in the new Imhotep Museum. These help us understand the layout of the cemeteries before entering the Step Pyramid enclosure of Djoser. We then view the fine reliefs in the mastaba tombs of Kagemni and Mereruka and enter the pyramid of Teti, the king under whom they lived, with its examples of the Pyramid Texts, Egypt’s most ancient religious texts. There will be plenty of time to explore this most atmospheric of sites. After a relaxing lunch at the Sakkara Country Club we head to Dahshur and the fascinating Red and Bent Pyramids of Seneferu, one or both of which we will enter. We finish with a wander down to the rarely visited Valley Temple of the Bent Pyramid completes our day. (BL)

Day 3 – Wed 24th March – Karanis, Hawara and Lahun

This morning we leave the city for the Faiyum, stopping first at the ancient Ptolemaic-Roman city of Karanis with its two well preserved temples, bath house and mud brick walls. Pushing on to the pyramid of Hawara we see the site of King Amenemhat III’s mortuary temple and the ‘Labyrinth’ described by Herodotus. Nearby we see the site where Petrie’s excavations unearthed the famous Roman Period portrait-mummies. We continue to Lahun to view Senwosret II’s pyramid ‘and associated mastabas, the first royal tombs to explicitly hide the location of their entrances. As the day ends, we drive south to Minya where we check-in to the medium-class Nefertiti Hotel for four nights on a full board basis. (BLD)

Day 4 – Thu 25th March – Amarna and Meir

On our two visits to Amarna, Aidan will in particular be looking at the evidence for Akhenaten’s last years, beginning with the Royal Tomb and its intriguing evidence for the tragedies that beset the king’s family. We will also explore the nearby unfinished tombs that may have been intended for Nefertiti and Tutankhaten. In addition, we will visit some of the most important parts of the city of Akhet-Aten itself, including both palaces and temples. We will end the day by driving further south to explore the Old and Middle Kingdom governors’ tombs at the picturesque necropolis of Meir - a wonderful site with some great surprises. (BLD)

Day 5 – Fri 26th March - Tuna el-Gebel, Ashmunein and Sheikh Ibada

Today we focus first on the ancient city of Ashmunein (Hermopolis), sacred to the ibis-god Thoth. Out on the desert margins we find not only the best preserved of Akhet-Aten’s boundary stelae, but the Late/Graeco-Roman necropolis at Tuna el-Gebel, including the Roman Well, the unusually-decorated tomb of Petosiris, along with that of Isadora and the vast baboon and ibis catacombs. At Ashmunein itself are a pair of giant quartzite baboons, the elegant rose granite columns of the basilica and the scattered remains of Thoth’s temple. Our last visit of the day will be to Sheikh Ibada with a temple of Ramesses II and the ancient city of Antinoopolis, dedicated to the last pagan God of the classical world: Antinous the young companion of Hadrian. (BLD) 

Day 6 – Sat 27th March - Amarna and Beni Hassan

Returning to Amarna we concentrate today on the tombs of the nobles. At the Northern Tombs we will in particular visit the tombs of Huya and Meryre II, with reliefs that are crucial to our understanding of the end of Akhenaten’s reign, as well as one or two of the earlier tombs there. Then, stopping to visit another of the boundary stelae, we move on to the distant Southern Tombs, in particular that of the future pharaoh, Ay. We hope very much to meet up with Barry Kemp today, whose famous excavations have uncovered so much at this amazing site. On our way back to Minya we will visit Beni Hasan and admire the superbly-decorated tombs of the local governors of the Eleventh and Twelfth Dynasties cut in a hillside terrace which also commands stunning views over the Nile valley. (BLD)

AWT is an agent of Bales Worldwide Ltd.

DEPARTURE DATE Monday 22nd March 2010 TOUR CODE AWME220310   Basic Holiday Price: £2,235 Single Supplement: £278     EXTENSIONS   Cairo Two Night Prequel: £220 Cairo Two Night Prequel Sing Supp: £80 Cairo Four Night Sequel:  £440 Cairo Four Night Sequel Sing Supp: £160     Land Only Discount: £290  Book tour This tour can also be combined with Dylan Bickerstaffe's 'Kings Valley' tour that precedes this tour by a week. Contact the office for details!

Day 7 – Sun 28th March - Fraser Tombs, Tihna and Meidum

Our first stop will be a chance to look at the rarely visited rock-cut Fraser Tombs dating from the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties followed by a look at the Graeco-Roman rock-cut temples of Tihna, ancient Acoris. Then we push on northward to Meidum, with the third of Seneferu’s pyramids that we will see on this trip, and the accompanying cemetery of large mastabas. There will be time to enter the pyramid and a nearby mastaba. On arrival in Cairo we check-in to the first-class Movenpick Giza on room and breakfast basis for our last four nights in the city. (BL)

Day 8 – Mon 29th March - Giza and the Workers Village

A very full day as we head to the Giza Plateau. We will be shown all the major features of this enormous site including the pyramids themselves, one of which we may be able to enter. We will walk around the pyramid of Khafre and see the inscriptions of Ramesses II as well as the mortuary temple, the causeway of which leads us to the Sphinx. Our highlight for today, however, is the Workers Village and Cemetery which will explore by kind permission of Dr Zahi Hawass and the SCA. This is a rare privilege. The site provides an insight into the lives of the men who designed and built the extraordinary structures at Giza. (B)

Day 9 – Tue 30th March - South Sakkara

South Sakkara is a wonderful site and in all our years, even AWT has only had one permit to enter it! However, again by kind permission of Dr Hawass and the SCA, we will board four wheel drive vehicles and explore this intriguing site. Here we will see the vast and unique mastaba of King Shepseskaf of the Fourth Dynasty and the kings’ pyramids of the late Fifth and Sixth Dynasties. These include that of Pepy II, last king of the Old Kingdom, and the longest reigning monarch in human history. After a rest and lunch at the Sakkara Country Club we return to the hotel for an afternoon at leisure by the pool. (BL)

Day 10 – Weds 31st March - Cairo Museum

After breakfast we head in to the city to the amazing Cairo Museum for a guided tour looking at the major collections – and in particular material from sites we have visited on this trip. This is followed by free time to explore on your own before heading back to the hotel.  (B)

Day 11 – Thur 1st April - Cairo/London

Fly Cairo to London with EgyptAir arriving later the same day. (B)

Expert: Aidan Dodson of Bristol University has been accompanying tours to Egypt for many years and has particular research interests in many of the sites visited on this tour, in particular Amarna, which features in his new book, Amarna Sunset, to be published in November 2009. He is also written extensively on Egyptian tombs and makes regular appearances on TV documentaries on ancient Egypt.