Land of Pyramids, Petra, and Prayers - Egypt, Jordan, and Israel Tour

Visiting the lands of
Pyramids, Petra, and Prayers
Egypt, Jordan and Israel in 13 days
19-Jul-2020

The Tour
• Cairo  Alexandria  Cairo
• Cairo  Giza  Cairo
• Cairo  Aswan
• Aswan  Luxor
• Luxor  Cairo  Amman
• Amman  Jerusalem
• Egypt: 13th to 20th February,
2020
• Jordan: 21st to 23rd February,
2020
• Israel: 23rd February, 2020 to
26th February, 2020
• Agency: Travel Triangle

The Team of 9 Sujit Bose
Anamitra Bose - Noyonika Bose - Mou Chaudhuri-
Chandreyee Das - Malabika Bose
Partha Bose – Partha Pratim Das – Abhimanyu Basu

About Egypt (Arab Republic of Egypt)
• Transcontinental – spanning the NE corner of Africa and
SE corner of Asia by a land bridge (Sinai Peninsula)
• Capital: Cairo, 30°2′N 31°13′E
• Language: Arabic
• Area: 1,010,408 sq. km.
• Water (%): 0.632
• Population: 100,075,480 (2020)
• Dialing code: +20
• Currency: Egyptian pound

Egypt is all about..
Pharaos or
Kings
The Gods :
Isis,
Ra,Osiris,
Horus ,
Anibus,
Sobek
Pyramids
and the
Ruins
Sarcophagi
and
mummificat
ion
Brown
and Grey
Cities
Nile : the
key of life
Scarabs
and
Cartouche

Egyptian Civilization Spans …
250000
BC
Earliest
human
traces in
Egypt
1ST DYNASTY
4500 - 3100 BC
Local cultures
appear in the Nile
Valley
C 3100 BC Memphis
founded as the
capital of united
Egypt
4TH DYNASTY
Early 2500 BC
Era of the great
pyramid builders at
Giza & Saggara
404 - 343 BC The
last native
Egyptian dynastic
332 BC - Alexander
invades Egypt
31 BC
Anthony &
Cleopatra
defeated -
Ptolemy reign ends
with Cleopatra’s
death

Day 0: Cairo
Sujit and Nita Bose arrives …

Saints Sergius and Bacchus Church
Coptic Church: Abu Serga
• Coptic Cairo is a part of Old Cairo
• Babylon Fortress,
• Coptic Museum,
• Hanging Church,
• Greek Church of St. George and many others
• Coptic Cairo was a stronghold for Christianity in
Egypt both before and during the Islamic era, as
most of its churches were built after the Muslim
conquest of Egypt in the 7th century
• Coptic Church dates back to the 4th century
• Built on the spot where the Holy
Family, Joseph, Mary and the infant Jesus Christ,
rested at the end of their journey into Egypt
A The Hanging
Church is one of
Cairo's most
famous Coptic
Orthodox Churches,
first built in the 3rd or
4th century AD

The well which the holy family drank from

Carved wood wall
and doors, an
iconostasis( wall of
icons and religious
paintings) , in
the Coptic Church

Day 1: Cairo
Rest of the party arrives

Cairo City
• Capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world.
• Associated with ancient Egypt, as the famous Giza pyramid
complex and the ancient city of Memphis are located in its
geographical area
• Located near the Nile Delta, Cairo was founded in 969 AD by the
Fatimid dynasty
A rendition
of Fustat from A. S.
Rappoport's History
of Egypt
Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848–1933). On the Way between Old and
New Cairo, Citadel Mosque of Mohammed Ali, and Tombs of the
Mamelukes, 1872. Oil on canvas. Brooklyn Museum

Dhusho..r
Misho…r
While Egypt
was golden
and colorful
..today it
mostly dons
brown and
grey because
people live in
houses under
construction
so that they
can escape
taxes

………With
some
touches
of colour

Paris
of
the
East
…..
Down
town
Cairo

El Tahrir Square, also known as "Martyr Square", is a major public town square in
downtown Cairo, Egypt.

La Poire Café in
downtown Cairo

Dinner at Giza - the first glimpse of lighted
Sphinx

Day 2: Alexandria
Catacomb Necropolis, Roman Theatre, Pompey’s Pillar, Citadel Quitbay

Alexandria
• Second-largest city in Egypt and a major
economic center for natural gas and oil
pipelines from Suez
• Founded in c. 331 BC by Alexander, the
Great
• Capital of Ptolemaic, Roman and Byzantine
Egypt for almost 1,000 years, until the
Muslim conquest of Egypt in AD 641
• Hellenistic Alexandria:
• Lighthouse of Alexandria (Pharos), one of the
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
• Great Library, largest in the ancient world
• Necropolis, one of the Seven Wonders of the
Middle Ages
• Modern Alexandria:
• Coptic Orthodox Church
• Greek Orthodox Church

Way to Alexandria
Teymoor – Our Guide in Cairo

Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa
• One of the 7 Wonders of the Middle Ages
• Necropolis, the city of the dead, having series of Alexandrian tombs,
statues and archaeological objects of the Pharaonic funeral cult
with Hellenistic and early Imperial Roman influences
• Used as a burial chamber from 2nd to 4th century, before being
rediscovered in 1900
• 3 Sarcophagi (box-like funeral receptacle for a corpse, carved in
stone) along with other human & animal remains
• Hall of Caracalla contains the bones of horses of Emperor Caracalla

The antique carved sarcophagus at the entrance to Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa archaeological site, containing
objects of Pharaonic, Greek and Roman funeral cult

Roman Amphitheatre at Kom El Dekka
• In Arabic, means the hill of rubble or the hill of the benches,
and it was named by a famous historian, El Neweir at the
beginning of the 20th century
• Was discovered by coincidence in the year 1960
• Constructed in the 4th century AD and was a common feature
of the Greco Roman period
• Features a marble audience section which is symmetrical
with extended wing and could host up 600 spectators

Pompey's Pillar
• Roman triumphal column in Alexandria
• Set up in honor of the augustus Diocletian between 298-302 AD, the
giant Corinthian column
• Originally supported a colossal porphyry statue of the emperor in armor
• The erroneous name and association with Pompey stems from historical
misreading of the Greek dedicatory inscription on the base
1799 cartoon by James Gillray
Pompey's Pillar in 1911
Commander John Shortland, R.N. atop the pillar (1803)

Refusedtowalkup200
stairs…..…

Done with history … lunch calling

Citadel of Qaitbay
• A 15th century defensive
fortress located on the
Mediterranean sea
coast, in Alexandria
• Established in 1477 AD
by Sultan Al-Ashraf Sayf
al-Din Qa'it Bay
• Situated on the eastern
side of the northern tip
of Pharos Island at the
mouth of the Eastern
Harbor
• Erected on the exact site
of the famous
Lighthouse of Alexandria
– one of the 7 Wonders
of the Ancient World

El-Gaish Rd,
Al Mazar,
Qesm Al Gomrok,
Alexandria
Governorate, Egypt
Fish
Market
Marina

Day 3: Giza
Great Pyramid, Great Sphinx, Egyptian Museum, Khan El Khalili Bazaar, Travel to
Aswan

Great Pyramid of Giza
• Oldest of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World
• Designated on kings of 4th Dynasty (2613 – 2494 BC)
• Khufu (2589–2566 BC)
• Khafre (2558–2532 BC) and
• Menkaure (2532–2503 BC)
• There are three known chambers inside the Great Pyramid
• The lowest chamber is cut into the bedrock upon which the pyramid was built
• Queen's Chamber
• King's Chamber
• 3 small pyramids for Khufu's wives, a smaller "satellite" pyramid
Map of the Giza pyramid complex
Comparison of
approximate profiles of the
Great Pyramid of Giza with
some notable pyramidal or
near-pyramidal buildings
Khufu – Khafre – Menkaure

Entering
the
sanctum
sanctorum

Great Sphinx of Giza
• Limestone statue of a
reclining sphinx
• Mythical creature with
the body of a lion and
the head of a human –
represents the pharaoh
Khafre in 2540 BC?
• Facing directly from
West to East, it stands
on the Giza Plateau on
the west bank of
the Nile in Giza, Egypt
• Measures 73 m X 20 m
X 19 m
1870 1871
1878
1880
2005

En route Egyptian
Museum – the
Perfume “Attar”
Factory

Egyptian Museum
• Has 120,000 items
• Built in 1901 by the Italian Garozzo-Zaffarani to a design by
the French architect Marcel Dourgnon
• In 2020 the museum is due to be superseded by the new Grand
Egyptian Museum at Giza.
1904 Aerial view from a balloon
Postcard depicting the Egyptian Museum

“Akhenaten and Nefertiti with
their Children” is a small house
shrine stele made of limestone
Akhenaton and Nefertiti are shown
with the three of their daughters

Anubis,
the Egyptian
god of
mummification
and the
afterlife

NARMER PALETTE
A significant Egyptian archaeological find dating
from about the 31st century BC. It contains some of
the earliest hieroglyphic inscriptions ever found.
The gold
mask of
Tutankhamen
was allowed
to leave Egypt
for display
overseas.
BUT Narmer
Palette
however is so
valuable, that
it has never
been
permitted to
leave the
country!

The
Pyramid
Builders
Khufu
Khafre
Menkaure

Slate statue
group of Menkaure
and his sister-wife
Khamerernebti II
Block statue
- type for non-
royal persons
in Egyptian
temples

Khan El Khalili Bazaar
• A famous bazaar in the historic center of Cairo
• Established as a center of trade in the Mamluk era (10th / 12th Century)
• Named for one of its several historic caravan-serais
• Home to many Egyptian artisans and workshops involved in the production of
traditional crafts and souvenirs
By Pascal Sébah from Georg Ebers, Egypt (1878)
Carpet Merchant from Georg Ebers, Egypt (1878)

Narrow, cobblestone streets and winding,
interconnected alleyways

Must gets from Egypt
The revered dung beetle
Egyptian hieroglyphic name plate

El Fishawy Café, the
oldest coffee shop in Khan El
Khalili, where Nobel
Laureate Naguib Mahfouz wrote
most of his novels

El Giza to Aswan
• Travel by night Watania Train
• Best train in Egypt

Day 4: Aswan
Aswan Dam, Philae Temple, Nubian Village

Reached Aswan
Station –
Received by Tour
Guide – Mustafa

Aswan High Dam
• World's largest dam across
the Nile built between 1960
and 1970
• Eclipsed Aswan Low
Dam initially completed in
1902 downstream
• Water storage for irrigation and
generate hydroelectricity the
dam
Egyptian President Nasser and
Soviet leader Nikita
Khrushchev to divert the Nile
during the construction of the
Aswan High Dam on 14 May
1964.
Gamal Abdel Nasser observing the
construction of the dam, 1963
Aswan High Dam from space

Philae Temple
• Philae – an island in the reservoir of
the Aswan Low Dam, downstream of
the Aswan Dam and Lake Nasser
• Variously flooded since the Aswan Low
Dam in 1902
• The temple complex was moved to
nearby Agilkia Island by UNESCO Nubia
Campaign project
• Temples:
• Temple of Isis (380-362 BC), Pharaonic era
• Temple of Arensnuphis (282-145 BC),
Hellenistic era
Philae flooded by the Aswan Low Dam in 1906
Kiosk of Emperor Trajan on Phylae Island
before relocation
Map of Philae with floor plan of
the Temple of Isis
General view of Temple of Philae during
flood, 1908, Brooklyn Museum Archives

Nubian Village
• Along the Nile river between Aswan in southern Egypt & Khartoum in central Sudan
• One of the earliest civilizations of Africa, as the Kerma culture lasted from around
2500 BC until its conquest by pharaoh Thutmose I around 1500 BC
• Nubian villages now on north of Aswan on the west bank of the Nile and
on Elephantine Island

Round Structures
and Stone Floors –
originally carved
from Rocks

Spices
and
Dates
World’s
best
Dry
Fruits
and
Spices

Day 5: Aswan and Nile Cruising
Abu Simbel, the Nile Cruise starts, and Temple of Kom Ombo

Abu Simbel
• Two massive rock temples at Abu
Simbel are situated on the
western bank of Lake Nasser,
about 230 km southwest
of Aswan
• Part of the UNESCO World
Heritage Site known as the
"Nubian Monuments“
• Originally carved out of the
mountainside in the 13th
century BC, during the 19th
dynasty reign of
the Pharaoh Ramesses II
• Monument to the king and his
queen Nefertari for his victory at
the Battle of Kadesh
• Relocated in its entirety in 1968
on an artificial hill made from a
domed structure, high above
the Aswan High Dam reservoir
Front view of the Great Temple before 1923
The statue of Ramses being reassembled in 1967
A scale model showing the original
and current location of the temple

“The statues
of the
princesses
are taller
than those of
the princes,”
a sign,
perhaps, that
this temple
pays tribute
to Nefertari
and the
women of
Ramesses II’s
household.

Cruising the Nile
• A major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa,
• Longest river in Africa and the disputed longest river in the world
• About 6,650 km long
• Drainage basin covers 11 countries:
• Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Republic of the Sudan, and Egypt.
• Primary water source of Egypt and Sudan
• Has two major tributaries
• White Nile – headwaters and primary stream of the Nile itself
• Blue Nile – source of most of the water, containing 80% of water & silt
• Ancient, Medieval and Modern civilization of Egypt has flourished
around the Nile
• Cruising along the Nile is a major tourists’ interest

Temple of Kom Ombo
• Double temple in the town of Kom Ombo in Aswan
• Constructed during the Ptolemaic dynasty, 180–47
BC
• Courts, halls, sanctuaries and rooms duplicated for
two sets of gods
• Southern half of the temple was dedicated to the
crocodile god Sobek, god of fertility and creator of
the world with Hathor and Khonsu
• Northern part of the temple was dedicated to the
falcon god Haroeris
• Everything is perfectly symmetrical along the main
axis
• A few of 300 crocodile mummies are displayed in
The Crocodile Museum

Surgical instruments and other realia on a
scene from the temple of Kom Ombo

Day 6: Nile Cruise continues …
Edfu Temple, Luxor

Temple of Edfu
• An Egyptian temple located on the west bank of
the Nile in Edfu
• City was known in the Hellenistic period
• Built in the Ptolemaic Kingdom between 237
and 57 BC
• There are also "important scenes and
inscriptions of the Sacred Drama which related
the age-old conflict between Horus and Seth
gods

Angry Horus – the Falcon God
representing the kingship and the
sky

Luxor City
• Luxor is a city in Upper (southern) Egypt on East
bank of the Nile
• Frequently been characterized as the World's
greatest open-air museum with East bank having
• Temple complex at Karnak
• Temple complex at Luxor
• Mummification Museum
• Across the Nile, on West bank lie the monuments,
necropolis
• Valley of the Kings
• Valley of the Queens
• Colossi of Memnon
• Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut

Day 7: Luxor
Colossi of Memnon, Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut, Valley of Kings, Karnak
Temple, Luxor Temple, Traveling to Amman

Colossi of Memnon
• Two massive stone statues of
the Pharaoh Amenhotep III, who reigned
in Egypt during the Dynasty XVIII
• Since 1350 BCE, they have stood in
the Theban Necropolis, located west of
the River Nile from the modern city of Luxor
Antonio Beato, Colosses de Memnon, 19th
century. Brooklyn Museum

Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut
• A mortuary temple of Ancient Egypt located
in Upper Egypt
• Built for the 18th Dynasty pharaoh Hatshepsut,
who died in 1458 BC
• Located beneath the cliffs at Deir el-Bahari on
the west bank of the Nile near the Valley of the
Kings
• Dedicated to Amun and Hatshepsut
Deir el-Bahari prior to reconstruction efforts in early 20th century

Valley of the Kings
• A valley in Egypt
where, for a period of
nearly 500 years from
the 16th to 11th
century BC, rock cut
tombs were
excavated for the
pharaohs and
powerful nobles of
the 18th to the 20th
Dynasties of Ancient
Egypt
• Stands on the west
bank of the Nile,
opposite Thebes
(modern Luxor),
within the heart of
the Theban
Necropolis
A map of the Valley of the Kings with locations of tombs marked
Pharaohs:
KV2: 20th dynasty: Ramesses IV
KV6: 20th dynasty: Ramesses IX
KV8: 19th dynasty: Merenptah
Howard Carter the British
archaeologist and Egyptologist
became world-famous after
discovering the intact tomb of
King Tut, in 1922

Karnak Temple Complex
• Karnak (Meaning "fortified village"),
comprises a vast mix of decayed
temples, chapels, pylons, and other
buildings
• Comprises a vast mix of
decayed temples, chapels, pylons, and
other buildings near Luxor
• Construction at the complex began
during the reign of Senusret I in
the Middle Kingdom (~ 2000-1700 BC)
and continued into the Ptolemaic
period (305 - 30 BC)
• Most of the extant buildings date from
the New Kingdom
• The main place of worship of the 18th
dynasty Theban Triad with the god
Amun as its head
Temple complex in 1914 - Cornell University Library
Hieroglyphs from the great obelisk
of Karnak, transcribed by Ippolito
Rosellini in 1828
Map of Karnak,
showing major
temple complexes
and the sacred
crescent lake of Mut

Luxor Temple Complex
• Constructed approximately 1400 BCE
• Not dedicated to a cult god or a
deified version of the pharaoh in
death
• Dedicated to the rejuvenation of
kingship
• Many of the pharaohs of Egypt were
crowned in reality or conceptually
• Alexander the Great – claimed crowned at
Luxor but may never have traveled south
of Memphis, near modern Cairo
• 4 of the major mortuary temples in
Luxor
• the Temple of Seti I,
• the Temple of Hatshepsut,
• the Temple of Ramesses II, and
• the Temple of Ramesses III
Original two obelisks in 1832
Luxor Obelisk (right) is in Paris

Day 8: Amman
Traveling delayed from Cairo, Amman Citadel & Amphitheatre, Amman City,
Kempinski and Deadse

About Jordan
• King: Abdullah II of
Jordan
• Capital: Amman
• Currency: Jordanian
dinar

The much
needed
snooze….
sleep deprived..
exhausted after
missing
connecting flight
from Cairo to
Amman

Amman City
• Amman is the capital and largest city
of Jordan
• The earliest dates to 7250 BC
• Names:
• Ammon: Iron Age, Kingdom of the
Ammonites
• Philadelphia: Greek and Roman periods
• Philadelphia means “brotherly love” in Greek
• Amman: Islamic period
• Modern city started in late 19th
century during Ottoman Empire in
1878
• Had several waves of refugees:
• Palestinians in 1948 and 1967
• Iraqis in 1990 and 2003
• Syrians since 2011

Amman Citadel &
Amphitheatre
• Historical site at the center of downtown Amman
• L-shaped hill is one of the seven hills (jabals) that
originally made up Amman
• Hill was fortified during the Bronze Age (1800 BC)
• Capital of
• Kingdom of Ammon sometime after 1200 BC
• Assyrians (8th century BC)
• Babylonians (6th century BC)
• Ptolemies, the Seleucids (3rd century BC)
• Romans (1st century BC)
• Byzantines (3rd century AD)
• Umayyads (7th century AD)
• Decline until 1878 as the former city became an
abandoned pile of ruins only sporadically used by
Bedouins and seasonal farmers
• Citadel is home for
• Roman Temple of Hercules
• Umayyad Palace and water cistern
• Byzantine church
• Ayyubid watchtower
Amphitheatre
• A 6,000-seat, 2nd
century Roman theatre
• Dates to Roman period
when the city was
known as Philadelphia

Umayyad Palace,Amman Citadel
Does it ring a bell ???

Jordanian Spread comprising
Mansan, Falafel, Kunafa, Maqluba, Hummus
and many more

Leaving Amman - Off to the
Dead Sea

Kempinski Hotel
Ishtar Dead Sea

Day 9: Dead Sea & Petra
Dip in the Sea, Drive along the Basin

Dead Sea
• Lies in the Jordan Rift Valley between
Jordan & Israel with main tributary
being the Jordan River
• Its surface and shores are 430.5 m
below sea level, Earth's lowest
elevation on land.
• It is 304 m deep, the deepest
hypersaline lake in the world
• With a salinity of 342 g/kg, or 34.2%
(in 2011), it is one of the world's
saltiest bodies of water – 9.6 times as
salty as the ocean – and has a density
of 1.24 kg/litre, which makes
swimming similar to floating.
• Salinity means no plant / animal can
flourish, hence its name
Halite deposits
(and teepee
structure)
along the
western Dead
Sea coast

Nabatean Red Rose city of Petra
• Lies around Jabal Al-Madbah in
a basin surrounded by
mountains which form the
eastern flank of the Arabah
valley that runs from the Dead
Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba
• Has been inhabited from as
early as 7000 BC, and the
Nabataeans might have settled
in what would become the
capital city of their kingdom, as
early as the 4th century BC
1947 2013

Entering the
lost city of
Petra

The Treasury OR Al-Khazneh is one of the most elaborate temples in Petra

Costume
Jewellery
Eye
Make-up
And
COFFEE

Day 10: Traveling to Israel
Group of 4

About Israel
• President: Reuven Rivlin
• Prime Minister: Benjamin Netanyahu
• Capital: Jerusalem
• Currency: New Shekel

Jerusalem
• A city in the Middle East, one of the
oldest cities in the world
• Considered holy to the three major
Abrahamic religions
• Judaism
• Christianity
• Islam
• Both Israel and the Palestinian claim
Jerusalem as capital

City of David
• A Palestinian Arab village
intertwined with an Israeli
settlement
• Archaeological site – the
original settlement core of
Bronze and Iron Age Jerusalem
• The City of David is highly
controversial in the context of
the Israeli–Palestinian conflict
• Located in the West Bank –
annexed to Israel following the
1967 Six-Day War and
1980 Jerusalem Law
UN map showing
the City of David
as a series of
Israeli "Inner
Settlements“
represented as
red crosses

Western Wall or Wailing Wall
• Ancient limestone wall in the
Old City of Jerusalem
• A relatively small segment of a
far longer ancient retaining
wall
• Its holiness in Judaism is due to
its proximity to the Temple
Mount that has entry
restrictions
• It is the holiest place where
Jews are permitted to pray,
though the Foundation Stone,
with the holiest site in the
Jewish faith behind it

Caphranaum – The Town of Jesus

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