Ancient World tours

Day 1 – Saturday 12th November

Fly London to Luxor with EgyptAir and on arrival transfer to the Old Winter Palace, Garden Pavilion for one night.

Day 2 – Kanais and Barramiya

An early start as we load up our Landcruisers and depart Luxor, taking the road south to Edfu, before we head east into the desert leaving the cultivation behind. Our first stop will be at Kanais in Wadi Abbad. Here we find the small rock-cut temple of Seti I, the Roman guard post and the well, cut into the desert floor by Seti’s soldiers. Also in the area we will see our first rock art including many boat carvings on the cliff face. We take a picnic lunch before continuing along the Wadi Barramiya. We will make several stops along this desert road to view more ancient rock art. Late afternoon we will leave the tarmac for our first night’s camping, choosing a sheltered spot in a side wadi. We set camp and await the desert sunset and enjoy our first dinner under the stars. (BLD)

Days 3 and 4 – Rock Art

We rise with the sun and after breakfast we begin a memorable drive through the Nubian Sandstone landscape exploring some of the most important rock art sites of the Eastern Desert. Time to enjoy the wadis and geology of this rarely visited area. We travel northwards and stop to view deserted Roman settlements, ancient mining sites and spend time in the Wadi Qash area. Here there is some of the most important desert rock art, with highlights being Winkler’s site 18 with its ancient serekhs, sites 24, 24b and much more. Many sites share Predynastic, Pharaonic and Roman engravings on the rock face and on boulders in wadi beds. Discussions continue on the meaning of the many representations of the boats, some with many crew and others with the so-called ‘dancing goddess’ figures. Colin will of course be explaining the amazing geology as we travel. The exact route through the wadis will be chosen with care by our expert driving team. (BLD)

Day 5 – Wadi Hammamat

This morning we look at more rock art sites before joining the Qift to Quseir road to make our way to Wadi Hammamat and the Pharaonic quarry where we will study the fascinating hieroglyphic inscriptions that cover the dark rock face. Incorrectly known as Schist, and now identified as Bekhen stone by Colin, we can study some of the most beautiful rock art known, some dating from the reign of Khufu in the Old Kingdom. Here we also find the broken sarcophagus, the remains of the stone-built workers’ huts and much evidence of the actual quarrying techniques used at the time. Once again we will leave the road and head into a sandy area to camp for the night. (BLD)

Day 6 – Red Sea Mountains

After breakfast we begin our journey north through the Red Sea Mountains. Stopping en-route to look at unusual geological formations and, of course a picnic lunch. We take time to enjoy the desert. Depending on progress through the day we will set camp close to the Roman granite quarries of Mons Claudianus. Under the Emperors Trajan and Hadrian this quarry supplied much of the building material for Rome. If time allows before our evening meal we will be able to wander into the main settlement and explore the fort and homes of the people that lived and worked here. (BLD)

Day 7 – Mons Claudianus

Today a thorough investigation of the great quarry at Mons Claudianus. We will walk over the ancient footpaths of this heavily worked site to discover the huge abandoned column that measures some twenty metres in length and was surely destined for a great building in Rome. Known as the ‘Mother of Columns’ by the Arabs, we will take time to discuss the visible repairs to this massive pillar and perhaps visualise the means of removing such pieces from the desert hills in ancient times and transporting them overseas. We also look at the settlement buildings such as the temple to Serapis, the animal lines and bath houses. Later today we leave the desert and drive to the coast and overnight at our hotel in Hurghada. (BL)

Because of the distribution of passengers in the 4WD Landcruisers this tour will depart with 12 or 16 passengers plus staff. All vehicles are forward facing with a maximum of 4 passengers, one driver and one member of staff per vehicle. DEPARTURE DATE   Saturday 12th November 2011 TOUR CODE AWED121111   Basic Holiday Price: £2,385 Single Supplement: £162     Land Only Discount: £569   Book tour

Day 8 – Mons Porphyrites

An early start as we head for Gebel Dokhan and the source of Imperial Porphyry much sought after in the Roman and Byzantine worlds. Travelling along Wadi Umm Sidri, we will cross harsh terrain rarely visited by man these days, apart from the occasional local Bedouin and AWT travellers. We will spend some time at the fort, standing on a ridge above the floor of Wadi Abu Ma’amel. Explore the Workers’ Village, the Temple of Isis and the Temple of Serapis. For the adventurous, time to hike a rugged slipway built by quarry workers to view a quarry wall. We will also stop to look at some of the nearby infrastructures including Badia, Umm Balad and the loading ramps. We drive back to our hotel for a well earned rest. (BL)

Day 9 – St. Anthony

After breakfast we drive north along the Red Sea Coast and at Za’farana we head inland for the Monastery of St. Anthony. A small museum gives the history of the area and we can enjoy the houses, churches, gardens and wonderful wall paintings that have recently been restored. For those that wish we will take the climb to St. Anthony’s Cave where Anthony spent the last twenty five years of his life. Stunning views across the Red Sea, desert wadis and distant Sinai mountains reward the effort of the climb up to this vantage point. We continue our journey along the coast to Ain Sokhna where we check-in to the Stella di Mare for one night. (BL)

Day 10 – Cairo

We leave the coast today and head into the great city of Cairo. We will enjoy our last picnic lunch with our desert team before arriving at the Movenpick Hotel at Giza. We say goodbye to our drivers before checking in for our last night of the tour. (BL)

Day 11 – Tuesday 22nd November

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

AWT is an agent of Bales Worldwide Ltd.