Egypt & The Nile, March 2014. Luxurious Travel with Abercrombie & Kent

One of my most memorable trips to date was my trip to Egypt & The Nile with the Small Group Luxury Tour of Abercrombie & Kent. Months before our trip, because of recent unpredictable political &  social events in the Middle East, many people have deferred their travels and few people were actually going to Egypt at that time. In my mind I thought it was the best opportunity for me to go because we should be expecting less crowds at the main sites and  indeed, it was true. It is very evident while traveling all over the Country that there was a dearth of tourists, of which,  years before, they would  normally have thousands of tourists visiting the usual known sites. Evidently, the pull of history to the land of the Pharoes & Pyramids was just too exciting and nobody can deny that the archeological and historical sites in Egypt are spectacular and one of a kind. The advantage of Egypt is that there is no place in earth one can see these types of monuments except in Egypt itself.

Also, in this trip I was joined my brother Dino as a reunion of sorts and that we will take this tour together. We both have not been to Egypt before and we took this opportunity to see one of the wonders of the world. As  a preview I did make a very short video to commemorate our reunion on this trip to Egypt. Here is the video.

Upon arrival in Cairo you could only sense what type of tour Abercrombie & Kent can provide because i was met literally right out of the door of the plane. I was then escorted like a VIP to immigration and the formalities upon arrival. For example, the paying for the visa was processed by the Abercrombie agent. In spite of the chaotic like atmosphere of the airport we proceeded smoothly and I just had to identify my luggage and that was it. Since I arrived very late at night (around midnight) I was whisked to their van and then brought to the hotel.

Abercrombie & Kent had reserved the best hotels for our stay in this trip. For the first 3 nights we stayed at the historic  MENA HOUSE HOTEL in Giza.

Photo Courtesy of the Mena House Hotel

Originally built as a palace for the Empress Eugenie when she visited Egypt for the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, the hotel is just full of history including the first swimming pool in Egypt and also where in December 1977 Egypt and Israel sat down together in a quest for a peace settlement. At one point the Oberoi Hotel group where in charge of the hotel but now it looks like it has aged a bit. We just hope that a a great hotel chain can refurbished it again to its old grandeur like it once was. Nevertheless, the history is just there and for the best view then try to book within the original palace building and not on the extension building wings.

Photo courtesy of the Mena House Hotel

The view in the morning was just impressive from the balcony of our own room and this is an actual shot that I took my when I first saw the great pyramid. Fantastic !

The view of the Great Pyramid from the hotel room

These three days were just filled with activity. We had a private Egyptologist during our whole stay and the caliber and interest he had on history was just above the norm. I thought it was indeed important that A&K got the best guides for their tours and not just tour guides who know english but Egyptologists who are well studied wherein you know there is great knowledge, depth and experience in the storying telling of the 5000 years of Egyptian History.

We went to the Pyramids of Giza and even had  our own private time inside the Great pyramid of Giza. Here is a very short clip of us going up inside the pyramid.

The Great Pyramid of Giza

We then saw the Solar Boat Museum. It is a 141 foot long re-assembled funerary boat of King Cheops and it is said as the single most important archeological find in egypt since the Tomb of Tutankhamen.

Then we had a panorama view of the Giza pyramids and the Sphinx. Here are some photos on that experience.

From then on day 2 and day 3 were jam packed with visits to Sakkara, the oldest known pyramid  (of the 107 pyramids) and the worlds first freestanding stone structure.

Me and my brother in front of the Sakkara pyramid

Then to Memphis, the ancient capital of Egypt from 3100 BC. Here the enormous statue of Colossus of Ramesses II carved in limestone is housed and it is just impressive as you can see in the photo below.

and of course to the fantastic Egyptian Museum. I enjoyed the mummies room here and the world famous tomb of King Tutankhamun. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures inside but here is the entrance of that famous very jam-packed museum.

Day 4 we flew to Luxor from Cairo and stayed at the “Sanctuary Sun Boat IV”, of which, is owned and controlled by A&K.

I have compiled a photo collage for the 4 wonderful nights that we had in that 5 star boat. It is on this boat that we cruised the nile to see the various sites in Luxor, the Valley of the Kings and Queens, Karnak, Denderah, Edfu, Nom Ombo Temple and the Philae Temple on the island of Agilka.

Temple of Hathor at Denderah

My brother Dino at the Temple of Hathor at Denderah

Obelisk in Karnak

Breakfast while cruising at the Nile

A felucca Boat cruising the nile

View from the boat of the temple of Kom Ombo

the 60 feet high Colossi of Memnon near Luxor

Appreciating the outer wall at Edfu

Symbol of life of Ancient Egyptians

My favorite bird in the entire trip

Cleopatra

Inside the Temple of Karnak. There were very few visitors and we were lucky that we can appreciate the place with no crowds

After the cruise of the Nile we then flew to see the “Unesco  moved” site of the temple complex of Abu Simbel in Southern Nubian Egypt. They were strategically moved when the Govt of Egypt constructed the Aswan dam. Here is my “jump” photo in front of the great temple built by Ramses II, which is Egypts longest ruling Pharaoh.

Finally, we flew back to Cairo for another two nights to see Islamic Cairo. We visited the Sultan Hassan Mosque and the Refaie Mosque. Also did a walking tour in the old part of Cairo all the way to the bustling Khan El-Khalili Bazaar. Here are a few photos to see a glimpse of that visit.

Beautiful lamps hanging inside the mosque

My brother Dino walking on the street in Cairo

People on the Street in Cairo

Islamic Cairo – The crescent moon

Medieval Cairo – mosque of Mohammed Ali in the Citadel

Carpets Carpets….

Tourism Security

My brother Dino with locals in the main square of Medieval Cairo

Finally, We were in the center of Cairo and everything is frenetic,  bustling with movements so it was with great pleasure that A&K had the Four Seasons at the Nile Plaza as our final lodging for 3 nights until we ended the tour.  Seeing places and visiting unique sites is the reason why we travel but of course were we sleep at night can make or break a trip. Here are three photos of why this hotel was just perfect! You can check them out at Four Seasons at the Nile Plaza link.

At the end of our trip I made a video to thank not only A&K Egypt and our guide but to everyone who joined this luxury small group tour of Egypt. Our new friends made this tour unforgettable. SO here it is:

A SUMMARY OF WHAT TO EXPECT IN AN ABERCROMBIE & KENT LUXURY SMALL GROUP JOURNEY

There are many advantages with going with a Small luxury Group tour with Abercrombie & Kent. Here are my views on them:

1. The tours will go ahead even if there are only 2 people who have signed in for the tour. This guarantees you that the tour will never be cancelled. Also, they guarantee that they would be a maximum of only 18 people in the group.
2. The Tour is fully escorted and in a country like Egypt wherein I do not read, write or speak the language and wherein the culture is so different from where I am used to it is easier to break in and thus you have more time in appreciating the sites. Another benefit in a fully escorted tour is that you are protected by the normal rifraf and the peddlers who keep selling everything under the sun and are always pestering you to buy something. I also noticed that on top of the normal “tourist security” that is provided by the ministry of tourism of Egypt, A&K has also beefed it up with their own security so I felt totally safe throughout the trip.
3. You do not have to carry your luggage at all in the whole trip. I love it when they ask you leave your luggage in your hotel room in the morning, take a tour in Cairo, Fly to luxor, tour the area again and then when you arrive at the Abercrombie & Kent owned SANCTUARY SUN BOAT IV, your luggage is there waiting in your cabin.
   

   Sanctuary Sun Boat IV

   Another detail that I noticed is that they do not fill you up in a bus. Even if there are only 18 people in the tour they gave us a bus that can hold 45 people so this means that we have a lot of room for ourselves or each one of us can sit on the window side. This golden glove treatment is one of the reasons A&K is above the rest. The details are taken cared of and it is just so wonderful to have that experience.

4. In other tours they bring you to the sites but then you have to fall in line and then buy the tickets and it seems that everything that they offer you has a price. Well, with A&K everything is included and we never seem to have fallen in line in any site that we have visited. We even had our own “private time” inside the Great Pyramid in Giza when they did not allow other tourists until we left the area. Also, if in other tours one would have to pay for every option opted, with A&K many options were already included  – e.g. if one wanted to ride the camels near the pyramids or ride in a horse drawn carriage to take us to the site (instead of a bus) etc. In short not only do they  not Nickel and Dime you with everything many options were actually included that was unexpected.
5. There were also other great surprises. For example for our A&K hosted welcome dinner, not only did we meet each other for the first time and had great food but we had a stellar cast of guest speakers for this affair. A famous Harvard University educated Egyptian parliamentarian spoke on the current political and Governmental situation of Egypt. It was very enlightening and sure was an eye opener for our first day of touring. Another surprise was on our last night. The US Chargé d’Affaires invited us for a reception in the official residence. Since there was no appointed US Ambassador  yet, the Chargé d’Affaires was the acting Ambassador and it was treat to be in that reception for the A&K group. I have placed here my invitation from the US Embassy.
6. Other details that made the whole trip even better was that they gave us beautiful photos of the group on our last day and another nice touch was that in one of the evenings they left  a book on our night tables as a present on how the pyramids were built. Again, it was in the details and indeed I would say this was by far the best tour that I have been with.