MAY SHORT TRIP - 10 DAYS/ 9 NIGHTS IN EGYPT

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Saturday, MAY 11   Departure from USA

Day 1: Sunday, May 12  Arrival  

Arrival in Cairo Airport. Transfer to hotel, dinner and overnight.

Day 2: Monday, May 13   

Cairo The National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC). Old Cairo - Coptic Museum 

 ( B / L / D ) 

Breakfast at the hotel.  We will start our journey with the visit of The National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC). The NMEC is large museum in the ancient city of Fustat, now part of Cairo Egypt. The museum partially opened in February 2017 and will display a collection of 50,000 artifacts, presenting Egyptian civilization from prehistoric times to the present day. Lunch during the visits.

Then we will move to one of the most important districts in Cairo in the journey of the Holy Family. Old Cairo, where there are several churches.  The Holy Family blessed the site and they stayed there for a while. 

Afterwards, we will visit the Coptic Museum. This museum is dedicated to the preservation and display of Coptic art and artifacts. The Coptic Museum houses one of the most extensive collections of Coptic Christian artwork in the world. Coptic art represents the art of the Christian communities in Egypt, particularly during the early centuries of Christianity. Dinner and overnight in the hotel.

Day 3: Tuesday, May 14    The Holy Family at Wadi Al Natrun: 

Tuesday 23 April ( B / L / D )

Breakfast at the hotel. We will go visit Wadi AI-Natrun.

The Holy Family crossed the western branch of the river Nile (Rosetta branch) to the west of the Delta and they moved after that to the south to Wadi AI-Natrun. According to tradition, the Virgin Mary and her son the child Jesus Christ blessed the four directions of the valley, the desert of Shehiet. Nowadays there are about four monasteries dating back to the 4th C. teeming with monks at Wadi Al Natrun.

1. The Monastery of St. Bishoy. It belongs to the oldest monastic settlements in Wadi Al Natrun. It has suffered from the numerous Berber raids. It's the monastery where Pope Shenouda the third (117) is buried.

2. The Monastery of St. Macarius, is 92 kilometers from Cairo on the western side of the desert road to Alexandria. It was founded in 360 A.D. by St. Macarius the Egyptian, who was the spiritual father to more than four thousand monks of different nationalities-Egyptians, Greeks, Ethiopians, Armenians, Nubians, Asians, Palestinians, Italians, and Span-lards. There were among them men of letters and philosophers, and members of the aristocracy of the time, along with simple illiterate peasants. From the fourth century up to the present day the monastery has been continuously inhabited by monks.

Lunch during the visits.

Dinner and overnight at the hotel.

Day 4: Wednesday, May 15    Monastery of Al- Muharraq Assiut: 

( B / L / D )

Breakfast at the hotel. Early departure to Assiut (Around 6H drive.) Visit the monastery of Al – Muharraq near the mountains of Qusqam where, according to tradition, the Holy family stayed there for more than six months in an old, abandoned house on the edge of the desert where was consecrated the first church in Egypt at the place that was to become the church of the virgin in the monastery of the Holy Virgin. Fulfilling Isaiah's prophesy, "on that day there will be a church in the center of the land of Egypt" (Isaiah 19:19)

Lunch during the visits.

Dinner & overnight at Assiut.

Day 5: Thursday, May 16  Monastery of Saint Mary (Deir Drunka). Cairo  

( B / L / D )

Breakfast at hotel.  We will start our day to visit the Monastery of Saint Mary (Deir Drunka). After they had lived six months in the place that was to become the monastery of Al- Muharraq, an angel brought the Holy family the message that Herod had died and that it was safe to return back. According to recent oral tradition, in order to go home, the Holy family had to journey some fifty km farther to present-day Assiut, the closest to the main Nile port. They found a cave to the southwest of the city where they lodged before finding a boat to take them north which became the monastery of the Holy virgin at Durunka.

Lunch during the visits.

Back to Cairo ( Around 6H drive)

Dinner and overnight in our hotel.

 Day 6: Friday, May 17  Cairo  -  Citadel of Saladin - St. Samaan (Simon) the Tanner Monastery 

(  B / L / D )

Breakfast at hotel, visit The Citadel of Saladin is a historic fortress located in Cairo, Egypt. It is situated on the Moqattam Hill and was originally constructed in the 12th century by the Ayyubid ruler Salah ad-Din (Saladin). The citadel played a strategic role in defending Cairo from various invasions over the centuries.

Within the Citadel complex, there are several significant structures, including the Mosque of Muhammad Ali Pasha, also known as the Alabaster Mosque, which was built in the 19th century. The citadel offers panoramic views of Cairo and the surrounding areas.

Lunch during the visits.

visit The monastery is named after St. Samaan (Simon) the Tanner, a Christian saint associated with a famous miracle. According to tradition, during the 10th century, the Caliph al-Muizz challenged the Christian residents of Cairo to move a mountain. St. Samaan prayed, and the mountain was miraculously lifted and moved. This event is celebrated annually by Coptic Christians. 

Then transfer to Khan Khalili market for free time Shopping.

Dinner and overnight in our hotel.

 Day 7: Saturday, May18  Free Day

(B / D )

Breakfast at the hotel. 

Free day at the Hotel - Lunch on your own. 

Dinner and overnight in our hotel.

 Day 8: Sunday,  May 19   Cairo - Saqqara, Pyramids of Giza  

( B / L / D ) 

Breakfast at the hotel.  We will visit Saqqara, the Step Pyramid of King Zoser, the Mastaba Tomb of Ti, Tomb of Ptahotep, the Serapeum and the Pyramid of Sekhemkhet. Only opened sites.

Lunch during the visits.

In the afternoon visit to the Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx, an archaeological site on the Giza Plateau, on the outskirts of Cairo. This complex of ancient monuments includes the three pyramid complexes known as the Great Pyramids, the massive sculpture known as the Great Sphinx, several cemeteries, a workers' village and an industrial complex.

Dinner and overnight in our hotel.

Day 9: Monday  MAY 20 CAIRO - 

( B/D ) 

Breakfast at the hotel.

Free day at the Hotel 

Lunch on your own. 

Dinner and overnight in our hotel.

Day 10: Tuesday  May 21 CAIRO - Maadi district - Departure

( B / L )

Breakfast at the hotel. Cheek out. Visit Maadi district: St Virgin Mary Church-- the oldest church in Egypt. The Holy Family left Old Cairo towards the south, where they reached El Maadi district which is the plural of meaadeia (ferry). Here lays a beautiful church built after the name of St Mary. One of the incidents which happened at that church was that on Friday the third of Paramhat - the twelfth of March 1976 those who attended the Holy Mass, on their going out of the church and while they were still at the outside yard on the Nile shore, they saw a big open book on the surface of the water going up and down. Taken out of the water (from an ancient staircase), it was found to be a copy of the Holy Bible, and it was opened to the book of Isaiah, chapter 19, on the verse of "Blessed is Egypt My People" Isaiah 19:25.  This Holy Bible is exhibited in a glass closet opened on the same page it was found in a small museum inside the church. This incident happened when some scholars asked pope Shenouda for scientific evidence of the visit of the holy family to this place.

Lunch ( KOSHARY ) during the visits. Back to the Hotel & Transfer to Cairo airport for final departure.