Flight from Cairo to Luxor leaving at 7:15AM arrive 8:15AM. Tours includes a visit to the East Bank of the Nile including the Karnak Temple, known as the 'Temple of All Temples". After tour you will be transferred to the cruise ship, Sonesta, -for lunch. After lunch, see the Obelisks, the Sacred Lake and the Great Hypostyle Hall. Return to the cruise for dinner and overnight. The SONESTA CRUISE is one of the favorite five star cruises on the Nile. The ship is designed for comfort and relaxation and offer great service. The sixty deluxe, air-conditioned cabins all have private bathrooms with bathtubs, in-house music, video channels, internal telephone, stocked mini-bar, and panoramic wall-to-wall windows. Evening entertainment will be the Sound and Light Show at Karnak Temples.

Cross to the West Bank of the Nile and visit the wondrous Valleys of the Kings and Queens. Visit several of the tombs, Queen Hatshepsut's Temple and the Colossus of Memnon. Sail to Esna, cross the lock and sail to Edfu for dinner and overnight.

Visit the Temple of Horus, the most perfectly preserved of all the Nile Temples. Sail to Kom Ombo and visit the Temple of Sobek, the crocodile-headed God, located on the edge of the Nile. It contains many fine reliefs. Lunch, dinner and overnight in Kom-Ombo.

Sail to Aswan. Take a tour of Aswan High Dam and then proceed to the granite quarry to see the Unfinished Obelisk. Continue to the Temple of Philae. Take a felucca ride around Kitchener Island with its Botanical Gardens. From the river you have a nice view of the Aga Khan Mausoleum. Return to your Cruise for dinner and overnight.

After breakfast you will be transferred to the Aswan airport for your flight to Abu Simbel leave 9:30AM arrive 10:15AM, visit the temples that were built over a 25-year span and are one of the most prodigious feats of engineering in Egypt. The entire complex of temples was moved to its present location 90 feet above its old site to protect it from the rising water of the Nile when the Aswan Darn was built in the early sixties. Fly back to Aswan leave 1:30PM arrive 2:15PM, connect with your flight to Cairo leave 2:50PM arrive 4:05PM. You will be met by Ya'lla Tours USA's representative and transfer to your Hotel Sheraton Gezirah for overnight. Norma and Jamie visit the most important "site" on this trip - Hard Rock Café!!!

Your private Egyptologist / tour guide and driver will pick you up and start your tour. Drive to Giza and visit the Pyramids. See the Great Pyramid, the Royal Burial Chambers and the Sphinx. Then visit the Solar Boat, one of the most amazing Pharaonic discoveries. Continue to Memphis, capital of the Pharaohs during the Old Kingdom. Visit the recumbent statue of Ramses II and the 80-ton Alabaster Sphinx. Lunch en route. Continue to Sakara to see the prototype of the Pyramids, the Step Pyramid, built for the 3rd Dynasty Pharaoh Djoser by the exalted architect Imhotep. Continuing south, visit the Pyramid of Dahshour. King Senefru, father of King Cheops, built this Pyramid, also known as the Red Pyramid, approximately 4,600 years ago. Many scholars consider it to be more glorious than the Great Pyramid of Cheops. Return to Cairo and visit the Papyrus Institute on the way to your hotel for overnight.

Drive to the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities for a detailed, guided tour. Among other fascinating exhibits, see the treasures of the Tomb of Tutankhamen and the extraordinary Mummies Room. Over ten mummies, including that of Ramses II, are displayed in freestanding glass cases in this climate-controlled room. Walk around the mummies and examine them from all angles, gaze into their incredibly well preserved 3000-year-old faces. Leave the museum and enter Old Cairo and walk back in time. Visit the Old Coptic Church and the Ben Ezra Synagogue. Lunch en route. Continue to the Mohamad Ali Mosque and the streets of Khan el Khalili Bazaar. Return to your hotel for overnight.

After breakfast depart Cairo and drive to the Suez Canal, take the tunnel under the Suez and arrive at the Sinai Peninsula. Drive (approx. 6 hours) to St. Catherine for dinner and overnight. Our hotel, St. Catherine Plaza, is a 4 star hotel. All 144-guest rooms have terrace, phone, satellite TV, and air-conditioning. The hotel features a main building with lobby and star light bar, restaurant and coffee shop.

Wake up at 3:30AM and climb (donkey ride plus a walk up 1,500 steps) the Mountain of Moses. It was on this mountain that Moses received the Ten Commandments. It lies south of St. Catherine's Monastery and rises to a height of 7,497 feet. From the top, experience the spectacular sunrise as the dawn breaks over this land of penetrating beauty and mystery. Descend (3,300 steps to walk down which is equivalent to climbing the Statue of Liberty ten times) and have breakfast at the hotel. **NOTE: this is JAWS goal #3 for her knee.....

Visit the monastery of St. Catherine, which sits at an altitude of 5,150 feet on the reputed site of the "Burning Bush". Commissioned by Emperor Justinian, the monastery was built between the years 527 and 565 in the name of the Alexandrine martyr who died in 307. The first things you see as you approach are the gardens surrounded by cypress trees and the monastery's impressive walls. In the afternoon, drive north along the western coast of the Sinai Peninsula, cross the Suez Canal and continue to Cairo for overnight at Hotel Sheraton Heliopolis.