AAA Traveler - Spring 2019 - 26

Mediterranean. Unveiled in 2002 close
to the site of the Great Library - the
largest archive of knowledge in the
ancient world - Bibliotheca
Alexandrina is a stunning tribute to its
predecessor, lavishly embellished with
carved letters, pictographs and
hieroglyphs from more than 120
different scripts. With the Four Seasons
Hotel Alexandria as home base, there
are opportunities to explore sites such
as Pompey's Pillar erected around 300
A.D. and wander along the seaside
promenades as well as the palm-shaded
gardens of Montazah Palace.

facilities along the river, enabling
passengers to avoid the crowds. On
board, you'll savor skillfully prepared
international cuisine and spacious
accommodations with large viewing
windows, rain showers, LCD
televisions and other comforts.
A stirring introduction to the Nile
experience comes on the first evening
with a sound-and-light show at Philae
Temple, a spectacle of lights and music
telling the story of the Egyptian god
Osiris and goddess Isis against a
magical backdrop of soaring towers,
obelisks and relief carvings. The next

HISTORIC CRUISE

morning, your ship docks at one of
Egypt's unusual sites, the Temple of
Kom Ombo built to honor both the
fearsome crocodile god Sobek and the
falcon-headed sun god Horus. Horus
is also featured prominently during the
next day's visit to Edfu, where
falcon-headed statuary and reliefs are
throughout the magnificent temple
many consider the best preserved
monument in Egypt.
The next few days are punctuated by
visits to spectacular ancient sites, but
there's also time for leisurely cruising
along the Nile, with a timeless
panorama of palm groves, mud brick
villages and hand-hoed fields of corn

Upon returning to Cairo, the
fascinating Nile cruise portion of the
journey begins following a flight to
Abu Simbel in southern Egypt to visit
the temples of Ramses II. These
massive twin temples with rock relief
figures were relocated in 1968 to a
hill above the Aswan High Dam
before their original site was flooded
during the creation of Lake Nasser.
You then fly to Aswan to board the
Oberoi Zahara for a five-night cruise
along the Nile in a style befitting the
ancient pharaohs. With just 27
staterooms, the luxury vessel is small
enough to enjoy intimate docking

and sesame that seem to have changed
little since biblical times. You'll also
have an opportunity to sail on a felucca,
a traditional wooden sailing vessel that
relies on the winds and river currents.

KINGS + QUEENS
The last few days of the journey
reveal some of Egypt's most storied
sites, including the temples of Karnak
and Luxor grandly connected by the
nearly two mile-long Avenue of
Sphinxes. Among the many
astonishing sights are Luxor's carvings
of people clapping, beating drums
and performing acrobatics, scenes so
vibrant they almost seem to leap off
the ancient walls.
Opposite Luxor on the river's west
bank, the dramatic Temple of
Hatshepsut is built into a half circle
of cliffs, an architectural masterpiece
of stepped platforms and pillared
porticoes built as a funerary temple
for one of Egypt's great queens. The
temple lies at the entrance of the
Valley of the Kings, perhaps most
famous as the site of King Tut's tomb,
but also containing a vast network of
underground burial chambers built
from the 16th to 11th centuries B.C.
As you descend into the pharaohs'
tombs, protected from centuries of
desert sun, the wall paintings of birds,
snakes, boats and other symbols in
eye-popping shades of blue, yellow,
red and white are so vivid they seem
to have been painted yesterday.
But this sense of timelessness is part
of the fascinating contradiction that is
Egypt, a place of antiquity where
many of its deepest secrets continue
to unfold.

Learn more about this exciting itinerary (and others) at one of our "Discover Egypt" events in
Charlotte, N.C., and Greenville, S.C.! See Navigator for more information, or visit AAA.com/Events!

AAA Traveler - Spring 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AAA Traveler - Spring 2019