Upcoming Jewels of the Nile Travelers Aug-Nov 2022
Hi,
My husband and I are traveling on the Oct 2 Jewels of the Nile Itinerary. This will be our 1st Tauck trip and first time to Egypt. I have read the trip recaps from last November and February, but have not seen anything more recent. We are arriving 2 days early and staying 1 extra night. From the documentation, it looks like this tour does not include the “Necropolis of Memphis” (Saqquara, Memphis, Dashur) which is included in the J&E tour, so are thinking we’re will book our own trip to those sites. Am wondering the likelihood whether those sites could be included even though not in documentation? We would likely do that our 1st full day, so before the Giza tour day. Also, I read that the Khan al-Khalili is great to as a private tour. Am wondering if the group has any other recommendations for our other free time in Cairo. Appreciate it!!
Comments
Tauck doesn't run these tours after early April- just too dang hot.
We visited Saqqara on J&E in March, however we did not spend a lot of time there, nor for that matter at Giza. Our day started in Giza where we did a guided walk by the Great Pyramid (no time to enter), visited the Sphinx, then rode the bus on the far side of the plateau for a different view photo op and camel rides. We then headed to lunch at the Palm near Saqqara (eats up too much time) before visiting Saqqara itself. At Saqqara we had the opportunity to enter the small (rubble) pyramid of Teti I and the nearby mastaba tomb of Mereruka. Then we went over to the step pyramid of Djoser where we went through the colonnaded entrance and had a little time to walk around- it is a huge complex. We only saw Dahshur- its Bent, Red, Black pyramids, etc. from a distance (2+ km)- there is no direct road between the two. All a little disappointing for someone like me who has never met a ruins or tomb he didn't like.
If you look at my photo-heavy review- you'll see my solution. We spent an entire day in Dahshur and Saqqara. It still wasn't enough but many would consider it overkill. I actually entered the Bent Pyramid, the Serrapeum, a couple more mastabas, including the mastaba of Ti which some consider better than Mereruka's, etc. We ran out of time before I had a chance to enter the recently renovated and opened Step Pyramid- it has numerous subterranean rooms and burial chambers and around 3 miles of corridors below ground! That would have taken a lot more time than we had. I had researched and planned much of this in the years during COVID and worked closely on our plan with a private guide. We decided to forego the ruins of the city of Memphis and open air museum, low return for the time required.
I don't know if any tours have gone to the Khan al-Khalili market. They stopped going there due to COVID. Some have had private guides take them.
J&E and Jewels tours start again at the end of August (still too hot at that time!!!!).
Thank you AlanS! I did see your review, absolutely fabulous. I think we will plan to do our own tour of Dahshur and Saqqara especially if there are newly opened sites. It’s really hard to tell from guidebooks or online information what is open. It seems a shame that the included Giza tour is fairly limited. Would you recommend the private guide that you used?
One thing that we are worried about is what will be available at the Egyptian museum if they are a month away from opening nthe GEM.
Also, as a newbie to Tauck tours, any recommendations? We typically travel independently so this will be different for us!
We were on this tour in December 2021. We came to Cairo a couple of days early and did a private tour of Saqqara and Dashur one day, going inside the step and bent pyramids. It was a bit strenuous in the heat, but we were glad we did it. We also went to the Serapeum and a couple of Mastabas. I do recommend this, as they were not covered on the Tauck tour. I also highly recommend going to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, in Cairo, which had a wonderful display of Royal Mummies, very well displayed with English explanations-you don’t need a guide. It was a very inexpensive Uber ride from our hotel, the Fairmont. Finally we had an outstanding walking food tour called “bellies en route” one afternoon. Probably the best food tour we’ve ever taken. Enjoy your trip—we had a wonderful time.
There are a ton of "newly discovered" but "not open" diggings in Saqqara, e.g. the deep burial shaft and complex, near pyramid of UNAS and just outside and south of Djoser's compound near the Persian tombs- in addition to a number of tombs down there they found a complete embalming/mummification workshop. Unfortunately, most of the new discoveries have not been opened to the public. However, within the last few years some of the biggies were stabilized, repaired and re-opened to the public, e.g. pyramid of Djoser and Bent Pyramid.
As I think I mentioned in my review, it appeared they were getting ready to open a few tombs in the Bubasteion area, e.g. tomb of Wahtye and the cat burial tombs. There were some interpretive signs installed outside, but the whole area was roped off and archeological equipment, including a few traditional winches (tambora), tents, etc. were still there in March. There is still so much to discover. You really need to do a deep dive and research Saqqara to truly appreciated it. You can be standing just a few feet away from a tomb and never know it. There was an ongoing dig just a few yards from the Serapeum when we visited.
Too much to see and so little time!! I will send a PM with guide info.
I wouldn't worry about that, the old museum is still stacked to the gills with stuff- you could spend an entire day there, and still not see it all.
Saqqara and Dahshur are a 20 - 30 min. drive from the Marriott Mena House in Giza if the traffic isn't bad. It can be much longer if the traffic is bad or you are coming from downtown- the roads aren't great. There is no road directly connecting Saqqara with Dahshur- a section of military reservation divides the two. To get from one to the other you must first head east to the Nile greenbelt, populated agricultural area. I would never attempt going to these places without a knowledgeable driver, or frankly without a good, English-speaking guide. Other than the Palm there are no nice places to eat near Saqqara and no services at all in the archaeological area. The one small place to eat near the Serapeum was closed some time ago. There are different tickets also, depending on what you want to see. I'm not sure the Department of Antiquities web site has the current or correct prices.
If you plan on entering any of the open pyramids in Dahshur, e.g. Red Pyramid, Step Pyramid, your legs, and back should be in good shape. I believe I described the long, steep, access to the Bent Pyramid that you must traverse bent over, facing backwards up towards the entrance. Some folks have remarked their legs were like jelly after entering and exiting just one of these two! Also, due to the distances involved, both driving and walking, do not over estimate what you can see in a day!! I actually trained for this trip, swimming, but mostly fast walking 7 mi. per day in single sessions, without stopping.
Also, anyone inclined to get claustrophobia in the slightest should think twice about entering the Dahshur pyramids. There was one narrow tunnel that connected two chambers in the Bent Pyramid that I had to traverse on hands and knees. The passages and chambers are lighted, but not always well lighted. While I'm sure there were/are spiders, I didn't see many, but there were a lot of bats.
Thank you SnJ and AlanS for your recommendations!!
Jill - You are on the October 2nd tour. We are on the October 6th tour. I assume you have received your final documents from Tauck. I'm curious what, if any, changes were made to the itinerary for your tour from the itinerary on the website.
For our tour the following changes were made and presented in the final documents from what is in the itinerary on the website:
1) Day 2 - Replaced entry to Solar Boat Museum, which is being incorporated into the GEM, with a visit to Saqqara and the Step Pyramid.
2) Day 5 - Eliminated horse and carriage ride to/from Temple of Horus (probably too hot for horse and carriage ride)
3) Day 6 - Eliminated visit to the Nubian village
4) Day 7 - Added a visit to Aswan High Dam
5) Day 9 - Added a visit to Ben Ezra Synagogue and moved free time from in the Khan El Khalili Market to the hotel
alan S, can you help me find where your review is posted.
Thanks,
DebbyLA
Debby, Here is the quick answer:
https://forums.tauck.com/discussion/15494/on-the-road-again/p1
My report is spread across multiple posts in that thread.
For future reference and as a tutorial for others- there are (at least) three ways to find old posts and threads-
In the first method, if you know the category of the post and forum, you can go to the category list at the right side of the screen, in this case "Egypt & Jordan" or "Egypt", then select "Jordan & Egypt, Petra to the Pyramids." You'll see all the posts/threads listed from newest to oldest. There will be multiple pages. Scroll down until you find what you want. If you know the author, it is best to look at "Started by" column because the Discussion title may not be a good indicator, e.g. the title for my report is "On the Road Again."
Another way is to use a simple search. At the top right of the forum page, below your user name, is a search box. Pick a term that is likely to appear in the post you are looking for. For my sample simple search I used "Saqqara." When you enter the term a pop-up box will appear with a few results, but after you hit Enter/Return you will see a list of all posts where "Saqqara" appears. The problem with this is that it will return any result by anyone where term "Saqqara" appears. lt also appears the list is not truly chronological. The selection of a good search term can sometimes be a challenge.
You can also do a refined search. Start out by entering your search term, hit return, then click on the down arrow at the right of the search term box in the middle of the screen. That will take you to a screen where you can add the "Author"in this case AlanS. You don't need to know the exact spelling, the software will give you a list of likely matches. Select one from the list or enter the user name and hit "Search". You can also refine your search further with dates, but I won't go into that now, since, in most cases, people don't know when a post was made. As to refining by category, that is a toss-up- you would normally chose one, but it is best to leave it as (All) as I did because lately a number of folks have been posting J&E, etc. topics in the "Jewels of the Nile" and vice versa, or even in the "General" categories.
DebbyLA - Be warned. If you search on AlanS it will return six bazillion hits! 😂
AlanS is one of the most prolific posters. He is a treasure trove of information.
Smiling Sam -
Just saw your post and am glad that I did! I had not compared the itinerary to what is published on the web. We have all of the same changes that you mentioned. I had booked a private tour to Saqqara for a previous day but thinking I may cancel because it is now on our Day 2.