The Fabulous Nile

Original Travel is proud to announce two exclusive itineraries for clients to see some of the highlights of Egypt in the company of expert guides Anthony Sattin and Sylvie Franquet, and enjoy five nights aboard an elegant replica of a 19th century dahabiyya cruising boat along the Nile.

Here is the itinerary for both trips:

Day 1
Arrive in Cairo

Day 2
The next few days in Cairo and Luxor are going to be pretty busy, but there's so much to see and you'll have time to slow down once when you get on the boat. (You can always opt out of visiting sights if there is something you would rather do). The group will be accompanied by an Egyptian guide, who will share the talking with Anthony.

The first day in Cairo will be an ancient day. You will drive to Saqqara to visit the earliest of all pyramids, the Step Pyramid and the excellent Imhotep Museum with its early artefacts. In the afternoon, you will visit the famed Great Pyramid of Giza, only survivor of the seven wonders of the ancient world, and see the ancient funerary boat, buried alongside the pharaoh and believed to have been used to bring his body to its final resting place.

Day 3
Catch flight to Luxor

Rest of the day spent on the West Bank. You will see the lesser-visited, but very beautiful Tombs of the Nobles (good for a glimpse of daily life in ancient Egypt), the workers’ tombs and either the Ramesseum or Medinet Habu.

Day 4
An East Bank Day. Luxor city is built around one of the world's largest and most extraordinary religious complexes, the temples of Karnak and Luxor. You will spend the morning at Karnak before visiting Luxor Museum. After lunch in a great downtown restaurant, you will visit Luxor Temple before returning to the hotel on the West Bank.

Day 5
Today you will check out of the hotel to see the Valley of the Kings. From there you have an hour's drive to Esna, where you will visit the small Roman-era temple, and stroll through the local souk before boarding the dahabiya, your home for the next five nights.

The dahabiyya is a replica of a 19th century boat built for leisurely cruising on the Nile. The cabins are all have en-suite with a bathroom, and with windows onto the river. There is a long wooden deck with a polished floor, with comfortable chairs and sofas, and a dining table under the canvas awning. There is also a large salon in case the weather chases you below deck, but you can expect to spend most of your time on the main deck that extends most of the length of the boat.

While you have lunch, the boat will sail south. The dahabiya has two enormous sails. For short hops or if there is no wind, you will be pulled by a tug. An afternoon to relax. Over drinks before dinner, there'll be a talk to conjure up the spirits of people who travelled before you up the Nile, including Gustave Flaubert and Florence Nightingale.

Day 6
One of the main stops today, El Kab, is beyond the reach of big cruise boats. This rarely visited place is mostly ruined, but was an early capital of Upper Egypt and played a key role in Egyptian history. You will also walk up to some wonderful tombs cut into the hillside above the ruined town.
From there you will sail to the very well preserved Temple of Edfu, built during the Greco-Roman period, and reached by horse-drawn carriage.

Day 7
The river is the main attraction on this day of lounging reading, resting, and of gently shifting views.
If the going is good, in the afternoon you may walk along the Wadi el Chatt, a rocky valley inscribed with hieroglyphs and prehistoric images of the wild animals that once roamed the region. You will dock for the night at Jebel Silsileh, the quarry that provided stone for many of Luxor's finest monuments, including Luxor Temple. Large cruise boats are forbidden to stop here, which adds to the calm and mystique of the place. In the evening, Anthony will read from his book The Pharaoh's Shadow, about his search for Egypt's surviving ancient culture.

Day 8
You will visit the amazing quarry in the morning, walking through the cutaway hillside where kings and masons have left their mark at several beautiful shrines. Later stops might include a village or a café, all backed by rich farmland and the ever-closer desert. In the evening, Anthony will tell stories from ancient Egypt.

Day 9
Kom Ombo is less well preserved than some of the temples already visited, but it is one of the best-sited temples along the Nile and one of the most unusual structures the ancients built. You’ll dock some miles north of Aswan for a last dinner on board

Day 10
You will leave the boat at Aswan and visit Philae, the site of the legendary Temple of Isis. There will be an extra option of visiting Ramses II's famous temple of Abu Simbel, an excursion by airplane. Please let us know if this might be of interest. You will fly back to Cairo in the afternoon.

On arrival in Cairo you will be met and transferred to your hotel.

Day 11
A day in Islamic Cairo. You’ll start at the newly opened Museum of Islamic Art and then visit the Old City to see some of the world's most extraordinary mosques. There will then be some time to shop in the souks, or stop for tea and a waterpipe before heading back to the modern city for dinner.

Day 12
You will spend the morning in the Egyptian museum before being transferred to the airport in time to check in for your flight back to London.

Sylvie Franquet arrived in Cairo to study Arabic at Cairo University, fell in love with the city and stayed to work as a model, teacher, guide and tour company manager. Although now based in London, Sylvie returns to Egypt for a couple of months each year and has written about it widely in the press and in guide books. Sylvie also makes accessories and jewellery with materials picked up on her travels, which she has sold in boutiques around the world and has been featured in Vogue and other magazines.

Anthony Sattin also arrived in Cairo for a holiday and went home with a lifelong passion. On one research journey to Cairo, he met Sylvie and soon relocated; they were married on the Nile the following year. Anthony has written about Egypt in a number of books, including the The Pharaoh's Shadow, a search for Egypt's surviving ancient culture and his highly acclaimed latest book A Winter on the Nile: Florence Nightingale and Gustave Flaubert and the Temptaions of Egypt. He has made radio and TV documentaries and written about Egypt in a range of British and international publications, including the Sunday Times. The Daily Mail described him as 'a cross between Indiana Jones and a John Buchan hero.' Conde Nast Traveller recently listed him along with Michael Palin and Bill Bryson as one of the key influences on travel writing.