The September tour to Egypt by Travelon Ltd was a resounding success and due to the huge demand will venture on their 3rd tour during February’10.
The tour took place during 19th to 28th September with the participation of Sri Lankans & a U.S expatriate residing in Sri Lanka. The group travelledfrom Colombo to Alexandria via Sharjah on Air Arabia which is a UAE based company which deploy brand new A 320’s with an average age of not more than 3/5 years.
On arrival the group was accorded a warm welcome byMr. Ahamed Marmar of Egypt Travel online, a destination management company based in Cairo. The group visited the most important sites of Alexandria namely the Citadel (with the submerged Light House – which is one of the7 Wonders of the Ancient World) Montazza Palace, Catacombs, Pompei’s Pillar, Roman Amphie -Theater and of course the renowned Alexandria Bibliotheque (Library) which has evencharacters fromthe Singhala alphabet.!!
After a brief stay at Alexandria which has the Mediterranean sea frontage the group reluctantly said good- bye to this bustling city with over 5 Million population& headed south to the Capital city of Cairo. In Cairo the highlight was of course the 3 Pyramids, Sphinx & the CairoMuseum which contains the Tut An Khamon Mummies& the Treasures. After shopping at the Papyrus factory& perfumery the group boarded the “ Nile Express- Sleeper Train” from Giza station at8 p.m. to spend the night in a luxury train, which would take them to Aswan by 10 a.m. the next morning. Needless to say tasty meals were served on board for dinner& b’fast & the conductor turned the seats in to cozy & comfortable sleeping quarters in a matter of minutes. This was a welcome change for the Sri Lances who had endless “horror stories” experiencing Indian trains on their “ Buddhist circuit” tours to Bodgaya.
At the Aswan station the group was welcomed by the tour guide Mr. Zakaria with a coach based in Aswan & the group had the opportunity to see the world’s longest dam the “ Aswan High Dam “ with 4 km in length across the mighty Nile & built during President Abdul Nassar’s era in 1960’s. They also visited the unfinished Oblix & NubianVillage.
After checking-in to our luxury Nile Cruise “ Nile Crocodile” the group undertook the most important site visit of the “Upper Egypt” Abu Simbel temple which is dedicated to King Ramses 2 & Queen Nefertiti. Abu Simbel which is situated about 250 km from Aswan across the SaharaDesert is reached by a vehicle convoy with Army & Police escort. It is reported that at least 5000 tourists visit Abu Simbel daily.
With the Nile Cruise sailing away from Aswan to Luxor & the river flowing towards the Mediterranean via Cairo the group visited KomomboTemple dedicated to God Horus, Edfu & Esna water lock which is an engineering marvel used daily to cross the river Nile by the vast number of Cruise Ships.
When the ship docked at Luxor the visit to Karnak temple was the highlight (night – sound & light laser show)along with Valley of Queens ( for Mummies )& QueenHatshepsutsTempleon the West Bank of the Nile .
Luxour shopping was a highlight with the Sri Lankan group & the final departure from Egypt was from a remote town called Assiut which operates only a Military airport, but however serviced by Air Arabia. With the group traveling from Luxury to Assiut to connect the flight the group was able to experience a whole new concept of rural living in Upper Egypt and according to Assiut airport authorities it is the first time that a Sri Lankan tour group has ever travelled through this airport. It is also probable that the Assiut ( ATZ) airport saw the 1st ever foreign tour group through their doors.
The next full comprehensive tour to Egypt will be during 18thto 28th Feb 2010.The tour group is seen in front of the Pyramids/ and Abu Simbel.
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