Escape to the City

Escapade Travel organizes tours & trips to the main touristic cities of Egypt. A short “Escapade” to the city of Alexandria, with its golden sandy beaches, or to the city of Cairo with its thousand minarets, or to Luxor & Aswan, housing more than 1/3 of the ancient treasures of the world, will leave you with a loving memory of Egypt: “The mother of the world”.

  Cairo
As ancient as history itself, Cairo occupies a singular place among world cities, with a geographical position so unique that an interchange of influence with the civilizations to which it stood witness, was made possible. In fact Cairo could be the world's only city with monuments dating back to four different historical periods: the Pharaonic, the Roman, the Christian and the Islamic. Some of the most attractive pharaonic monuments to be visited in Cairo are the famous Pyramids of Giza, the only remaining monuments of the ancient seven world wonders, the Sphinx, the Pyramid of Sakkara, Memphis & the Egyptian Museum housing priceless items of the old Egyptian civilization like the golden treasure of King Tut Ankh Amoun. The Christian monuments are mostly to be visited in the old Coptic quarters, south of the center of Cairo like the Moallaqah church, the Abu Sirga church & the Coptic Museum.

The Citadel of Salah El Din, the Fustat Mosque, Al Azhar Mosque and the Islamic houses of prominent merchants are great signs of the Islamic architecture.
Cairo, the city of the twelve million inhabitants, is the city that never sleeps. The nights of Cairo - when the magic of the East blends with the arts of the west-offers visitors a world of excitement, thrills and diverse entertainment.
Alongside the ancient city, reveling in the old glories stands modern Cairo with its modern & luxurious Hotels, international pubs & bars, modern cinema houses, theatres, the Opera House, fashion houses and shops as a witness of the enormous progress achieved by the Egyptians.
   
Alexandria
Alexandria, the emerald of the Mediterranean sea, is not only an Egyptian city on the sea shore, a trade port or a beautiful tourist coastal city, but above all, it has significant historical & cultural symbols. Alexandria was established by Alexander the Great and designed by the architect "Denokrates" in 332 B.C. It is gate throughout history for openness and communication with Europe and countries of the Mediterranean Sea.
Alexandria was, and still is, a prominent cultural beacon for knowledge seekers and the history of its famous-which was rebuilt & opened in 2002-tells the story of the dawn of culture, enlightenment and creation. Many sandy beaches stretch from east to west along the sea front boulevard, the Corniche.
The Montazah Palace, the Catacombs, the Pompeus Pillar, the Citadel of Salah El Din & the Jewerly Museum are among the tourist attractions of Alexandria.




Luxor
The name "Luxor" comes from the Arabic word el-Uqsur, the plural of el-Qasr, meaning encampment or fortification, with reference to the two military camps built there in Roman times. Modern Luxor is located along the River Nile, where ancient Luxor or "Thebes", the city described by Homer as 'the city of the hundred gates', once stood.

This city, housing two-thirds of the world monuments, dazzles visitors from all over the world. With its huge temples, colorful tombs, valleys & mountains, it certainly has a lot to offer to its visitors. Among the most important sights of Luxor are the Karnak & Luxor temples, the valley of the kings, the valley of the Queens, the hatshepsut temple & many other Nobles tombs. The precious tombs of king Tut Ankh Amoun in the valley of the kings and the magnificent tomb of Queen Nefertari in the valley of the Queens, are two sights that are not to be missed on your next trip to the city of the treasures.


Aswan
Aswan, Egypt's sunniest city and ancient frontier town, has a distinctively African atmosphere. Here the Nile is at its most beautiful, flowing through amber desert and granite rocks, round emerald islands covered in palm groves and tropical plants. Aswan has been a favorite winter resort since the beginning of the nineteenth century and it's still a perfect place to get away from it all. The original inhabitants of the southern of Egypt, the Nubians, still have distinct traditions, architecture and languages, even though many migrated either to Kom Ombo or south to Sudan after Lake Nasser swamped much of their traditional homeland.
Some of the monuments that were threatened by the waters of the Lake Nasser & the Nile have been moved to safer places, most notably the Philae, the Kalabsha & the Abu Simbel temples. The Nubian Museum has been recently built to house rescued art crafts.



The temple of Abu Simbel
"... A witness turned to stone as evidence to posterity of the power of the divine pharaoh." Not only are the two temples at Abu Simbel among the most magnificent monuments in the world but their removal and reconstruction was an historic event in itself. When the temples (280 km from Aswan) were threatened by submersion in Lake Nasser, due to the construction of the High Dam, the Egyptian Government secured the support of UNESCO and launched a world-wide appeal. During the salvage operation, which began in 1964 and continued until 1968, the two temples were dismantled and raised over 60 m up the sandstone cliff where they had been built more than 3,00 years before. Here they were reassembled, in the same relationship to each other, and covered with an artificial mountain.