|
|
|
Holy
Family Route :
|
Day
1: Arrival Cairo
|
|
Arrival
in Land of Pharaohs. At Cairo
International airport
you will be welcomed and
assisted through immigration
and customs by Bright Star
Tours representative, then
escorted to your hotel.
Overnight in your
Hotel in Cairo.
|
| |
|
Day
2: Cairo / Farma
|
|
Today
we will drive North from
Cairo to visit Farma
( mid-way between El Arish
and present day Port Said),
which is the first step for
the Holy Family in Egypt.
According to the sources of
the Coptic Church documented
by Pope Theophilus, and
recorded in the Coptic
Senexarium the Holy Family
proceeded from Bethlehem to
Gaza, and then to El-Zaraniq
(Know as Floussiat), 37 km
west of El Arish, then they
threaded their way until
they reached Farma. Proceed
to Ismailia.
Lunch, continue to
Tal Basta. Here
Jesus Christ asked Virgin
Mary water to drink, she
went requesting water from
the people in the city but
they refused to give her,
she returned back crying
when the lord Jesus wiping
her pure tears, and drawing
a circle on the ground,
suddenly purely water spring
appears. The holy family
drank and the Virgin Mary
washed his clothes in it.
Since 1970 and up till now,
the archaeological
excavations in Zagzig
University working in Basta
Hill under
supervision of Dr. Mohamed
Amr Mohamed Selim, the head
of ancient civilization of
the higher Institute for
Near East, and who confirmed
the presence of the Holy
spring, Dr. Mofeed Shehab
also confirmed that this
spring is the spring which
Jesus Christ drinking from
it.
After we drive towards Belbeis,
where the Holy Family rested
there in the shade of a tree
which came to be called
"The Virgin Mary's
Tree". Continue to Mostorod
(which came to be
called, in those days
‘’Al-Mahamma’’) it
means the ‘’Bathing
Place’’, a name given to
the town because the Virgin
Mary Bathed the Christ Child
and washed his clothes. It
is worthy of note that, on
their way back to Palestine,
the Holy Family stopped once
more at Mostorod
and this time, caused a
spring to gush from the
earth which still flows to
the present days. Back to
Cairo and Overnight.
(Breakfast, Lunch)
|
|
|
|
|
Day
3: Cairo / Samannoud / Sakha
|
|
After
Breakfast. Drive to Samannoud,
visiting the
El Shaheed (Martyr) Abanoub
Church also visit
a large granite
trough which, according to
local belief, was used by
the Virgin for kneading
dough and a water-well which
the Christ Child himself
hallowed. Drive to Sakha
the Coptic name of the town
"Pekha-Issus"
means "the foot of
Jesus", for the holy
Child's foot-print was
marked here, in bas-relief
on a rock. The rock was
preserved, but hidden for
centuries for fear of
robbery, and only unearthed
again 13 years ago. Back to
Cairo. Overnight in Cairo.
(Breakfast)
|
| |
|
Day
4: Cairo / Wadi El Natrun
|
|
After breakfast, leave
Cairo travel through the
desert road. We stop in Wadi
el Natrun,
situated in a valley
dotted with oases. Visit
some of the four quietly
inhabited monasteries of
the Coptic
Monasteries of
this area and learn about
Coptic faith. Back to
Cairo. Overnight in Cairo.
(Breakfast)
|
| |
|
Day
5: Cairo
|
|
After
breakfast, we set our
heading for Matariyah
and Ain Shams
(ancient Heliopolis).
At the time of the Holy
Family's arrival there, Ain
Shams was home to a large
Jewish community, who had
erected a temple -the
Synagogue of Unias- for
their workship. In Matariyah,
a tree still stand to this
day, still regularly
visited, called Mary's tree,
for the Holy Family is
believed to have rested in
its shade. Here too, the
Infant Jesus caused water to
flow from a spring from
which he drank and blessed,
and in which the Virgin
washed his clothes. She
poured the washing on to the
ground, and from that spot,
the fragrant balsam plant
blossomed. Setting out next
towards Zeitun
(the word means Olives),
where the Holy Family rested
a while visit St.Mary’s
Church where she
appeared on April 1968.
After we will visit
the Church
of the Virgin Mary in
Haret Zuweila. It
was probably built around
the AD 10th century. Proceed
to The Cathedral
of St Mark in Azbakieh-
Numerous churches attached
to the Cairo headquarters of
many of Egypt's monasteries,
also visit the Church
of the Virgin Mary (known by
the name: Ezbaweya) Back
to hotel. Overnight in
Cairo. (Breakfast)
|
|
|
|
|
| Day
6: Cairo |
|
Today
we will discover the oldest part
of the city, known as Coptic
Cairo, originally a Roman
fortress town called ‘’Babylon”.
Visit the hanging Church
(El Muallaqa) one of the oldest
churches in Egypt and the history
of a church dates to the 3rd
century A.D where the Virgin Mary,
Joseph and the baby Jesus took
refuge, after visit Saints
Sergius and Bacchus Church,
also known as Abu Serga
dating back to the 4th century
A.D.Visit sites like Synagogue
of Beni Ezra. Drive
towards Maadi. In
the quarter of Maadi we will visit
the Church of the Holly
Virgin Mary. Where the
Holy Family sought refuge from
persecution. On 12th March 1976, a
Holy Bible was found floating in
the Nile at Maadi miraculously
undamaged, it was open at the
chapter Isaiah 19:25 containing
the phrase: `Blessed
be Egypt my people’.
|
| |
|
Day 7:
Cairo / El Menya
|
In the early morning we will
travel from Cairo towards Dier
Al Garnous (Abai Issous)
the Home of Jesus 10 Kilometers
west of the village Ishnin El
Nasara - Maghagha. Nowadays
there is a church there after
the name of the Holy Virgin Mary
which goes back to the
nineteenth century beside the
western~ wall inside the church
there is a deep well.
According to tradition, the
Mimar said that the Holy Family
drank from it on their way to
Deir El-Muharraq.After cross to
the east bank of the river where
the Monastery of the
Virgin now stands upon Gabl
Al Tair (Birds
Mountain). It is known by this
name (Gabal El-Tair) because
thousands of birds gather there.
The Holy Family rested in the
cave which is now located inside
the ancient church there. Gabal
El-Tair is also called Gabal
El-Kaf ('Palm Mountain').
Coptic tradition maintains that,
as the Holy Family rested in the
shade of the Mountain, Jesus
stretched His little hand to
hold back a rock which was about
to detach itself from the
mountain-side and fall upon
them. Procced to El
Menya. Check in our
hotel. Overnight in Menya.
(Breakfast)
|
|
|
|
| Day
8: El Menya/ Assiut |
|
After
breakfast we will visit the most
meaningful destination of all in
the land of Egypt, the place where
there would be "an altar to
the Lord in the midst of the land
of Egypt". The Monastery
of Al-Muharraq nestles
against the western foothills of
the Mountain. It was built around
the area where the Holy Family
remained just over six months.
Their time was spent mainly in a
cave which became, in the Coptic
era, the altar of the Church of
Virgin Mary, built at the western
end of the Monastery compound, the
altar stone was the resting place
of the Child Jesus during the
months He dwelt there.
The whole area the Monastery and
its surroundings is redolent of
the Coptic Christian ethos. So
hallowed are its intimations, that
the Copts of Egypt named it the
Second Bethlehem.
It was here, at the very spot
where Al-Muharraq Monastery
stands, that the Angel of the Lord
appeared to Joseph in a dream, and
said "Arise, and take
the young Child and His mother,
and go into the land of Israel;
for they are dead which sought the
young Child's life" (Mattew
2:20 & 21). After
we will visit Deir el-A'dra
- Gabal Dronka (Virgin
Mary Monastry at mountain Dronka)
the monastry is built in the
mountain where there is a cave
where the Holy Family stayed for a
month (during the Nile flood)
before heading back to their
homeland on a boat.Procced towards
Assiut. Check in our hotel.
Overnight in Assiut.
. (Breakfast)
|
| |
|
Day 9:
Assiut / Cairo
|
|
Breakfast. Then drive our bus
towards Cairo. Arrive Cairo;
check in our hotel in Cairo.
Overnight in Cairo. (Breakfast)
|
| Day
10: Cairo |
| Free
day at leisure in Cairo.
(Breakfast) |
| |
| Day
11: Departure Cairo |
| After
your Breakfast you will be
transfer to Cairo airport for your
flight back home. (Breakfast) |
| |
|
ASK
... for more information or
and price ....>>>>>> |
|
|
|
|
|
|