Days 1 - 4 With almost 20 million people Cairo is a hectic, chaotic city. Our first day includes a visit to the Sphinx and Pyramids of Giza, with a local guide (this also includes a camel ride around the Pyramids), and a visit the Egyptian History Museum in the afternoon. Entry fees and Egyptologist guide is included. From Cairo we head up to the Mediterranean coast town of Alexandria where we can visit the old coffee houses or enjoy some of the excellent seafood or take a trip to the Catacombs in the eerie subterranean Roman Necropolis full of bizarre carvings and an ancient dining room for mourners! The beaches and diving here are also excellent with wrecks of Roman Galley’s, French Warships, German U-boats and Cleopatra’s Palace. Then we drive along the coast to visit the war cemeteries at El Alamein. Winston Churchill said ‘Before Alamein we never had a victory. After Alamain we never had a defeat.’ This was the turning point of the Second World War. It is well worth paying your respects at the cemeteries and visiting the excellent War Museum which documents Montgomery’s and Rommel’s momentous battles and it also houses much of the abandoned tanks and other armour.

Days 5 - 8 From El Alamein we cross over into Libya to Apollonia where we visit Tobruk, the scene of some of the most important and viscous battles of WW 2. Here we visit the well kept Commonwealth Cemeteries, containing 6128 graves of mainly British, Australian, New Zealand and South African troops. We will also see some of the 25 kms of fortified trenches and battle remains that circled the town. Don’t forget to wear shoes here as some of the barbed wire still exists in the sand! From Tobruk it is a short drive to the ancient Greek city of Cyrene. Established in the 7th Century BC it has an outstanding history having come under the rule of Alexander the Great as well as being rebuilt by Emperor Hadrian after destruction by a Jewish revolt. Plato was also a resident of Cyrene.

Days 9 – 15 We drive along the Mediterranean coast with plenty of opportunities to freshen up with a swim from one of the many deserted beaches. Leptis Magna, one of the finest preserved Roman Cities and one of the few where you can actually still picture a living city. With colonnaded streets, a huge triumphal arch, a well preserved Roman harbour with quay side and warehouses still intact and much more, it is well worth investing in a local guide and enjoy the whole day exploring the city. We now drive down to Al Qaryat to cross the Hamadat al-Hamrah desert to the UNESCO World Heritage listed oasis town of Ghadames. Situated on an ancient desert caravan route from West Africa there is believed to have been a town here for 5000 years. Here you can feel perfectly safe as you get lost in its labyrinthine alleyways. You can also venture out of town and climb one of the sand dunes to view the spectacular sunsets. Then we move on to the small town of Nalut, which has an exceptional qasr (fortified granary reached though underground tunnel) clinging to a steep hillside as well as ancient olive oil presses.