DAY 47 This morning is a free day in Damascus. We take our time and then head off for Francine to pay and collect her jewellery. Love it and bought another ring as a gift. We head off in taxis for the public intercity bus station. We have booked seats and are off to Palmyra in the northern desert. 3 ½ hours later we arrive in the centre of the Syrian desert. We stay at a quaint hotel and would have been beautiful in the 1950's when first built. You can still see a lot of the art deco finishes. We [View Full Entry]

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DAY 45 Today we say goodbye to Jordan and head off to Syria. INFO Syria has a coast line on the Mediterranean. It is bordered by the countries of Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine and Israel. Syria is a dictatorship. The previous president (Hafaz) was a true dictator and ruled with an iron fist. In saying this he also brought stability to the country as for thirty years prior to his rule there had been many coups. Not long before his death the President's eldest son and heir, which he had been grooming for the role was killed in a car [View Full Entry]

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DAY 41 Up early this morning in the desert camp for flat bread with butter and cherry jam and hot tea. We are taking the 4WD back to the main road to catch our bus that is taking us to Wadi Mousa. The ruins of Petra are within the region of this town.. Petra is one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. It was the hone of the biblical Edomites back in 1200BC. It was also the strong hold of the Nabataeans, who were 6th century (C). Arabic nomads. They were good warriors and established a wealthy and powerful [View Full Entry]

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DAY 42 A FREE DAY!! There is nothing planned for us today. We decide to sleep in a little and to work on our blog. But it is Friday and most places / shops are closed in the morning. However we find that the silver shop is open and trek down the big hill to shop, we find some really fabulous things. Moonstone and onyx are locally mined in Jordan so we find some really nice things. Each item averages about 20 USD or less. We of course come out of there with a little bag of goodies. We decide to [View Full Entry]

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DAY 43 We leave Petra today via the King's Highway. For centuries this road has been used by the caravans trading to / from the holy lands to the far eastern lands. It was the major passage for all travelers. Our first stop this morning is at the ruins of the Kerak Crusaders Castle. Originally called Kir Heres 29 C. ago as it is referred to in the bible. It took the crusaders 20 years to erect their massive castle and was finished in 1161. It was the the residence of the most important lord in the Crusader Kingdom. But a [View Full Entry]

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DAY 44 Today is Sunday and we have the opportunity to go this mornings Mass at St. George's Church, a Greek Orthodox church. It is also famous for housing an ancient mosaic map of Jerusalem. We dress in skirts, shirts and head scarves. Our leader said we did not need the scarves but we felt we should respect the religion as we had seen some of the local women wear them. Mass starts at 7am and goes to 10am, We get there about 8:15 and stay till 9:00. The women sit in the middles rows of pews and the men sit [View Full Entry]

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DAY 40 We depart Aqaba this morning for the Wadi Rum protected area. We change to 4WD after a couple of hours on the bus. The ride was bumpy and no real thrills other than the natural beauty of the area. This area was created in 1998 and it covers 720 square kilometers of desert landscape from this valleys of sand and mountains of stone. Several Bedouin tribes live in and around the protect area earning most of their income from tourism. Our first stop is to view the 7 pillars of Wisdom, then off to Lawrence's spring and to the [View Full Entry]

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We have time for lunch and head off to our scuba diving lesson. As we get the correct sized gear and pay Francine sees a reusable waterproof camera for sale and buys it. An introductory talk is given we suit up and head into the water. We each have our own instructor. Practicing our breathing we paddle out to the reef area. Angie and Fran are separated and meet momentarily during the dive. Photo opportunity. Angie strikes the pose and Fran almost loses her mouth piece with laughter. We dive to about 5-7 meters and are close enough to touch the [View Full Entry]

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DAY 38 Up this morning to head to St Catherine's Monastery at the foot of the valley to Mount Sinai. St Catherine's Monastery was constructed between 527 and 565 AD. It was built around what was thought to be Moses' Burning Bush which has a chapel built atop of it. It has priceless works of art, including Arab mosaics, Greek and Russian icons, western oil paintings , fine sacerdotal ornaments, . It also has one of the largest and most important collections of illuminated manuscripts in the world (the Vatican has the largest). The collection has consists of some 4 500 [View Full Entry]

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DAY 37 - Sunday, 17 May 2009 Ring, Ring!?! Oh that's our 5AM wake up call. We leave Cairo early because of a long drive to the Sinai. Our new group comprises of Wendy & Ray from the last trip (NZ), Diana (AUS), Vicky(AUS), Robin(AUS) who is also an Occupational therapist. Angie is wondering if she talks shop can she deduct this trip from her taxes? Daniel and Rachel (AUS), May (Malta) who is a speech therapist and David (IRE), a total of 12. Jess is our energetic NZ leader. She has been doing tours here in the middle east for [View Full Entry]

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