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Blogs from Petra, South, Jordan, Middle East - page 3
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October 23rd 2011
So much has been written about Petra and so little does it justice. I am not certain I can succeed where better writers have failed. Here is the Wiki link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petra. An ancient city, according to a famous poem "half as old as time itself" but really only 2000 plus years, it was "lost to the west " until 1812 when it was rediscovered by a Swiss wanderer. He must have been astonished indeed to stumble upon this amazing place. The approach to the City is through a narrow canyon. It must be 8 feet wide five stories high and go on for half a kilometer. Progress is slow as it is hard not to take a picture every 100 meters. Then comes the big reveal. A faux front of an enormous building carved into the ... read more
October 22nd 2011
SOOO... a week and a bit later, and Egypt is already finished! The time went by so quickly. The ferry across to Aqaba in Jordan took a loonngggg time. We were meant to be on an express one, but we ended up on the slow one- 2 hours turned into 5 hours! We had no idea how long we were going to be on the boat (we were sitting in the port in egypt for 2 hours alone) so we got to entertaining ourselves. I decided to be henna maestro (I guess you don't decide to be a genius- it just comes naturally, no?), and decorated the hands of a few of my group mates. Just quietly, I was awesome. Photo included hehe We FINALLY got to Aqaba and met our new guide, Zuhair, at the ... read more
From the Red Sea to the Red Rose City
Published: October 25th 2011Middle East » Jordan » South » Petra
October 17th 2011
Jordan is divided into three regions: the Jordan Valley, the East Bank plateau and the desert. The fertile valley of the Jordan River is the dominant physical feature of the country’s western region, running from the Syrian border in the north, along the border with Israel and the Palestinian Territories and into the Dead Sea. The majority of the population lives in a hilly 70km strip running the length of the country known as the East Bank plateau. The remaining 80% of the country is desert, stretching into Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Mount Nebo - Madaba Mount Nebo is where Moses is said to have seen the Promised Land. He then died at the age of 120 and was said to have been buried in the area, although the exact location of the burial site ... read more
October 12th 2011
Our day trip from Amman didn’t have the early start that had been threatened. In fact, the rest of the group were so late rolling down to breakfast I began to think they’d gone without me! But no, we met at 9:30 and hit the road to Jerash. Just like every other country with some decent Roman ruins, they claim it’s the biggest, best preserved, most complete set of ruins, but in my view, none of them can match Leptis Magna. Nonetheless it’s impressive and we passed a couple of hours wandering round, soaking up the atmosphere. Back on the bus again, to the Dead Sea. I’m sure many more eloquent scribes have written about this experience but it is truly bizarre. The water is both incredibly salty and slightly oily and you can sense the ... read more
October 10th 2011
Ahlan wa Sahlan ya Shabab! I was fortunate enough to have a 3 day weekend this past week because of Egypt's Independence Day falling on Thursday, so my roommate and I decided to head to The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan! I was very excited about this trip because this would be my second time in Jordan, the first Middle Eastern country I had ever visited. After a flight delay of 5 hours (wonderful Cairo airport strike which apparently happens very frequently) we took an hour and ten minute flight to Amman and landed at 2 AM instead of 930 PM. After meeting our driver, we were off to our hostel in downtown Amman. Our driver was extremely nice and spoke Arabic with me during the entire 40 minute ride. It made me remember the absolute overwhelming ... read more
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May 27th 2011
petra day 1 today me and dad went on a bus to petra and to make things better we even saw lev and did some more traveling together through the desert. we got to petra and went to our hotel and lev went to his and then we met up again in the ancient city and had a talk about where we were staying and what we had seen which was good then we arranged a time to meet up in the afternoon for dinner and split up again. after lev had gone in his direction we went to see the ruins and temples carved into the cliff face. on the way back we saw a big temple near the center of the cliff and climbed it to the holy place however it was giant on ... read more
Petra, Timna, Fish and Theatre! (Oh- and answers to questions too)
Published: May 12th 2011Middle East » Jordan » South » Petra
May 6th 2011
Petra was one of the most amazing things I have seen. I really loved it. Jordan is a beautiful country and everyone I met there was super nice. When you first see Petra, it just looks like a big canyon. Then, you see a few drawings and sculptures. As you walk along, you think...this is cool, I guess...then, you are walking some more and you turn and you see it! The Treasury. That is when you know how Petra became a wonder of the world. The Romans thought that, at the top, there was gold - that is why it was called the Treasury. Later, they shot at it - revealing that there was no gold in it. Sorry, Romans! Even though the Treasury is Petra's biggest claim to fame, the other archeological sites there ... read more
A wonder of the World and Answers to Questions!
Published: May 11th 2011Middle East » Jordan » South » Petra
May 5th 2011
Today, I went to Petra. - one of the seven wonders of the world. Petra is in Jordan. We had to cross the border to go there. We got a new stamp on our passports. We took a bus to get to the site of Petra. From the bus window, we got to see a lot of the Jordan countryside and the people. When in Petra, we first rode horses and then hiked the rest of the way. Petra has unusual colored sand and rock formations. Some of the sand there is golden and some is red. We saw rocks that looked like fish and elephants. We also saw the Treasury, which is a burial tomb for a king. People once thought the Treasury was filled with gold, but it really wasn't. The Treasury is almost ... read more
April 10th 2011
Last year I went to Jordan. It’s amazing. I had traveled around the world heritage in Europe but I wanted to go completely different place & cultures! ! Then, I decided to go Middle East, Jordan. The tour fee became cheaper than before, but I feel it’s still a bit high cost in the travel agency. I decided to directly ask the arrangements in local travel agency. Upon arrival, the driver who can speak English meet us and then transferred to Petra. But, on the way, we stopped at Dead Sea, Madaba, Mount Nebo . Dead Sea was most beautiful place and had amazing experience. That mud is great! The skin became shiny. Of course, I floated on the water. Then, visit at Petra, the biggest attraction of Jordan. Petra was first established around the 6th ... read more
April 5th 2011
Hey all, Up at 05:30 for a delicious breakfast of cardboard cornflakes and UHT milk before departing for Petra- the ancient city of the Nabotean people. The entrance was literally at the end of Wadi Musa and very inobtrusive, you would hardly know it was there! We got our tickets but the tourist info wasn't open for maps. We went on ahead to beat the tourist crowds, waving hellos at the horse and donkey operators along the way. We walked through the long and winding Sik at 7am to reach the Treasury first. It looked like it was straight out of the photos we have seen, a stunning piece of architecture and carving. Unfortunately there was a tourist shop right beside it which we tried to ignore- it didn't lessen the experience. Got there just before ... read more
