Blogs from South, Jordan, Middle East - page 35

Aqaba, Jordan. The principal reason for stopping here is to get off and ride a bus for 2 and a half hours to see Petra. Petra is a fantastic underground city carved out of stone. There is no way to describe it - you have to go and see it for yourself. For now, the best thing to do is Google it and look at the photographs. Do not ever miss the opportunity to see Petra, one of the seven wonders of the world. We did see Petra in 1996, so we merely rode into the small Arab city of Aqaba, looked around for a bit and came back to the ship. Aqaba is interesting because it is adjacent to the city of Elat, Israel. Despite all the friction and war on Israel's borders, Jews and ... read more

I cannot find the words to describe this awe inspiring city; just look at the photos!... read more

See letter in English below Nuestra pequeña caravana se sentía intimidada y se fue quedando en silencio, temerosa y avergonzada de hacer ostentación en su pequeñez en presencia de tan majestuosas montañas. -T. E. Lawrence- Sunset Camp, 25/01/07 ¡Hola Lou! El lugar donde he pasado estos días ha sido el lugar más bonito que he visitado en el país. Quizás sea porque es el primer desierto que visito, un desierto que no es de arena y piedras que se pierden en el horizonte. Es un desierto lleno de jebels, montañas enormes de roca roja, marrón o amarilla que se elevan en ocasiones a más de 600 metros sobre las arenas naranjas del desierto. La vegetación consiste principalmete en arbustos de cinco palmos de altura, que junto a las muchas y escondidas surgencias de agua hac... read more

Next we drove to the Red Sea and bid adieu to our Egyptian tour host, Tommy, and Egyptian guide, Yassir, who were afraid they would drown when we walked across the sea on dry ground. As it turned out, we had to use a boat, so they could have made it, but we had another guide waiting for us on the Jordanian shore. Moses and the Israelites walked across the Red Sea and when Pharaoh’s army tried to follow, they did drown. It’s not known exactly where the children of Israel crossed the sea, but it was definitely not on a diesel-powered ferry boat like ours. We landed at Aqaba at the southern tip of Jordan where three countries come together (Egypt, Israel and Jordan) at the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba a part ... read more

After a cold night at our first hotel, we checked out in the morning and moved to the El Gee hotel down the street. We then went out and bought food for lunch before heading down the steep road towards Petra, about 1 km away. Tour groups had began arriving, but we quickly bought our tickets and headed down the path toward the Siq - the rock entrance to Petra. Alongside the path, horse drawn carts and horse back riders galloped along a parallel roadway. In my mind, I pictured that we would walk though a rock chasm and quickly be facing Petra. In fact, this canyon seems to run on forever. Beginning relatively wide, the rock cliffs on either side quickly close in narrowing the pathway to a few meters in places. The texture of ... read more