Jordan, aqaba and petra


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Middle East » Jordan » South » Petra
October 25th 2010
Published: October 25th 2010
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AQABA, JORDAN
We arrived here from Dubai, UAE crossing the Saudi Arabia desert with round wheat cornfields seen from the airplane. These are more than enough for Saudi Arabia's need and provides even export.
We also crossed oil fields of Qatar burning oil with a large black cloud and Egypt's pyramid.
Flying into Aqaba was a magnificent sun over the Red Sea. Aqaba is Jordan's only port and houses more than 50% of the Red Sea corals which are spectacular for snorkeling.
Not so nice was the 40 C seen displayed in the bus with an upgrade every 4 minutes or so.
Jordan is a country with no water and desolate landscape. Most trees were utilized to built a railway from the Red Sea to Turkey during the occupation by Rome, 106 AD. After Rome's ocupation came Byzantine, Arabia, Egypt rule, then Ottomans who took over with T.E. Lawrence help in 1917. After the 1st WW, the British secured Acaba.
PETRA, greek : rock , is a city which is chiseled in the red sandstone rock formation, established around 6th century BC which served as stop for caravan and silk road trading. The ancient Nabataens conquered the flashfloods and built drainage systems to transport water over long distance to the city creating an oasis. Most famous by the films of Indiana Jones was the front of the treasury ( Al Khazneh) which is opened after passing a steep narrow gorge "siq" ( shaft ). Among others, an earthquake destroyed the city 363.




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