Blogs from Petra, South, Jordan, Middle East - page 23

I left for the resort town of Eilat the following morning, waking up at 6am to catch the 7am bus. The ride went off without a hitch. Four and a half hours later, I was in Eilat. Since Lee left me the name of the hostel, I looked it up in my guidebook and walked about 5 min. out of the bus station to the hostel. Needless to say, it was warm and sunny, right around 1130am. I wasn't sure if Lee was going to be around, but I checked into the room he already payed for. He wasn't there, so I decided to go and see some of Eilat. Earlier, I read about activities like scuba diving, snorkeling, hiking, and an underwater aquarium. None sounded interesting enough, since just on the other side of ... read more

Bye Bye Moubarak! Voila déja presqu'une semaine que nous avons dit "bye bye" à l'Egypte! Nos derniers jours au pays des pyramides nous aurons tout de même laissé de très belles images en tête. Entre autre, nous avons fait l'ascension du Mont Moise durant la nuit. Pour votre info, c'est sur ce mont que Moise aurait reçu les 10 commandements de la part de Dieu... Il y faisait EXTREMEMENT froid mais ça en valait le coup car le lever du soleil était d'une éblouissante beauté. Pour poursuivre dans le thême biblique, au pied de la montagne se trouve le monastère Sainte-Catherine, reconnu pour abriter en ses murs le buisson ardent. Celui-la même qui aurait pris en feu sans se consumer lors de l'appel de Dieu à Moise. Finalement, on a voulu garder un souvenir mémorable ... read more

Landing in Jordan after a 7-hour flight over a large portion of the Middle East was a bit of shock. I had such a lovely family/home situation going on in India that it left tears in my eyes when I left. I literally left a piece of my heart there but lucky for me I’ll be going back in a few weeks to reunite with what I’ve left behind. On our second day in the first Arab country that Dad and I have ever visited we chose to visit the ancient Roman city of Jerash and the partially demolished Crusader castle of Qala’at ar-Rabad. In its heyday Jerash had more than 15,000 residents and was a fully functional Roman city with beautiful theatre, column-lined promenades and temples dedicated to various gods. Apparently the city rose to ... read more

I walked on into the darkness, guided by a series of dimly flickering candle lanterns. The candlelight revealed the sandy ground and about ten feet of the wind-worn walls of the narrow Siq in a mysterious, red glow. It was a cool night, yet the sand felt warm on my sandaled feet. Despite the steady flow of tourists walking in front of me and behind me, all was silent. Every one of us was completely lost in the moment, eagerly waiting and wondering if what we had come to see would appear just around the next corner. Slowly our procession wound its way deeper into the narrow canyon. The star-filled sky was hidden from our view, except for a narrow sliver that flowed like a sparkling river across the shadows of the upper part of the ... read more

Match me such a marvel save in eastern clime / a rose red city half as old as time. Petra is astonishing. What more, indeed, can be said? I found a car and driver to take me there and arrived at about 8:30 this morning. Al- Siq, the entrance, a 1.2 km walk through a fissure in sandstone rock; up to 200 metres high in places and only a few across; streaked with shades of pink and red and yellow and brown is a sight to behold in itself, but the anticipation of glimpsing the treasury, as you approach it; mounts, until finally there she is bathed in the golden morning sun. Apparently carved in the 1st century BC as a tomb for a Nabataean king, it is awe inspiring and at the end of a ... read more