JORDAN 2

Day 67 -  After 4 days of travel through the beautiful, narrow channel of the Red Sea with Saudi Arabia to the east and Africa and Egypt to the west we arrive at Aqaba,  Jordan

If you saw the movie Lawrence center of Arabia, you'll never forget the sea of riders thundering out of the desert to capture a port called Aqaba - a beautiful resort area with sandy beaches, clear blue waters and an Interesting coral reef.  A few hours north is the ancient city of Petra, one of the absolute must see sites of Jordan. 

Jordan is about 38000 square miles.  Pop. 6 million.  Currency $1 US = .71 Jordan Dinar.

We sailed into Aqaba early Easter Sunday past Egypt and Isreal.  The Israeli border is 9 miles from the port and some passengers went there independently.  We could see all 3 countries from our docked ship.

We did the tour to Petra which is a long day - 2 hour bus ride both ways.  The name a Petra comes from the Greek word for rock.

The walking tour of the lost city of Petra covers around 5 miles, strolling through a narrow gorge called the Siq which is the entrance to Petra.  Carved in red sandstone this ancient city has numerous  monuments and royal tombs.  It is hard to describe Petra.  The buildings were all carved out of the sandstone formations but most in no way resemble caves.  There was a lot of elaborate work on the facades of the buildings.  It rained the night before we arrived so water was running freely down the cobblestone and rocky pathways.  The pathways are very uneven and you must watch each step you take while also watching out for camels, horses, horse drawn buggies and mules.  We hoped to hike to the Monastery but didn't make it all the way to the top.  There are 800 steps leading to the Monastery and, due to time constraints, we turned around when we had  climbed about 300.

The scenery is outstanding but there is a lot of garbage along the highways and even in Petra.
Our tour guide was very proud of his country but knew that a lot of the people trying to sell us souvenirs would try to rip us off.  A lot of their souvenirs are made in China or India and anything made locally was quite expensive especially when you realize the Jordan Dinar is worth more than the US dollar.