Tuesday, May 7, 2013

May 1, 2013 Petra, Jordan 7:00a to 7:00p

We docked in Aqaba for our journey to Petra and Wadi Rum. I had booked this tour through Ramses as well. Email:info@ramsestours.com  www.ramsestours.com

Our guide Riad and driver Mohamed were right on time and off we went! We were joined today by Rick & Janie, Ken & Tom, Julie & Jeff, Hal & Gail and Jim. Marianne was scheduled to come with us, but due to possible heat intolerance to not being up to the approx. 5 miles of walking, she decided to skip this tour. We missed her, but I think she made the right call for her.
The day actually was quite nice out (80’s) and some breeze for Petra and in the afternoon when we did Wadi Rum it had cleared up so visibility was good and the winds had died down and just as we were driving away we were seeing huge dust storms around us. So, weather wise we really lucked out.
Indiana Jones’ Last Crusade (the one where Sean Connery played Harrison Ford’s father) was set in Petra. 
Petra, the fabled “rose red city, half as old as time” is a well known ancient Nabataean city in the south of Jordan. Due to its breathtaking grandeur and fabulous ruins, it was recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985.

Inhabited since prehistoric times, this Nabataean caravan-city, situated between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea, was an important crossroads between Arabia, Egypt and Syria-Phoenicia. Petra is half-built, half-carved into the rock, and is surrounded by mountains riddled with passages and gorges. It is one of the world's most famous archaeological sites, where ancient Eastern traditions blend with Hellenistic architecture..

We were greeted by our guide and put on a nice comfortable van. We made a short stop to convert USD to local currency and we were off on our almost 1.5 hour drive to Petra. The scenery was beautiful. We saw lots of goats, camels, donkeys, Bedouins, rugged jagged mountains and it was one beautiful sight after another.  
 























 
Upon arrival our guide suggested that we walk in and ride the horses out so he could tell is all about what we were seeing. They had horse pulled carts (only 10 in all of Petra) for anyone not able to walk it. One in our party opted to do that on the way in and the rest of us walked. We met up with him at the bottom and again at the top. He missed the commentary, but still got to see the breathtaking sites.  

We walked through the narrow gorge called the Siq, which is the entrance to Petra. The beautiful red sandstone in varying shades had great carvings and natural swirls from the elements and in some places were only 16 feet wide and had towering rock walls over 650 feet tall. As we walked through we had to be looking up down and all around. There was beauty everywhere!  

Some of the sites we saw today were the Obelisk Tomb & Bab As-Siq Triclinium and the most awesome sight is Al-Khazneh known as the Treasury. It left me breathless. It dwarfs everything around it. The façade is 30 meters wide by 43 meters high. Our guide led us to it and told us just where to stand to get our first glimpse. Then you emerge and see it all. WOW! We spent some free time here amongst the hordes of people, camels, donkeys, horses and carts. Then we walked on to the Street of facades and the Theater. Rows of tombs with intricate carvings. The amphitheater is carved into solid rock and originally it could seat 3,000 but was later extended to seat about 7,000. Then we saw the Royal Tombs.  











































I wonder if the cat knows it matches the rocks?

We stopped for a restroom break and got a cold drink and our guide left us to make our own way out. He was to meet us at the bus at our meeting time. Some took carts out, some walked and the rest of us walked to where we could pick up the horses and we rode the last mile out. The horses were included in the cost, but you were to tip the horseman. Our guide said no more than $5.00 as they will try to badger you for more. Some had that experience. Greg said his horseman started bargaining how much all the way to the top. Mine was nicer and talked some politics and then at the top asked me if I wanted to gallop and I said yes. He galloped me on the horse back and forth and back and forth. It was fun. Then, he wouldn’t stop. The horse turned so sharply on one turn I almost fell off. Finally, he got me down off the horse. I tipped him and he did politely ask me for more, but didn’t push it.  
 








 
We all met back on the nice air conditioned van and were driven to a nice buffet lunch. We had to rush as we were running short on time and still wanted some time at Wadi Rum. So, we hogged down some really good Jordanian food and were on our way.  



 
We rode about 1.5 hours to the protected area of Wadi Rum, one of the most impressing desert landscapes in the world. Wadi means valley and rum is usually considered to mean "high". It’s an area of rugged mountains and red colored sand dunes and we were put into  4×4’s to tour the area. Wadi Rum also known as The Valley of the Moon. It is a valley cut into the sandstone and granite rock in southern Jordan 60 km to the east of Aqaba; it is the largest wadi in Jordan. Wadi Rum is probably best known because of its connection with the enigmatic British officer T.E. Lawrence, who was based here during the Great Arab Revolt of 1917-18, and as the setting for the film that carried his name "Lawrence of Arabia". If you remember the movie Lawrence of Arabia, you will know the scene of riders thundering out of the desert to capture a Turkish port. The Turkish port was Aqaba and it’s capture in WWI marked the beginning of the end of the Turkish empire in Arabia.
We had to climb into the bed of a truck that had bench seats and off we went. We saw lots of camels, goats and sheep, the rugged mountains and sand dunes and many Bedouins. We had to shorten our trip here to make it back to the ship on time so we only had an hour instead of 2. However, we managed to see quite a lot. There was a mother camel and a baby. So cute….
 


 













 

We saw the Seven Pillars of Wisdom which is a famous landmark named after the book by T. S. Lawrence. (Lawrence of Arabia) We also saw the Alameleh Inscriptions, which are good examples of ancient rock drawings, showing camels and other wildlife. We saw the site of Lawrence Springs where he reputedly washed during the Arab Revolt.
 
 






 
After our jeep tour we drove the 40 minutes back to the ship. What a great day and what a contrast in sights. You could easily spend a day or 2 in either site.
 




 

We got on board and showered the red dust off and went up to the buffet for dinner and then went to the show which was Woytec, a Musical Instrumentalist that played clarinet. He was very good.
Today marks the “only 2 weeks of this cruise left” point.  Ugh!
Now for a couple relaxing sea days before we return to Egypt for our final port in Egypt. Plus we get to set the clocks back 1 hour to get back on Egypt’s time zone. Yea, more sleep!

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