Petra

A first glimpse of the Treasury in the “Lost City of Petra”

We docked at Aqaba this morning, the only Jordanian city on the Red Sea.  Jordan has Israel to the west, Syria to the north, Iraq to the east and Saudi Arabia to the south.

1300 passengers set out in coaches to do the two main trip of the day, a smaller group went to Wadi Rum and the larger group, including us, headed out on the Desert Highway for a 2+hrs trip to Petra. A good way to see the countryside and the Bedouin with their tents and goats, old style, and those now living in more permanent settlements with their Toyota’s for transport. I was surprised to see the amount of vegetation as we travelled north and to higher ground. They have snow in the winter and night-time frosts which provides the irrigation.

Petra was amazing. Most people will have probably seen the pictures in the media and my blip is not the best, but the whole site was as amazing as expected. The temperature was about 36 degrees C / <100 F, so a hot dusty 5 mile hike to see everything. The passageways are narrow and twisty, and visitors share them with horses, donkeys, camels and horse drawn carriages!!

Lunch was provided in the Movenpick Hotel before our hike, so we were well fed and watered in advance.

We arrived back to the ship about 8.30pm, tired and grubby. Supper was taken in the Lido (informal dining, no need for gents to wear a jacket), a bowl of chips between the pair of us and a beer. Sufficient to prevent the 3am munchies and ensure a solid 10 hrs sleep.

I have many pictures which I will sort out on return home and provide a link.

Internet time is limited, so I will respond to comments and make comments on other journals when we get home.