Jordan 2007
Sunday 20th May Tel Aviv to Amman, Jordan
We left Tel Aviv early and travelled through
We weren’t very impressed with
Jerash is amazing. You
can see evidence of Greek, Roman and Byzantine civilizations and all
the typical parts of a big city of its era: walls, gates (made by
Hadrian), hippodrome for horse racing (a la Ben Hur), forum,
amphitheatre, temples, churches, shops, streets…. It’s all so original and authentic but much has still to be excavated. We walked around for 1½ hours in the heat, but coped OK.
Then it was on to
In
The
Biblical nations of the Amorites, Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites and
Nabateans lived here and Moses warred against them as he led the
Children of Israel into the Promised Land. David sent Uriah the Hittite to his death by sending him to fight in
Monday 21st May
We drove 3 ½ hours south towards the
The
Greeks under Alexander the Great couldn’t conquer Petra but the Romans
finally did in 106AD when they cut off the ingenious water supply
system.
We spent 4 hours in the sun and heat in
In the bus on the way back we read the scriptures about Petra/Edom in Judges, Isaiah and Obadiah. It was great to read the history of the ancient peoples and to actually see where they lived. It was also great to see how accurately the prophecies were fulfilled as consequences for
We also saw lots of Bedouin shepherds and were lucky enough to be able to ‘interview’ one of them for the video.
A great day in
You can watch a video of our time in Petra here: Petra
Tuesday 22nd May Madaba and Mt Nebo
Today we went to the Madaba, the city of the mosaics. We saw the oldest preserved map of the
It was moving being on the top of Mt Nebo as it was here that Moses and the Children of Israel first saw the Promised Land. There is a magnificent view from the top of the mountain over the Dead Sea,
We dropped off the rest of our tour group who were returning to
Wednesday 23rd May
A day of luxury and pampering. We were driven to the Dead Sea Spa Hotel and had a swim in the salty water. You float so easily but must be careful to keep the water out of your eyes. We also applied the mud to our skin, which is supposed to be heath-giving.
Then we swum and lay about by the pool, before having a lovely lunch. Like being in paradise!
Egypt 2007
Thursday 24th May
We were transferred to the airport and flew on Royal Jordanian to
The traffic in
The resort is lovely but we became very aware of mosquitos, and everyone being after you for money! We had dinner at the outside restaurant but won’t try that again, as the mozzies were after us.
Friday 25th May
Today we visited the Pyramids, saw the Sphinx, and had a look around the
The Sphinx was created by the King Khafre because there was a spare bit of rock. It is lion (strength), and man (wisdom) but the face lost its nose when Napoleon’s soldiers took potshots at it. The Sphinx wasn’t as big as expected.
There are lots of people pushing themselves at you trying to sell souvenirs or camels rides. Overall, it was great, though, to see the pyramids of
Our guide was very knowledgeable and gave us a great tour of the
We
saw the Kings and gods from the various Kingdoms and Dynasties but the
highlight was seeing the components of King Tutenkhamen’s tomb. He was only King for 10 years but his tomb was found intact so all the artifacts were able to be identified and studied. The
tomb was in several layers of large boxes (all highly adorned) and the
smallest one contained layers of coffins in which the mummy was placed. Lots of different artifacts were buried with the King, and some of his bodily organs were kept in separate vessels. The only thing missing was the actual mummy (which is still at
In the afternoon we relaxed around the resort’s pool. We have an early start tomorrow for our flight to
Saturday 26th May
We got up at 4am and were transferred efficiently to
At 3.30pm (after a siesta) we went on our first sightseeing to see the Karnak and
It was very hot (36 degrees+) and our tour guide went on and on but we survived!
Sunday 27th May
We had another early start so we would miss the heat of the day. We went to the
Our cruise finally started at midday and we had lunch and a snooze before stopping at the loch at Esna. We needed to go through the loch to gain height, as we were travelling up river. Just two of the big boats can go through the loch at one time so we spent some time waiting.
Immediately we were barraged by people on small boats trying to sell us stuff! They throw their goods up 4 decks and often got them straight through the window of our room. Very accurate! We became ‘friends’ with Mahmood on one of the boats and bought some towels and a dress (and gave him a kiwi as a memento).
The boat is very comfortable with luxury rooms and wonderful food. When we returned to our room we found the towels had been folded into all sorts of shapes.
Monday 28th May On the Nile
In the evening we dressed up for an Egyptian dinner wearing the clothes we bought from the boats/stalls. We looked just like Sheikhs!
Tuesday 29th May
Our
cruise sort of got extended and we were able to take a trip to the
Aswan High Dam (which controls the flow of the Nile to prevent flooding
in the valleys), and the
We rested in the afternoon then were transferred to the airport for our late night flight back to
Wednesday 30th May
We slept in, had breakfast, had a wander around and then had a snooze. We then hit an internet café and had another wander around (feeling very safe in the midst of the noise and traffic).
We filled in time till we were transferred (through the hair-raising traffic) to the airport. Our flight for
We very much enjoyed our time in
- The
Egyptian people are friendly and gracious (except for those
aggressively trying to sell you rubbish, or rip you off with high
prices)
is hot!Egypt has a proud heritage with its temples and ancient relics. The tourist industry is well organised to take advantage of this.Egypt Egypt is totally dependent on theNile . About 1km each side of the river is green and well cultivated, but outside of that it is just a hot dry desert.- The
Nile cruise was wonderful! - Our travel agents provided us with superior service to make the whole trip smooth and effortless.
- The traffic in
is ordered chaos (but it works!) and most of the cars are old wrecks.Cairo - You get used to police everywhere with their guns. As a result we always felt safe.
- The tipping system is everywhere, and not something that we like.
is a great tourist destination, but be prepared for the heat!Egypt
Thursday 31st May
We arrived in
Friday 1st June Singapore to
In the morning we went on the free river cruise (again) and then made our final purchases (cameras). After a cool down in the pool we were transferred to the airport for our overnight flight to
Saturday 2nd June Auckland to
We flew south and were picked up by Phil. Then we were home!!
What a wonderful holiday we had….. in the
Hope you enjoyed reading about our travels.