50 Years Later : Our Day with King Abdullah II

If you head north in the Red Sea long enough you'll run into the Sinai Peninsula. Bear to the West and you'll be heading to the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal. We'll do that in a couple of days. Bear to the East and you'll enter the Gulf of Aqaba. All the way at the end you'll arrive at our third port-of-call, and Jordan's only access to the open sea, Aqaba.

Pat and I decided to take on Aqaba differently.

Being wise, my day at the Intercontinental Aqaba ...

'nough said.

Being energetic, Pat writes about her day in Petra, Jordan:

What an amazing place! Its selection as one of the new Seven Wonders of the World is well-deserved. In addition to its biblical history as a place where Moses struck a rock and produced water, the ancient city was also the capital of the Nabataean kingdom. Nabataeans were semi-nomadic people who migrated to Jordan in the 6^th and 5^th centuries B.C. They were skilled builders and carved their city out of sheer rock. Petra was forgotten, except by the nomadic Bedouin tribes, until the early 19^th century when a Swiss explorer visited the ruins.

It is simply stunning. It is also poor city planning, since the several mile walk into Petra is downhill, which means you have to trudge uphill all the way back out.

Some of you may remember Petra from the movie “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.” After you walk about a mile, you enter a crevice in the cliffs (The Siq) :

You walk for another mile until you get to an opening. As you go through, there is The Treasury:

This was a famous scene in the movie, and is more spectacular in person. Remember, these buildings are all carved out of solid rock. There are a number of other monuments by continuing the walk, including The Royal Tombs and The Bab Al Siq.