Petra - 29-30 December, 2010

We spent two days in Petra and still didn't get to see everything.  What an awe inspiring place to go.  The rock and the colors of it were amazing and then throw the carvings and buildings into the mis and its staggering.  There were 800 registered sites in Petra with 500 of them being tombs.  On our hike to see the main sites we could see various tombs in the rock cliffs.  To get to the city we hiked down the Bab-as-Siq (middle and right) passing monuments and the Obelisk tomb (left).

It was breathtaking walking down the Siq.  There are some areas where you can see where the cliffs had been joined; the Siq was actually formed by an earthquake and not erosion as most people suspect.  Along the Siq are cobbles that remain from the original road.  You could also see the remains of the water diversion  and channel system they used to get the water into the city.  When you finally make it out of the Siq, there in all its glory is the Treasury - I'm sure you reconize it from Indiana Jones, Transformers (Rise of the Fallen), etc. :) 

We couldn't go in but supposedly it is like the other buildings that we were allowed into; a big square room with some tombs carved into the floor.  So, boring on the inside (except for the neat colored rock patterns), but with a very elaborate front.

We looked around a theatre cut out of the rock and built over 2000 years ago (left).   We also made the climb to the "High Place of Sacrifice" (middle - in the middle of the picture at the top you see a table looking formation and to the right is the obelisk).  The obelisk (right) at the top is cool because it was carved out of the rock rather than built upon it.  There was also a cool geocache here.

We wound our way down the other side of the mountain and found more and more tombs.  Some were finely carved but many were just a hole (door) in the solid rock wall with a square chamber behind.  The colours in the rock walls were absolutely amazing.

We were able to go into the Royal tombs.  The Urn tomb was probably built around AD 40.   Outside is where all the work was done and then inside is a huge room with very small tombs carved deep into the floor.  You could also see the smoke stains on the ceiling from it being used as a living space at a later date.

We really enjoyed the fact that we could explore at our leisure.  The only sad part was that there was graffiti and garbage in most, some of the tombs were used to house the donkeys, and some were still being used as living quaters by local inhabitants selling trinkets.

Patrick wanted a sand bottle as a souvenier so we were able to watch the guy make them.  They used all natural coloured sand found in Petra and man were they quick.

It was a tiring two days with some very tired little kids (and big kids too) but what a wonderful visit.  We didn't get to see everything because there was so much to see but we saw some pretty awesome things.

Tomorrow we start our journey down to Wadi Rum via Little Petra and then on to our New Year's camp out!

Drive to Petra - December 28, 2010

We started off our long drive down to Petra by stopping for a beautiful view of the Dead Sea and a geocache. :)

We followed the King's Highway down to Petra.  What fantastic views and some pretty hairy drives through the mountains and into the wadis.  We were on top of the plateau yet just at sea level (left) and we had to descend into the wadi (right) in order to get to the other side.  The road was very windy with a lot of switch backs - Wayne didn't think it was much fun but the kids and I had a great time admiring the views.  About half way to the bottom there was a hot springs resort (middle) that had a "cool" waterfall.

There was a look out over Wadi Mujib, which we stopped at to give Wayne a break and everyone a chance to stretch our legs.  This wadi is part of a nature reserve (closed for the season) which sounds and looks like a very neat place to come back and explore (maybe some day).

We were able to work in a castle into our route.  Karak castle was built AD 1142; the kids had a blast exploring it.  We even needed headlamps to see everything (dungeons and storage).  It was amazing to see the rock arches and we marvelled at how they managed to keep them standing in the first place let alone for over 850 years.

We also saw some bedouin camps along our drive.  It was quite common to see the camps along the roads with the kids out playing with the goats and the colourful laundry drying in the wind.  I can handle camping for three days and two nights but can't imagine camping every night. :)

It was a long day of driving for everyone and we were quite happy to finally arrive in Petra.  We did a little bit of roaming around but it was early to bed so that we could explore Petra tomorrow.

Jerash - December 27, 2010

Today we took a step back in time to visit the Romans at their temples and theatres, walk down their streets and visit the hippodrome to see the gladiators fight and the chariots race.  Today we were off to Jerash in northern Jordan.

We entered the Roman city through Hardrian's Arch (left), walked along the street past the stores (middle) and into the Forum (right).  The forum was huge - 90m long and 80 m wide - and was probably used as a gathering site for markets and social gatherings.

The Temple of Zeus (middle), we did not see up close because we ran out of time but was up on the hill overlooking the Forum (left).  We walked along the cobbled street (right) called the "cardo maximus" (colonnaded street) to explore the city proper.  This was neat because we were able to see ancient grooves worn in the cobble stones from decades of wagon wheels, the crossroads, and in some places the underground storm sewers.  This slowed Patrick right down because then he had to have it all explained!

There was much exploring to be done throughout the city.  We walked through amazingly carved doorways (left), found a fountain (middle) and saw hundreds of pillars (right).  We even saw some wildlife - a lizard sunning itself on the stones.

We stumbled onto a stone cutting workshop.  Again, Patrick had to understand the workings of it before we could move on. :)  It was really cool to figure out the how the waterwheel moved the blades that then cut the stone to make the city.

At the Temple of Artemis (left) we were even able to sneak in a GC find.  We also found the Church of St Cosmos & St Damianus, which had some well preserved mosaic floors (middle and right).

Leaving the church, we went to the north theatre.  It was really neat to see the seating, the wooded floor for the stage and exploring the hallways.

Once done in the theatre we had to hustle back to the hippodrome to catch the soliders, gladators and the chariot races.  What a cool show!  A team of reinactors (soldiers with the Jordanian military) showed us Roman battle moves, mock battles, marching and defensive stategies.

We also learned that gladators were prisoners but well cared for because they were also their slaves and had a lot of training for the fights - so not many were killed because of the expense to train new ones.

Next came the much awaited chariot races.  Man they were moving!  It was all very exciting.

At the end of the show the kids were allowed to get closer looks and have their pictures taken.

So that concludes our Roman city tour.  On our way out of town to visit a castle we found another odd way of transporting livestock.  We saw camels in the back of pickups here in Abu Dhabi and now we saw horses being moved the same way. :)

The drive up Mt. 'Auf was beautiful.  The olive trees on the farms were all neatly aligned in rows.

It was very chilly on the top of the mountain but we braved it and had a picnic shwarma.  Ajloun Castle was very cool to explore.

We also went to Mar Elias to check out the floor mosaics.  They were wonderful but hopefully something will be done to protect them from the elements as they are currently lying in the open air with nothing more than a rope to keep people off.

After a fun filled, tiring day exploring northern Jordan we headed back to the hotel.  Tomorrow is another action packed day as we head down to Petra.

Dead Sea - December 26, 2010

We arrived in Jordan and got our car to try and find our hotel.  We only got lost once - thank goodness for GP :)  The countryside was beautiful...  We stayed at a Holiday Inn resort at the north end of the Dead Sea; after the hotels in Egypt it was an absolute paradise.

Today was a take it easy kinda' day.  We headed down to the beach of the Dead Sea.  Patrick and I checked out the mud - it is suppose to have special powers. 

What a weird feeling it was to "swim" in the Dead Sea.  It was very hard to actually swim - it was easier to just float on your back and move around by your arms.  Wayne was able to "stand" but not touch the bottom and still have half of his body out of water.  Samantha couldn't stay in because she had a rash on her hands and it hurt too much in the water.  Patrick had fun pretending he was riding a bike in the water.

Of course we had to get the typical shot of Wayne reading a paper while floating! :)

Christmas day in Egypt - December 25, 2010

Christmas morning found us on the train bound for Cairo.  Yes Santa was able to land on the roof of the moving train, much to the kids relief.

Christmas breakfast was cake and juice.

Below are some foggy morning shots out the train window.

The rest of the day was taking it easy in our hotel room, and giving Wayne the chance to get his strength back.  Tomorrow we are heading to Jordan to start he second part of our adventures.

Luxor - December 24, 2010

Today was our last day in Luxor.  Wayne was feeling a bit better today so came with us to Karnack Temple; what a neat place.  There were many good examples of carvings, paintings and statutes still left, considering it had a major flood through it (Picture of Wayne pointing to the flood line).

There were many pillars, which we learnt held up the stone roof.  They were all evenly spaced with cross pieces and then at one time a cover stone on top.  They had also built sections that would let in the light and air (2nd picture below).

Samantha is pointing to another example of their calander.  The kids are in front of a famous scarab beetle statue.  It is believed that if you walk around it 7 times you will have good luck.

Later that afternoon we went on a felucca (traditional sailboat) cruise. Unfortunately there was no wind.  So the kids were put to work while the adults sat and enjoyed the ride (Wayne stayed back at the hotel to recoup).  The kids had great fun rowing the felucca with their planks of wood.  The neat thing about the feluccas are that they have a square sail and they are not allowed to put a motor on it.  So we had a bit of a tow at the start and then it was all kid power :)

If you could look past all the garbage on the shore and in the water, it was really quite pretty.

Once back at our hotel we had a bit of time before we all met for our last supper together as a tour group.  In that time we decided to go for a quick look around Luxor temple.  It was very cool to see at night.  This is where there is one obelisk and the other one is in the center of the Place de la Concorde in Paris (we have pictures of it from our trip last summer).  It is cool to say we have seen both; on two continents.  The sphinxes were at one time on both sides of the road and extended all the way from Luxor temple to Karnack temple.

Once done our walk about the temple we met for supper and got to see some belly dancing, which was neat.  After supper we collected our luggage and headed off to the train station.  We had a little Christmas gift exchange amongst the kids at the train station, which was a lot of fun.  Once on the train Samantha hung up her drawing of a Christmas tree she had brought from Abu Dhabi so that Santa could find us as we click-clacked our way along the slowly meandering Nile.