Petra and Wadi Rum, Jordan Oct. 13, 2008

In the shadow of Indiana Jones!!

We awoke early at the Petra Nabaeatan Castle Hotel and took a 10 minute bus ride to the ticket gate at Petra. One could see how Petra escaped the eyes of the world for so long. On our walk down to the mouth in the gorge, I looked this way and that, trying to find where the sig began. It is well hidden. Horses were plentiful to ride down the hill, their smell followed. As we entered the gorge, 300 meters long, we were engulfed with the high vein-like walls that twisted and turned, making a puzzle down the ravine. Along the way, we saw the water system the nomadic Nabaeatans made to bring water into their town. As we walked down the sig, we had to listen for the sound of hooves as donkey carts carried some people (for a fee) down to the Treasury entrance. Our first glimpse was just as Indian Jones saw it. A large rose red façade of a grand tomb was right in front of us. Most of what we saw were tombs, sacrificial tables (no humans, just fruit and animals), a theatre that seats 7000 carved out of the stone wall, and temples. There was an additional walk to the monastery, but we felt we just couldn’t make it.

It was a long hike of what is said to be a 5 mile walk down and back up. It was not for the faint of heart or body. When we finally reached to exit, we were exhausted by happy that we made it in and out again. Crystal and I decided we were “real women” to make the trip with no assistance of horse, carriage or camel!!

The late afternoon and evening was spent in Wadi Rum, a desert in southwest Jordan. A national park, the Bedouins live in the area. Six people each road in old Toyota trucks converted with benches and a rug awning overhead, we road through the desert marveling at the wonders of red-faced mountains. I was amazed at the different colors of the sand: regular Atlantic coast beach tan, an orange-ish color and a red, which I have named Wadi Rum red. It might make a good OPI nail color (“The Desert Collection”). You’ll have to see my tennis shoes that now seem to be permanently tinted that color. I don't mind the color as it will keep the memory of that wonderful day... the shoes probably won't make it back to Wilson.... though I do have pictures.

After our ride through the desert, much like four wheeling at home, we came to some Bedouin tents where the group of 100 or so were treated to a special dinner of meats, salads, beans and bread. Our meats were cooked in the sand…… inside pots covered with cloth topped by hot coals. The most spectular part of the evening was seeing the almost full moon appear over the top on the mountain. We have unbelievable memories of these days.

Catching Up

Today is a seaday (2.5 more to go before Salalah) with rest after our whirlwind visits to Cairo, Petra and Luxor. More notes to come.

Bryan, I do need to edit the gas cost in Egypt. It's actually $2.00/gallon. I must have read the posted prices at the station incorrectly.

Mary, please share with Matthew that I consider this a Around Half-the-World Cruise.

Glad you all are enjoying the blog. Need to complete my write-ups on Petra/Wadi Rum and Luxor.

More later, y'all.............................

Alexandria and Cairo, Egypt Oct. 10 -11, 2008

Typing this, I look out our suite balcony door to see the moon rising over the mountains of Saudi Arabia. With the afternoon sun on the mountains, it gives a pretty reddish hue.

Temperature at 11:30pm at Port Suez – 19C
Gas prices .90 Egyptian Pound per liter

We spent two wonderful days in Egypt. We walked off the ship with luggage in hand. A night in Egypt lay ahead. Alexandria, known for its library and lighthouse is the second largest city in Egypt. Called “the Pearl of the Mediterranean,” Alexandria is a city of 1/4th of the country’s population. We were taken to the Catacombs, first. It’s just amazing that a donkey’s leg falling into the earth could uncover the remains left there 2200 years ago. It seems that most of the city’s ancient history is Roman. The catacombs and theatre are Roman remains. We had lunch at a local fish restaurant, a drive around the city then our 2.75 hour drive to Cairo. Along the way, we saw banana groves, dates, oranges and rice. The terrain was very flat, desert.

When we arrive in Cairo, we were greeted by building upon building, some with windows, many without, but satellite dishes everywhere. Our guide, Magdy, an Egyptologist and college professor, told us that the builders would install the windows once the apartment had been sold. That night our tour of 100 passengers from the ship had a private viewing of the Egyptian Museum. Each group of about 25 has our own guide. We walked around the museum seeing pieces from the time of the Pharaohs. Hard to believe some of these items have been around for over 4000 years. The highlight of the tour was the viewing of King Tut’s treasures. I had had an opportunity to see the exhibit that toured the U.S. in the late 1970s. It was wonderful to see them again, close up and not so rushed. All the gold, lapis, turquoise, and carnelian are just as beautiful as I remember. I could have stayed longer in the Tut Room, but we did see many objects before the Royal Mummy Room. One throne chair of gold leaf with pictures of King Tut and his wife has gold lion heads as hand rests. Some wealthy New Yorker offered the museum $7.5 billion for the chair. No Sale! We did see replicas all over Cairo the next day. There were 15 mummies displayed in the Royal Mummy Rooms dating back to 4000 BC. One queen also had her pet baboon mummified and next to her in the museum.

Our hotel was the Four Seasons Nile Plaza that had a spectacular view of the Nile and an actual glimpse of the pyramids, a 45 minute drive away. In the morning, we visited Old Cairo, with the Coptic Church and Ben Ezra Synagogue. Later we drove by the quarries where the limestone for the pyramids where taken and the Mohamed Ali mosque, patterned after the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. Afterwards we had a Nile River cruise and lunch with beautiful views of what we saw off our balcony from the Four Seasons Hotel.

As we drive around the city, most of the younger people seemed friendly. Children and those in their 20s gave us a smile or wave. I encountered two delightful girls, probably 7-9. Their bus and ours passed a few times in the street. After I waved at them and gave them a big smile, each time our busses pasted, we searched for each other and gave more waves and smiles, like you saw a good friend passing on the street. Those are nice encounters to have in a foreign county.

(Haze has set in, those beautiful red mountains of 45 minutes ago and now begin engulfed by a grey haze. I was lucky to get photos and the visual memory of the gorgeous red glow on the mountains.)

Finally Giza, we’ve waited all day for the best of the best. We thought that getting to Giza so late in the day would bring huge crowds and bad sun. Not true. Most of the people had left the pyramid area by the time we got there. Tourist police, camel owners, annoying hawkers and tour busses were plentiful, but not that many people. It was wonderful to walk between the two largest Giza structures thinking about who had walked before and who had spent amazing time and energy working on the huge tombs for years and years. The Pyramid of Cheops, the largest one, was made from 3 million stone blocks. Of the 12 original pyramids, part of nine still remain… or at least I counted that many.

It’s hard to put Giza in one paragraph. Thirty or more years of wanting to actually be here and see them in person and they were put into just a few hours of my life. Sitting through the hokey Sound and Light show, I mainly enjoyed the view of the Pyramids at dusk, rather than the melodramatic narration, music and stories. It did give us extra time here.

Next Petra and Wadi Rum…..

Athens, Greece Oct. 7, 2008

High temperature today was 24c, gas prices were 1.21 Euros per liter

Our plane arrived in Athens, Greece on time Tuesday morning, we cleared customs and picked up all our luggage. We were met by a representative of the cruise line with the news that the transportation union would be on strike beginning Wednesday at 11:00am. So we hit the town running to see all on our list. After a brief stop at our hotel, we went across the street to the Parliament building to view the changing of the guard. This is done hourly. Just some notes: the skirts the guards wear have 400 pleats, their shoes weigh 6 lbs each and the pompoms on their shoes contain small knives.

We then took the metro to the Acropolis stop and visited the new Acropolis Museum. Since it has not officially opened, entrance was free, as many exhibits aren’t finished. We did visit a room with some interesting artifacts, many reclaimed from “illicit excavation” gathered from the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Afterward, we walked to the Plaka, the old shopping area of Athens and ate lunch. I enjoyed fried eggplant and a tomato, cucumber and olive salad and Crystal ordered moussaka, a traditional Greek dish.

Then we headed for the ancient Agora, walked around, viewed the theatre and gazed upon the Parthenon above us.

It was a fast and furious morning, be we headed back to our hotel for a rest before a dinner with other members on our long cruise.

note: having problems uploading photos right now, Will try later

Luggage and Weights

We are flying Delta Business Elite from JFK. Delta permits the weight in bold print so I am way under the limit.
Black suitcase 55 lbs. / 70 lbs.
Red duffle 45 lbs. / 70 lbs.
Black carry-on 26 lbs. / 40 lbs.
Gray/black backpack 15 lbs./ no limit listed on delta.com

Meet Lexie

This cute little lion is Lexie, my cruise mascot. She will be traveling with us on the cruise. Hopefully she will enjoy all the animals we see and may meet some of her relatives while we are on safari. Just to let you know, Lexie is connected on my backpack by a carabiner clip. We are also taking along two Flat Stanleys for 2nd graders in a former school.

Mapping my Trip

Here is a map of my trip. The red line begins in Wilson, North Carolina and ends in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I did not label all the cities we will visit, just some of the major cities. Click on the map and it will enlarge.