14 - 17 June

Thursday 14 June 0600 Gulf of Arabia  We have travelled 2810.7  Nm   from Dubai and we have to travel 45.8 Nm to our next Port of Aqaba.  Heading 16.0 Temperature on desk is 27.4 degrees.  Speeding 19 knots.  Wind speed 23.3 knots across the deck.

Aqaba, Jordan.  Currency: Jordanian dinar.

We had a later start today.  People have been talking about this trip to Petra for days.  How it is going be so hot, we have to walk about 4 Kms over rough terrain both ways and the ship was telling people not to go if you were old or not fit.  I know of a number of people who cancelled their trip and who decided to stay on board. I am really looking forward to the trip.

The Port of Aqaba is interesting as on the West Bank belongs to Israel and the other side belongs to Jordon and just down the road is Egypt.  Quite a boiling pot of nationalities. Aqaba is a beautiful resort city with sandy beaches, clear blue waters and a coral reef.  The city is clean and modern and much more pleasing that the small towns we travelled through yesterday when we were in Egypt.

This area is where Lawrence of Arabia fought and won the war in 1917 against the Turks and Germans, you can just imagine him and the Beduin racing through the sand on their beautiful Arabian horses.

We boarded the bus about 30 minutes late (again) and headed towards Petra.  Petra was built by the Nabataens who flourished in northern Arabia during time of the Roman Empire.  Instead of building, they literally carved a series of beautiful homes, intricately carved tombs and decorative temples out of the rock.   The name Petra itself comes from the Greek word for ‘rock’.  We travelled over well paved roads and everything was clear of rubbish and rocks and sand and more sand.  There were a few villages and a lot of Beduin tents in the sand dunes, goats, camels and sheep.

We had heard horror stories about how hot it would be, how bad the walk in was and how we would all die!!!  So we were dressed in cotton clothing, big hats, carrying bottles of water and spare food.

We stopped in the visitor’s carpark, of course it was noon and not a skerrick of shade.  We set off down a hillside, on the left was a lot of men driving carriages and others pulling horses, offering rides to the tourists.  The slope was OK and although a little hot, not too bad.  We walked about 1 kilometre and came to a chasm which the Nabtaens/Romans used to carry water to the city down town.  In the upper regions of the rocks there were a number of carvings to the various Gods.

 It was an easy walk down the valley and when we got to the bottom of the valley and turned a small corner I saw the most magnificent temple I had ever seen.  Khazneh or the ‘Treasury”     

It is an ancient tomb caved from solid sandstone.  Legend has it that pirates left treasure in the urn that sits on its upper level. The bullet marks on the urn were made by treasure seekers trying to shoot the urn open.

Heaven knows how they knew where to start carving.  You can see grooves in both sides of the temple where they hooked in the scaffolding. Unfortunately you are not allowed inside, but like most of the tombs etc. there is nothing left inside as most things have either been stolen by museums or thieves. 

 We walked further down the path to the Roman Amphitheatre which archaeologists believe the stunning 8,000 seat amphitheatre was carved out of the rock not by Romans but by the Nabtean people in the 2^nd century BC.  There was much more to see but unfortunately time did not permit us to go any further down.

After a short break we stated the trek back up the hill to the carpark.  We had to keep jumping out of the way of the horses and the carriages.  I think the young men thought that they were in some sort of film.

We were to meet at the bus stop at 1600 and we were all there except for 2 people, we waited for another hour and they still didn’t come.  We had sent out people to look for them but they still were not found.  We had to leave as we still had to eat and then a 3 ½ hour trip back to the ship.

The restaurant we went to was up the top of the hill and it over looked the city, really great.  The meal was a mixture of western and Egyptian, I am still hoping to have a traditional meal somewhere.  The lost couple turned up, they had got the instructions mixed up and went to the wrong place.  We left the restaurant and started the long drive home. 

We arrived about 2000 and the ship sailed not long after.  The end of a wonderful day.   

 

Friday 15 June 0700 Red Sea  We have travelled 2979.4  Nm   from Dubai and we have to travel 446.6 Nm to our next Port of Alexandria.  Heading 225.5 Temperature on desk is 28.5 degrees.  Speeding 11.5 knots.  Wind speed 24.7 knots across the deck.

Saturday 16 June 0700 Suez Canal, Egypt  We have travelled 3166.7  Nm   from Dubai and we have to travel 247.7 Nm to our next Port of Alexandria.  Heading 358.3 Temperature on desk is 23 degrees.  Speeding 9 knots.  Wind speed 19.4 knots across the deck.

We were up at 0500 to watch the ship enter the Suez Canal.  The ships go in convoy and we were the first of 17 other ships and we travelled about 5 knots through 120 miles long, 79 feet deep d 673 feet wide, from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea.  It is a marvel  of workmanship, 1000’s of men working with shovels, dug their way between two countries.  There is an environmental problem now as fish from the Red Sea have travelled into the Mediterranean and causing all sorts of problems. We moved through the canal and there were about 10 large container ships waiting to go the other way.  Today, over 17,000 ships pass through the Suez Canal each year.

Ships look like they are in the sand 

I wandered into one of the lounges and they were having a fashion show using passengers and showing off some off some of their lovely clothing and I entered into a free raffle and won of $50 dress voucher.  I will enjoy choosing something later on in the cruise.

The evening meal that night was interesting as we had an Arabian night and a lot of the passengers wore the costumes they had bought over the last couple of trips.  The guys were all wearing the white robes and headwear and some of the ladies had on belly dancing outfits.  Me, no I wore an Egyptian caftan, don’t think the ship is ready for me in a belly dancing outfit.