March 13th, we arrived in Amman, Jordan from Cairo. Three more people joined our group for the Jordan tour. After checking in at our hotel, we visited some of the sites of Amman: Citadel Hill and a shop that had a lot of interesting things.
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| View from Citadel Hill |
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| Amphitheater viewed from Citadel Hill |
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| Kylie, Susan, Brandy, Andrew, Sandy, me, Isabella, Patty, Kevin |
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| Ruins on Citadel Hill |
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| Me amongst ancient ruins |
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| Lots of pretties in this shop |
March 14th, we traveled from Amman to Petra along the shore of the Dead Sea. We made some stops along the way: Mt. Nebo (where God granted Moses the privilege of seeing the Promised Land and also his believed burial site), Mataba (home to some of the first Arabic mosaics), and Wadi Hudeira, where we enjoyed (it was beautiful, but a challenge as we had to cross a stream several times and ended up with soaked shoes) a hike up the canyon.
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| Jordan Valley as we journeyed towards Petra |
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| Me just outside entrance to Mount Nebo |
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| Memorial of Moses |
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| A few of the mosaics in the church on the site |
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| Old Byzantine church |
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| Watching the workers making mosaic for the shop, painstaking, I'd say! |
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| Hiking up the canyon |
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| First picture of Dead Sea; Note white (salt) deposits on the fringes of the green |
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| Me and Kylie on an overlook for the Dead Sea |
I put this in here to remember our bathroom experiences. Isabella got locked in the bathroom and the handle came off entirely. We really laughed hard, but were glad it wasn't a permanent situation. The handyman came to fix it, but it happened a couple of times. Too funny!
March 15 was our day to tour Petra. Petra was an ancient city built by the Nabateans over 2000 years ago. It's a sandstone masterpiece considered to be one of the Seven New Wonders of the World. The only way to get to see it is by traveling down the slot canyon or Siq. You can walk, take a carriage, or ride a horse part of the way down to the Treasury. I chose a horse down, a donkey to walk to some of the places in Petra, and walked back up. I think this was the day we had over 26,000 steps (of course part of it may have been horse and donkey steps).
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| Ready to ride to the Treasury |
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| Behind me is Bab (Arabic for gateway) Siq (gorge that leads to Petra |
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| End of horse ride and the beginning of our walk |
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| Such massive walls and narrow passages |
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| Isabella and me |
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| Original roads...bumpy and uneven |
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| Caves and tombs along the way |
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| You might even see a fish |
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| Carriages on their way back up to the top, fast travelers! |
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| The Treasury and me |
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| The donkey riders and guides, Sandy, me and Andrew |
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| View of trail we rode up |
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| Sandy and me at the top |
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| Isabella and me beyond the end of the trail at Monastery? |
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| Mosaics found in the church |
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| Me with Royal Tombs in background |
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| Royal Tombs |
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| Royal Tombs |
March 16th, our last day in Jordan. We took a jeep tour through Wadi Rum. Films like Indiana Jones, Lawrence of Arabia and Martian were filmed here, possibly because of it's dramatic landscape. We saw Nabataean carvings, climbed a sand dune, visited a Bedouin site which honors Lawrence, Hussein and a Bedouin chief
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| Massive rocks of Wadi Rum |
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| Trying to keep my hat from blowing away...like an old babuska! |
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| On the top after hiking up the sand dune |
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| Who can resist a baby, even if it is a camel? |
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| Lawrence of Arabia carved into stone |
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| King Hussein |
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| The Bedouin Chief who helped broker the peace |
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| A Bedouin tent used as a place for souvenirs and refreshment |
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| Trying to imitate Matt Damon in his pose from the Martian |
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| Camera tricks with Isabella |
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| Writings on the rocks |
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| Our prepared crew: Brandy, Sandy, Me, Isabella, Kylie, Susan, Patty |
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| Safe Ice Cream, a good way to end a meal |
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| Eliat view |
That's a wrap on Jordan and we're ready to begin our Israel tour!
