Friday, March 26, 2010
We wanted to begin by saying how much we enjoyed our visit to Petra. Sometimes when one visits an area of the world or a historical site for a second time, it is not as mystical or as interesting as the first visit, but that was not the case with our second visit to Petra. Since we had the benefit of having visited here once before, we were able to see things that we didn’t notice the first time and to capture the history of this very ancient city.
We also wanted to note that, as was the case in 2007 when we first visited this site we are so glad that we did a private tour through Crystal Cruises rather than a group tour. The advantage of the private tour is three-fold. First, it provided us with the benefit of talking with the driver on the drive to and from Petra and as a result we learned a great deal about life in Jordan. He also stopped at key areas, providing time for us to take some selected pictures. Second, once inside Petra, we had a private guide who took us all around the area and who shared with us a wealth of information about the history of Petra while we also had the benefit of being able to ask him a wide range of questions whenever we wanted. Third we could move at whatever pace we preferred we could also stop whenever we desired. All in all this gave us a lot more to see and learn.
Petra is one of those places that you could spend days seeing as there is so much to see and to take in. Words and pictures do not adequately do justice to this site. It is a truly amazing site. If one compares this site to a fine meal here is how it might unfold. The appetizer is the walk from the entranceway into the city of Petra down the hill and through the enclosed area, which features many areas to see on each side of the narrow walls. This is in preparation of the wonderful entrée that awaits each person as they get to the point where the walls widen when they come to the site of the treasury. Words cannot adequately describe the excitement of this portion of the tour and just like a wonderful entrée one wants to savor the tour by looking carefully at all of the details of this area. After savoring this area there is much more to come. Just like a wonderful meal featuring a sweet dessert followed by say an espresso coffee and possibly an after dinner drink many more areas of Petra await each visitor. The dessert and after dinner drinks comes is enjoyed as one continues with their walk and takes in so many other areas of Petra that await them. This includes the temple, the theatre, other tombs and many other sites. The good new is that with each passing day more items is being discovered vis-à-vis the continued excavation of the site. It is truly a work in progress.
The one disappointment is that there are now many young children who are at the site trying to sell items such as postcards. Our tour guide explained to us that all of the guides are encouraging tourists not to purchase items from the children so as not to provide further incentive for them to miss out on their education. In the end, without an education they are sacrificing their future. We applaud the efforts to discourage the children from being used and just three years ago we did not see any children at the site selling items.
Our drive between Aqaba and Petra took approximately two hours each way. An English-speaking driver, Ahmad, who is from Jordan, took us in a van. We drove through the town of Aqaba, which is a resort like area where many tourists visit on the weekends. It has the feel of a Pacific Ocean Island Resort. The driver was very informative and told us much about the country and the areas we passed as we made our way over to Petra. As we got out of the city we saw very picturesque mountains all around us that were beautiful in terms of their color, size, shape, design and texture. We passed several Bedouin communities along the way with their various tents. We could see people tending to the land and to their herds. Gradually we climbed to a very high elevation as we continued our drive towards Petra. It became foggy and cloudy.
When we arrived to Petra the driver took us to the main center where he obtained our entry tickets and selected our tour guide, Adeeb.
We coordinated with our driver, Ahmad, the time and location we would meet him, which was at a small restaurant about two blocks from the area adjacent to the old city of Petra. He provided his contact information including cell phone number.
The tour guide, Adeeb, then took us into Petra where we stopped along the way at various landmarks so that he could thoroughly explain each of these areas to us. When we were here three years ago it was a very sunny and hot day and this time it was cool and slightly overcast which actually allowed us to see many different colors that were in the stone that was all around us. The tour guide was quite knowledgeable and we learned a great deal from him and also saw many things that we did not the last time we were here. There is so much history to Petra and with each passing year more is being learned and literally being uncovered.
After a short walk from the entranceway into Petra, some people will take a short ride on a horse. We opted not to do that even though our tour did include this. Instead we walked the entire time we were there. There are many forms of transportation including horses, mules, camels and horse drawn wagons.
When you walk on the paths one needs to be very careful to not walk in the way of these animals and not to step in something that they will later regret. J At one point during our return walk Keith came fairly close to being side-swapped by a horse drawn cart.
For those who visit Jordan we highly recommend visiting this extraordinary place. When we reached the end of the tour we said our goodbyes to the tour guide and then the four of us walked back without him. We stopped at a couple of shops on the way back. We then met our driver at the designated time outside the old city of Petra.
While our tour included lunch at one of the restaurants within Petra we did not want to take time away from seeing the site by having lunch. Instead, we brought various items with us and we enjoyed these items in the vehicle as we drove back to Aqaba and then over to the ship.
As we ate, we enjoyed a nice drive back to the port. On the way back it was no longer cloudy so we could see some areas that we could not see in the morning including Israel. We talked about all that we had seen. It was a magical day and we are so glad that we returned back for the second time. Just like other historical sites and museums and other places around the world many times it is great to have the opportunity to revisit these places.
During the course of our drive in both directions we stopped at a security checkpoint as we did in 2007 and we were also stopped a few times by police. They check those traveling in cars fairly carefully as often people enter Jordan from other neighboring countries. When we were here in 2007 there was a concern about the number of Iraqi’s who were leaving Iraq and coming across the border into Jordan for fear that the numbers could reach somewhere between one to two million which would be too many people for the size of Jordan to accommodate. As it turned out there are approximately 500,000 former Iraqi’s now living in Jordan, which is a more manageable number.
During this drive you pass several different Bedouin communities with their tents. You will see some of the Bedouins who are growing crops and tending to their animals.
As was the case with our first visit we found the people who we met from Jordan to be extremely friendly to foreigners and we were impressed with what we saw in Jordan. We hope to return here again sometime in the future.
After we got back to the ship last evening we got ready for dinner and then enjoyed a wonderful dinner with friends Bob and Glo at the Prego Specialty Restaurant. We all talked about the extraordinary day each of us had in Petra. It was wonderful to share such a wonderful experience with Bob and Glo. We stayed at Prego for almost two and one half hours. As usual, everything was wonderful. We each had a nice salad that they prepared for us just the way we like it and we each enjoyed the fish special of the evening and fruit for our dessert. Keith also had two nice bowls of steamed vegetables.
We set sail for Safaga at 8:00 PM. The seas were calm and we slept exceptionally well.
This is a day that we will remember for the rest of our lives.
Keith awoke early as we began another wonderful day on the ship. Keith worked out in the Fitness Center on the Elliptical Machine. He was the first to arrive and was alone for a good portion of the workout until a few people arrived. As he always does, he went to the Lido Café and brought coffee back to the room. This was the busiest Keith had seen the Lido Café at that time of day since many people were up early with all day or in some cases overnight tours. Anne Marie worked out on the treadmill and like Keith she too stopped by the Lido Café to bring coffee back to the room.
We arrived at Safaga, Egypt at around 8:00 AM. As this is our third time to this port of call we did not take any shore excursions and enjoyed the day on the ship. The ship stayed at the port overnight as this allowed passengers to do overnight excursions in Luxor.
We had a nice breakfast in our room and afterwards Anne Marie did some laundry. Keith took care of a few items and he also spoke with a few fellow passengers.
We enjoyed our day on the ship as we talked with crew and guests, took care of some errands, read, wrote and just relaxed. We had considered going to a resort for a half day visit but we figured the best resort is the Serenity.
We enjoyed a nice salad at the Lido Café as we do on most days. Afterwards, Anne Marie took another nice long walk on the Promenade Deck and Keith played paddle tennis with some of the passengers and the crew. We both took care of some errands around the ship and enjoyed some nice conversations with fellow passengers and crew.
This evening we will dine at the Silk Road Japanese Specialty Restaurant with World Cruise Hostess Stacey Huston and look forward to that and will post more about dinner tomorrow.
TODAY’S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY…..
“Stop worrying about the potholes in the road and celebrate the journey.”
Keith and Anne Marie
1 comment:
Thank you so much for the wonderful description of Petra. I loved it and the pictures are amazing.
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