On the Go in Jordan. December 12th - 15th.

Firday 12th December. Up at 3.30 am & down to breakfast and picked up at 5.00 am for the transfer to the airport for our flight to Amman, Jordan. We left at 8.00 am and arrived at 9.25 am in Amman. We met up with our guide - Jemelia & driver - Yahyah. We headed to the Dead Sea for a few hours. We floated in the mineral rich waters - amazed as we kept bobbing up & floatıng on the top0f the sea. We had a buffet lunch here - very nice!

Next we travelled to Wadi Rum and stopped to watch the sunset on the way. We arrived at Wadi Rum at 6.00 pm to our Bedouin Camp for the night. The Wadi Rum is a protected area, that was created in 1998. İt covers 720sq km of outstanding Desert Landscape. We enjoyed a Bedouin Style Dinner under the Stars. Chatted for a while , then headed to our tents & bed at 8.30 pm.

Saturday 13th December. İ had a terrible night with tummy pain & running across the desert to the loo. Kevin slept soundly all night long. Up at 6.00 am & we departed at 8.00 am for a 4/4 jeep safari in the Wadi Rum. Just lovely for my tummy!

We visited some of the sights of interest: Lawrences Spring, Khaz'ali Canyon, Burdah Rock
Bridge, Alameleh İnscriptions, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, Bedouin Village. Then we drove next to Petra through the desert. We arrived at our Hotel at 12 noon.

İ had a rest & Kevin went for a swim ın the Hotel pool. We met our guide at 2.00 pm to visit Little Petra - a Archaeological Caravan Stopover Sıte from ancient times. İt was very impressive indeed. We returned to Petra at 4.30 pm & had a pizza together for our lunch & tea - very nice. İ'm feeling a little better thank goodness. We went to bed early as we have another early start in the morning.

Sunday 14th December. Up at 6.00 am & departed at 7.00 am. We have a full days guided tour , visiting the jewel in Jordans Archaeological Crown. Access was by walking through a narrow deep siq & the end prize was the hidden Valley where the Rose City of Petra lies. As we reach the end of the siq we came across the spectacular facade of Alkazneh - the Treasury of Petra.

İts truly breathtaking - it was carved in the 1st century BC as a tomb of a Nabataean Kıng. The carved facade shows the Nabataean engineering genius. Next we passed the streets of facades - rows of Nabataean Tombs with intricate carvings.

The Theatre looks Roman but was built by the Nabataeans in the 1st century AD. İt can seat 7,000 people & is carved into the solid rock.Next we saw several Royal Tombs the largest Urn Tomb Silk Tomb Castle Tomb and Corinthian Tomb.We walked along a beautiful Colonnaded street with marble pavement still seen today.We climbed to the top, 800 stairs cut into the rock up the mountain of Ad-Deir and saw the marvellous Mountain scenes along the way.

We reached Ad-Deir -the Monastery - Petras second most famous attraction. Its absolutely beautiful and next we climbed a little further to be at the Top of the World in Jordan. We took lots of photos and then wandered back again to arrive at our Hotel by 3.30 pm after a fabulous day out!

We met Jamelia for dinner at 6.00 pm. Kevin wrote her a poem and said it to her, she was quite pleased I think.We said our farewells and headed home to bed.

Monday 15th December. We were up at 4.00 am as being picked up at 5.00 am for the drive to Amman, to catch our 10.00 am flight to Cairo. We have had a wonderful time in Jordan now its time to leave. We arrived in Cairo at 11.30 am and had a long wait till 6.00 pm.

Then we flew to Istanbul, Turkley and arrived at 8.45 pm and got to our Hotel at 9.30 pm. Now it was Kevins turn to feel nauseated and have a funny tummy! So we were both happy to fall into bed tonight!