Peace Way Hotel Wadi Musa

... walking down a wide pathway towards the Siq (sliver in the rock). We see tombs carved in the rock along this pathway. We enter into the Siq, a 1.2 km. (0.75 mi.) long deep and narrow gorge of stunning natural beauty. Bizarre looking rock formations tower 80 m. (262 ft.) high. We marvel at the beauty of the rocks and the ingenious rock face water channels and dams developed by the Nabataeans, an ancient Arab tribe who originally came from ...

... the dwelling spaces for the common people (castles were a little farther down the way) before I started the climb up to the spot that had been used for sacrifices. More than 600 well-carved stairs later, I was at one of the highest points in the area looking over Petra and the surrounding mountains and desert. Not having much time to make it back to the taxi driver, who was to meet me in a couple of hours (the walk back was long), I admired it for a few minutes ...

... from there. It was the same on the Red Sea Coast in Egypt, you could see Saudi Arabia across the ocean and it honestly looked like you could easily swim there. It was the most bizarre thing to, as women, be chilling out in swimmers and bikini's and sarongs, sipping mocktails on the beach when we knew that if we were to swim across the ocean we would be killed or convicted or something for dressing that way. We spent a lot of time ...

... boyfriend. <br><br>Have not been on an organised tour like this before, all a bit new, could be great, could be tears, who knows. Group gets woken up at crack of dawn to visit local places of interest, we get introduced to local tour guide who speak the Eglish good not so well. We are then dulled to near death with Amman local sites, however boredom is broken with visit to Museum that contains dead sea scrolls, wow ...

... wij natuurlijk niet wisten dat we op avontuur gingen, liep ik op mn flipflops en wist ik mn halve wijsteen dr af te stoten.. Gelukkig is Ghassab Krankenpfleger! <br><br>Ghassab's broer Hassan en zn neef Atallah kwamen met een hoop voorraad in een onbetrouwbare pick-up naar het eindpunt van onze eerste kleine woestijnwandeling, en achter een paar rotsblokken bouwden we een kamp voor de nacht: Matjes, slaapzakjes, vuurtje, kaarsjes, eten, raki, amstelbier, the ...

... but we had enough water and took lots of stops going up. A few minutes up the path some American tourists had abandoned the donkey ride up as it was so precarious on the paths and they were frightened of the donkey falling. Slowly we kept going and along the way were souvenir sellers and drink sellers all selling expensive stuff. Near the top I looked up and saw the top was further than I expected and I thought I can&#8217;t go up any more I am exhausted and just as ...

... the entrance. Besides the sheer scope and size of this edifice, the striking thing is that it was created in the first century AD and is still in its full glory today. Ironically, scholars are still uncertain of why it was built, although it is commonly believed to be the tomb of a popular king of the time, and a place of rituals. However, beyond the Treasury, there is much, much more to the Petra site, including hundred of carved tombs dating back to the same time, a huge ...

... ganz Petra kommt erst nach dem Siq: Al-Khazneh, das Schatzhaus. Das ist das mit Abstand schoenste und beeindruckendste Gebaeude der ganzen Stadt, ganze 30 Meter hoch und duerfte selbst dem groessten Honk der Welt bekannt sein, denn es ist das Gebaeude, in dem Indiana Jones in "Der letzte Kreuzzug" den Heiligen Gral findet (deshalb auch die Indiana-Jones-Laeden vor dem Haupteingang). Der Begriff "Schatzhaus" ist uebrigens ein Irrtum - es gibt und gab nie ...

... so there is some hope!). We were amazed that we were able to climb all over the sight - this wouldn't happen in many other places eg. the Roman Forum, and presumably will be stopped soon here too (in the interest of preserving this Unesco world heritage site people should be restricted from using the ancient tombs as toilets don't you think?) Malesh. We went as far as climbing up the long set of stairs to the monastery (quite a work out in the heat). Here, a young girl ...

Decided to wake up early today and get some free breakfast and get to Petra early. Breakfast was pitta and toasted sesame bread, cucumber, tomato, cheese, butter, jam, tea and the worst coffee I've had in my life. Haven't had a really nice coffee since I left home. Guess it was free though so I can't complain. One of the Israeli's went round the other tables taking the leftover bread and other bits and pieces. Unbelievable. Totally playing up to the stereotypes back home ...