“Open Sesame”

Well, we have worked our way out of the Middle East.  Our final stops this cruise were more Egypt and Jordan.  Being in Africa was an eye-opening experience for me.  There was extreme culture shock being in Egypt.  All the people think so differently than Europe or the US.  There is trash everywhere. There are practically no rules on the road; no lines, no lights, no speed limits, no seat belt laws.  I saw 2 men and 1 boy riding on top of a pile of wood in the back of a truck, as well as horse drawn buggies driving in the wrong lanes!  Maarten says just wait until Asia.  Yikes.  Another thing that was a complete shock for me was all the guns.  We had an armed military escort on our bus everywhere we went and there were young Egyptian men everywhere holding huge weapons.  It was a bit scary.  The lack of women was also a bit weird.  I saw a few here and there, but most of them must stay in their homes.  I felt a bit out of place, but all of the ancient ruins were definitely worth seeing.

Our second port was Safaga, Egypt.  From there I went to The Valley of the Kings in Luxor, Egypt.  It is a large burial ground that was used instead of pyramids to be a little more inconspicuous.  No one was allowed to bring cameras into the Valley, but I snuck a few pictures from my iPod of the main valley, just not in the tombs…so I have pictures from Google posted below of what I saw inside the tombs.  I was able to go inside four of the tombs, King Rameses IV, King Rameses III, King Rameses IX and King Tutankhamen!  I had to pay separately to go in King Tut’s tomb, but I’m only going to be there once, so I might as well see all I can!  All of the Rameses tombs were so ornate and beautifully painted inside.  Some of them just kept going on, room after room.  What surprised me was that the hieroglyphics weren’t just painted onto the walls, they were carved in before being painted.  King Tut’s tomb was the least ornate and the smallest that I went into.  It was tradition to start making your tomb the moment you become King and that you keep adding to it until you die.  King Tut became king when he was 11 and died when he was 18, so that only gave him 7 years to build his tomb.  His tomb was the only one found to be mostly intact.  It was a little disappointing compared to the other tombs, but definitely something to everyone should see. 

Paintings in the tombs

Inside King Tut’s tomb

The Valley of the Kings

Our next stop that day was Karnak Temple.  The highlight of the huge temple was the hypostyle hall, which has 134 columns covered in carvings and paintings, although almost all of the paint has faded.  It was an amazing thing to see!

Our second day in Safaga, Egypt, Maarten and I had a beach day in a small coastal town called Hurghada one hour North of Safaga.  We found a beach and spent the day snorkeling, sun bathing, snacking and even experienced an Egyptian sun shower!

Our third and final port on this 16 day cruise was Aqaba, Jordan.  I was able to go on a crew tour to Petra, the rose red city.  Our first stop was a photo stop with the desert mountain range behind you.  Pretty incredible.

Petra is an Arabian city established in the 3^rd century BC and is famous for its rock-cut architecture.  To get to the city you need to walk down a pathway between the rocks called the Siq.  The Siq is about 1.2 km and right before you reach the end of the path there is, what they call, the “Million Dollar View”.  I think that some Hollywood movie producer paid a bunch of money to shoot a movie in Petra or something like that.  The first structure you see is the Treasury, a huge building cut out of the rock.  Unfortunately you can’t go inside, but there are plenty more that you can.

(Entrance into the Siq and inside the path)

(Kitties in the Siq)

(Million Dollar View)

 

(In front of the Treasury)

 

(Now we all have to watch "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade")

 

The rest of the city is down another path behind the Treasury.  There is a huge theater, tons of tombs, a temple, monastery and other buildings.  We were able to walk up to the Urn Tomb and see the most amazing view of the mountains and town beneath you. 

 (The Urn Tomb and me at the top)

 

 

Petra is quite a beautiful ancient town and I am so glad to have seen it.  It is on Smithsonian Magazine’s list of “28 Things to See Before you Die”, so I Googled that and found that I have seen 6 of them already!  I have seen Pompeii, Petra, the Pyramids of Giza, the Parthenon, Ephesus and Venice…only 22 to go! (Click here to see the list: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/specialsections/lifelists/lifelist.html)

It has been an amazing cruise.  Only two more until I fly home from Sydney.  Now on to Asia and Australia!