Egypt 2024
Day1: Cairo 1 1/5/24-1/6/24
(I’m sending this to you because I suspect you will enjoy it, but you can choose to either read, skim, or ignore it. No test! Welcome to the Brugman tour of Egyptian and Jordan!)
From our house to the Fairmont Nile Hotel was 26 hours. Nevertheless, with all the napping and the last leg without movies, we were fairly fresh when we emerged to meet Mohammad, our driver. He took us to the front of every line. What a dream. But there was one thing he couldn’t fix when the carousel came up one bag short. Not again!! I checked my phone for the location of my Airtag. Sure enough, my bag was still in London, at the very familiar storage facility in Hounslow that held my golf clubs for two days last August. With Mohammad’s help, we registered the loss at the luggage desk and took their word that they would deliver it tomorrow.
The Fairmont Nile is absolutely beautiful and still completely decorated for Christmas as was Heathrow Airport. This is a lovely time of year to travel. There are Christmas trees and nutcrackers everywhere, crystal stars and snowflakes, and individual roses in bud vases suspended from the ceiling all the way down. And there is live music every night. Lovely, lovely hotel. But it was really time to sleep.
At bedtime, I forgot that Egyptian water is not safe to drink. Rumor is that it’s a little better than the water in Mexico, but why chance it? I brought a bottle of Cipro, just in case. The room came loaded with bottles of water, but since I had no luggage, I was more concerned with the amenities and happy to see there was a toothbrush in the bathroom. Using the faucet, I set right out to brush my teeth, forgetting the danger. I loaded the wooden brush-up and went into automatic. Did I wet the brush first? It’s all a blur, but I woke up and didn’t swallow. Saved? Not sure, but 12 hours later, I’m feeling fine, so far… The Grand Egyptian Museum:
It was the Grand Opening of the GEM that first inspired this trip. The opening has been delayed and delayed, and delayed again, but the lobby and grand staircase (which are open) are absolutely worth a visit. Driving there was quite an experience, however! Dusty roads that look like a construction site, people crossing in front of speeding cars, men wearing galabiya, or robes and turbans, burkas with full veil, head scarves, or regular work clothes as dust swirls up from the road. The sounds are of occasional toots from cars as everyone drives anywhere, right on the bumper, coming up from the right, the left, scooting past. You could share a cigarette out the window, we were so close. And every car is covered in dust and full of small dents (no wonder)— a body shop’s dream.
At the museum, we discovered no professional cameras allowed in the museum, so John had to trust the driver and leave his whole bag in the car. This might be the case at several of the locations we visit. Wallid, our private guide, was fabulous, however. We’ve been studying Egyptian history and hieroglyphics and yet, Wallid could decipher more than we knew— 3,000 years of history and the grammar to match it.
And climbing the grand staircase of statues was like climbing a pyramid with a view of the Giza pyramids outside the Grand Window. (Here, everything is Grand!) Even though the galleries are not yet open, we are completely satisfied by our first dose of ancient Egypt and Wallid’s excellent narration. (Viator contact.)
Back at the hotel, I checked my luggage’s AirTag location. It seems to be somewhere over the Mediterranean! Hooray!! Inshallah bukra malesh (God willing, tomorrow– maybe.)
Day 3: 1/8/24 Cairo
Our first stop today was the Citadel, a huge complex built behind a castle wall, complete with battlements. This medieval structure dates back to the 1200s had has housed rulers for 700 years. The central building was a mosque from the 1800s, half built in alabaster. The interior was gorgeous and incredibly intricate. The dome shape is designed for acoustics. There were 365 lamps, now electric, and other sequences of numbers in the artwork. Apparently, it can house thousands of worshipers on a weekly basis.
Next, we boarded the bus for Cairo Museum where great statues, small items, and everything in between live. This was an old-fashioned museum unlike the new GEM that we visited yesterday. It was dark and echoey, with lots of glass and artifacts poorly displayed. Still, it was marvelous. The artifacts here are fabulous. Here, everything is out. If they have 15 amulets, all 15 are on separate selves of a display case mounted to the wall. We learned the difference between a common man, a king, and a god as portrayed in sculpture. A king wears a crown with a cobra over his forehead. His beard is always straight and squared off and his hands each hold a rolled-up papyrus as a symbol of his power. If the king is portrayed as dead, his beard has an uplift at the bottom which indicates that he is now a god.
Then came the big treat. In a small, dark room upstairs was the King Tut exhibit complete with the solid gold inner coffin, the throne, the crook and flail, and finally the great mask. His mummy will come later when we visit the Valley of the Kings but this was quite amazing— even in a museum that is nothing like the British Museum or other great museums. Still, here and only here in this museum and in that room only are things that we’ll probably never see again.
Later on, in the streets of Cairo things got pretty funny. Our dinner tour included a walk through the bizarre, and bizarre it was. Hundreds of stalls of things for sale—brass, silver, clothes, lanterns, keychains, carvings, camels, all tourist items. There are 20 million people living in Cairo and tonight on that 30-minute walk through this crazy place, it felt like we met a million of them. Black burkas were everywhere, kids in shorts or in strollers, men smoking, cats wandering in out of shops, and scooters zooming along the cobblestones. Then our guide stopped us to point out that this medieval shopping area had an original arch from 1200 and that the wall surrounding it was actually a mosque that was 800 years old.
Gorgeous and yet— bizarre. On the way back, John and I took the long and winding, “lost road” down passages with dead ends and more scooters squeezing by, all the while, vendors tried to get our attention: “Welcome to Arizona!” And “How can I take your money?” All very safe, but funny, indeed.
Dinner was traditional Egyptian fare: humus, tahini, eggplant, pinto beans bread, okra, beef, rice, and rice pudding. Tasty! Oh, and the good news came before dessert. My suitcase was now waiting at the hotel! Huzzah!
Day 4: 1-9-24
Wow! Who knew that there were so many hidden secrets inside rubble constructions in the Sahara, yes, the Sahara. The Great Sahara (which means “desert”) stretches from the Nile all the way through Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Mauritania, and Western Sahara, to the Atlantic Ocean. (Saudi Arabia is in the Arabian Desert.) The living areas in these regions are made possible by depressions in the sand which creates access to water. Of all the countries in the swath, Egypt is the luckiest in this resource because of the Nile.
Today started off with Saqqara. Here was the first Pyramid ever created, a step pyramid, possibly created by accident which is why it is a rectangle instead of on a square base like the Great Pyramids of Giza. We were able to go into one of the mastabas, which are smaller tombs and rectangular. This one meant crouching down to 3 1/2 feet and walking bent over through a downward tunnel to a room that opened up, walls covered in Hieroglyphs, then through another shorter tunnel to a bigger room, covered ceiling to floor in hieroglyphs. These were the text to the papyrus writing of The Book of Coming Forth by Day, or The Book of the Dead.
Half of the tomb was of translucent alabaster, into which was carved a relief that appears in certain lights— very magical.
Next was the nearby tomb of Seshseshet, which is significant because of the very fun art inside. In a long mural, we saw illustrations of how to tempt cattle to cross a river and what happens when a hippo meets a croc!
Our next destination was the rug factory. Since we’ve just had all our carpets cleaned and found out they’re of Egyptian origin and quite valuable, we were interested. This is a community business that employs children in their hours off of school. Half the children come in the morning, half in the afternoon, attending schools that accommodate their schedules. It was shocking to see kids working, but they were very skilled and were learning a trade that would employ them their whole lives. We considered a purchase but decided against it. Another couple bought two rugs to furnish their new house!
Then came the big attraction— the camel ride! This wasn’t a one-by-one thing. Instead, we all walked through a caravan of camels and all rode camels together in an area on the edge of the site of the Great Pyramids of Giza. Breathtaking. Our Bedouin was named Ahmed, a youngish man with all his teeth! (Sorry, but missing teeth are a sad reality here.) He took very good care of us, which was important because riding a camel is like riding a horse but with altitude! And they wobble! At first, I was holding on tight, then with one hand, and finally just gripping with my thighs— to take pictures. It was a great time!
From there, came the pyramids without camels! Even with our guard nearby, we were hounded by salesmen who wanted to help us take good pictures in exchange for $1. It was hard to resist especially when they are so earnest and needy. In the end, we ended up with about 50 photos, all the same, with John pointing at the top of the pyramid and both of us pushing up a rock that holds the base of the pyramid—everyone had the same trick. Still, it was cute!
Egypt Day 5: 1/10/25
Luxor and beyond!
We started today at 5 am, packed, luggage out in the hall, breakfast, and bus to the airport. Boy, is it nice to have my luggage back! Even though I have way too many choices now, it’s nice to be able to reach in and pick a different color to wear. It’s also nice to have my scarab necklace which is getting lots of attention! Just had to throw that in. We were flying south to Upper Egypt and Luxor. (Upper Egypt is south because that’s the direction that the Nile flows—from Victoria Falls to the Mediterranean.)
When our fairly small plane started the descent, we could see the Wadi or dry rivers in the Great Sahara. They are formed from rain and floods over the eons that became paths to the Red Sea, so perfect for merchants. When we landed, we immediately boarded the bus for Karnak very close to Luxor Temple, which we’ll do tonight.
Karnak was a huge site. We were only able to do a small corner, the most visited in fact. Here is where we found the massive pillars in an ancient hallway that were covered in hieroglyphs all the way to the top. They were carefully constructed to amplify sound in the same way that a dome might do on more modern structures. Of course, the dome hadn’t yet been invented (by the Romans) so these pillars worked in their place. Most of the statues and most of the writing is dedicated to Rameses II who had propaganda all figured out. Many of the faces of the statues were destroyed, most likely by the Persians. Despite his politics, Rameses left fabulous art. Best of all, we were able to read some of the hieroglyphics. The bits of study really paid off.
From there, we went to the ship! The Aton is a new ship this year and clean and beautiful. We didn’t have time to unpack before lunch, but after lunch, we wandered around and discovered a narrow pool, the upper decks, and the two eating areas. It’s a small ship. Later, we had an emergency drill, and then the trip to Luxor temple by night. This wasn’t a cheesy light show. It was the temple lit up by night and so beautiful. The hieroglyphs on all the walls were deep in shadow and light, making them more pronounced, and there were terrific views of all the pillars and views beyond the pillars. I was very happy to have found the name “Alexander” on a wall in the Alexander Temple!
After we returned from Luxor, it was dinner and an early evening because the balloon riders would be getting up early. We would be getting up early too to watch them from the ship!
Egypt Day 6: 1/11/24
Okay, the big deal today was John’s birthday and how to make the whole thing a surprise. Yesterday, Akmed, our fabulous tour guide, misunderstood and had me come to the front of the bus as we were leaving the hotel to go to the airport. I didn’t know what to do so led the whole group in singing “The Wheels on the Bus!” Everyone loved it, but today I had to do it all over again and try to make “Happy Birthday” as much fun as “The Wheels on the Bus” had been! I’d already done a lot of fast talking to explain that Akmed thought I was an entertainer which is why he called me up. Today, when I was called to the front, John was not surprised. I took the microphone and explained that we had a pharaoh on board and that he was a great guy and coincidentally it was “Pharaoh John’s” birthday. The whole bus clapped and together we sang as he walked up to the front of the bus. Hooray for John!
This was at 1 pm, but we had woken up at 6:30 to see our friends in the gorgeous hot air balloons sail over the Valley of the Kings just across the river. Absolutely gorgeous!! And so quiet. We loved the graceful show—from the ground!
After they returned and had lunch, our whole group went out again—to sing Happy Birthday. Today, when I was called to the front of the bus, no one was surprised. I took the microphone, and instead of jumping into song, explained that we had a pharaoh on board and he was a great guy, and coincidentally it was also his birthday the whole bus clapped and together we sang, “Happy Birthday” and hooray for Pharaoh John!
Then we visited the Dandarah Temple which was beautifully painted and of Greco-Roman influence. It was amazing to understand that in 2000 years, nothing here has been repainted. It is as it was. The Dandarah Temple is significant because it is beautifully preserved and actually has Cleopatra on the back outside wall. John and I were amazed to read her name in hieroglyphs!
We climbed to the roof and visited more rooms there and learned about the zodiacs invented by the Egyptians. All the symbols were there though on a black reproduction because the original had been carefully removed and taken to the Louvre. On that note, Egypt would love to have the Rosetta Stone back, but Britain says no to even a loan. As far as mummies go, however, the Egyptian climate is perfect for their preservation. No special treatment needed. Egypt’s 0% humidity is the reason why all of these fabulous ruins and mummies are still in such good shape.
Back at the ship, we went to dinner with our new friends, David and Heidi, and were surprised when the whole staff brought a birthday cake (that they had baked especially) to John and sang a traditional happy birthday. He was uncomfortable but happy to have a bit of attention. Happy birthday John—many more to come. More surprises tomorrow!
Egypt Day 7: 1/12/24
Today was an early start to go to the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens. We’re still in Luxor and our destination was a carved-out hill in the desert just across the river, but the bridge was 30 minutes away, that’s the way we went. The site was white Sahara, but just off the Nile watershed so, if you wanted to, you could stand with one foot in lush vegetation and the other the desert!
The Valley of the Kings is where Howard Carter, funded by Lord Carnarvon (of Highclere Castle a la Downtown Abbey), found the burial site of Tutankhamun (Tu-tank-ahmen) in 1920. These tombs are not in pyramids because pyramids are advertisements for grave robbers which the ancient Egyptians soon discovered. As a result, many artifacts were found in this area—though many also stolen. King Tut’s tomb is highly significant because it was found completely intact. Since it was the most famous, it was the first one we visited. The walls are covered in hieroglyphs with instructions on how to enter the afterlife. Now, only the actual mummy of King Tut and his sarcophagus remain here. All else is in the Cairo Museum and soon to be at the new GEM.
Next, we saw the tomb of Rameses IV, a huge tomb with writing all over the walls and ceiling. It was very deep. 70 stairs down, but so brightly painted, again with no retouching and 3,000 years of detail in the writing. These walls are all about hieroglyphs and the ancient Egyptian beliefs that the dead became gods through incantations. The writing reads like magic spells.
From the Valley of the Kings, we next went to the Valley of the Queens where Hapshesut and Nefertari were buried. Nefertari is the wife of Rameses II and is one of the most beautiful of all the tombs we’ve seen. In fact, we needed a special “E” ticket to be admitted to this one. The Hepshesut temple was huge, but defaced by her grandson who wanted to erase her from history. There are still significant records of her reign and complicated married life so her memory lives on.
Back on the ship, we set sail for the south (upriver). While we cruised, we had a Backgammon lesson and an Arabic lesson so that we can be prepared for some significant shopping tomorrow. John needs a Galabiaya for the party tomorrow night.
After dinner, we had a floor show from an onshore troupe that included three musicians and a whirling dervish! Fabulous colors and an amazing show!
Egypt Day 8: 1/14/24
Early this morning, we were awakened by the call to prayer from a very loud singer in a very nearby minaret. The first prayer is at 5:49 am. Good morning.
Today was a much quieter day just when we needed one. The choices were either to do a walking/shopping tour in the beautiful town of Esna or to visit the nearby Esna Temple, famous for bright art, lotus flower pillars with stems and binding, then covered in hieroglyphs. The gods here are the god of water, Khmum and Neith, who keep the world in order.
We also visited the Caravanserai, the Wekalet al- Gedday, or a caravan rest stop. This was an ancient building that had been recently re-plastered with the help of US dollars. It had a wide open courtyard and a roof from which we could see over the town to a Catholic Church dedicated to the Virgin Mary, in a sea of mosques with minarets. Our guide knew that we all wanted to make purchases from the “Valley of the Vendors” (or vultures, they say) as we’ve started calling them because tonight would be dress-up night! To be in the spirit of the evening, we all needed galabiayas (traditional gowns.)
This is when things got interesting. What we should have done (take note, future travelers) was put the price we wanted to pay in a pocket so when the haggling started, we had a limit. The problem was, we didn’t do it that way. Egypt is a terrific country and the people are delightful, but different. We’ve never felt unsafe and certainly never had “an incident,” but they can be aggressive. The way to handle salesmen (they’re really all men) is to approach a gauntlet of venters by looking at the ground and just march on through. If you start to look around, you will be surrounded by items pushed at you with lots of insistent shouting.
At the same time, everything is very cheap, so what’s the problem? It’s that it happens all so fast that you hardly have time to look around and shop. There is no “hassle-free” shopping here and there is always haggling. We don’t know how to haggle so here’s the lesson. Don’t mention a price. Let them do the talking and realize that the first price is 5 times too high at least.
All that said, we came away with two galabiayas. See the pictures below.
The rest of the day was a gentle boat ride south, upriver toward Aswan. At 9 pm, we had a terrific show of Nubian dancers who spoke their own language, were funny, and loved audience participation. John was especially involved!
Tomorrow, the 8th wonder of the world!
Egypt, Day 9:1/14/24
Aswan Dam
Flight south to Abu Simbel
It was another early day but since we moved from Esna to Aswan yesterday afternoon, we were not awakened by morning prayers at 5:40 am. Instead, we got up at 6:00 because today was going to be a big day. (And side note: I started having intestinal symptoms last night and so started taking the Cipro that my doctor prescribed. I recommend that future travelers take all medications, just in case.)
Breakfast, bus, and off we went. This is a much smaller group today because Abu Simbel is an optional tour. We drove for about 45 minutes before having a lovely tour of the new Aswan High Dam built by Nasser in the 1960s. It controls the flooding in Egypt-which was a great thing for ancient civilizations, but is inconvenient in modern times. As with any human construction, it has its problems, one of which is it doesn’t allow silt to pass through and silt is needed to nourish Egypt’s rich soil. The other is that the crocodiles are now blocked out from the north. Maybe not a bad thing…
Next, we drove to the small airport and boarded a 40-passenger prop plane, flew 50 minutes over the Sahara to Abu Simbel, the 8th wonder of the world. This is a truly amazing site. (Not to make light of it, but the 2022 version of Death on the Nile was set here, though filmed completely in England. It’s an amazing look at Abu Simbel up close.) These two structures are not tombs, but temples—one to Rameses II and one to Nefertari, his favorite wife. Each of the outer statues is 60 ft high and the interior is equally impressive with wall art and writing, depicting and describing entering the afterlife.
The really amazing thing is that when the dam was under construction, it was clear that these structures were going to be submerged under the rising water so, a German engineering firm devised a way to disassemble the whole mountainside, move it up something like 100 feet and reconstruct the whole thing! Look closely below. You’ll see that the mountain is actually blocks of stone. Moving Abu Simbel is as big a feat as building the dam!
Another bit of magical engineering is that the original construction allowed the sun to light up the interior face of Ramses II twice a year, in spring and autumn (once for his birthday and the other for his ascension to the throne.) When the whole temple was relocated, the engineers managed to create the same exact effect with one change. Instead of the sun shining in on February 21st and October 21st, it now shines in one day later. The whole thing is spectacular.
We got back to the boat for a very late lunch and that was it for the day.
Day 10: 1/15/24
Today started with a cruise up the Nile from us, on a little boat that was like the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland. It was very charming and even had fringe. We went around lots of small islands and little boats which reminded us of Antarctica sailing around icebergs. There was lots of wildlife along the sides of the river we saw camels and horses, lots of birds and small villages on our way to a Nubian Village
At the Nubian Village, we met some salesmen outside the boat who were not aggressive, were very patient with us, which was nice, and we climbed up into a Nubian house that was beautiful. It had sand floors in the courtyard to keep snakes out, and very small bedrooms, a very rough kitchen, and two floors of bedrooms, and a great view of the river from the top, here, we had tea and homemade bread and had a chance to shop or get henna painted on our hands. They also had pet crocodiles in Wells in the courtyard, knowing the story of David’s friend. Who is eaten alive, we were all respectful around the crocodiles.
We had tea and homemade bread with the Nubian family and toured their home. It was absolutely lovely from there. We visited the nearby school and counted in both Arabic and English with them. I led them in the reprise of “The Wheels on the Bus!” We went to Philae, where there was a Coptic church made from an Egyptian temple, and filled with Egyptian hieroglyphs and signs, some of which had been turned into the iron cross. It was a beautiful island that we visited in great light.
Next, was to our ship and up(sorry down) the river toward Kom Ombo where there was another gorgeous temple. We could just walk there from the ship and again, we hit the perfect sunset lighting in the face of the temple. More great stories. See below.
No fancy show. We’re still waiting for a belly dancing exhibition, though— wondering if Viking does that sort of thing. More hilarity tomorrow. Good night.
Day 11: 1/15/24
Edfu hilarity. Horse and buggy
We knew what was coming. Still, it was great fun. We got to ride— and me drive (!) a horse-drawn buggy to the Edfu Temple. The Edfu Temple is famous for being the most complete of all the temples including the surrounding neighborhood of 2000 yr old houses because the whole thing had been preserved under the sand for a thousand years.
Before we entered, Ahmed (said Akmed) told us the “true” legend— laugh laugh— involving the couples Isis and Osiris (in love) and Nefiti and Set (a Satan figure— unhappy couple. All sorts of plotting and escaping. Osiris is chopped into 14 pieces. Isis can only recover 13 pieces. His “zucchini” (Ahmed’s euphemism) is missing! Oh no! So in order to have a child (Horus), Isis must make him a new zucchini (!) out of clay. It stays very hard —of course.
This temple had some x-rated pictures on the wall of the fertility room, but Ahmed trusted us to keep that part of the tour quiet! Then, one of our party told x x-rated joke to Ahmed who laughed so hard, we thought we were going to lose him! Very fun group!!
Back to the horse and carriage and ride back to the ship. A very pleasant way to get to know and feel the city. We dodged cars and women in full burkas (not traditional here) and motor scooters and the occasional truck! Then, we were off to “sea” and down the river we go up toward Luxor which would take the rest of the day.
At the Esna Lock, we had another adventure. We’d heard about this and were prepared, but as our ship neared the locks, merchants rowed up to the boat yelling, “Hey, Lady!” like a catcall. What they really wanted was to sell us their scarves and tablecloths. Never mind that they were on the water in a flimsy boat. They could throw their stuff anywhere. And their aim was right on. As soon as I looked down from the top deck, I was pelted by tablecloths! Since I wanted to throw them all back, I ran down to Leslie and Fritz’s private deck. Then I was hit by more tablecloths! Above me, the crowd had gathered. Lots of laughter —and buying. This was great fun!!
As we entered the lock, the merchants came right along with us, selling everything they threw to the boat as the water level sank and the gates opened. What arms, what aim! You’ll have to come over sometime and learn a bit of ancient Egyptian from my new tablecloth— with matching napkins!
Day 12: 1/17/24
After flying back to Cairo last night, quick sleep and… new day!
Today we had a fairly easy day. A small group of us boarded buses and went across town to the Coptic neighborhood to visit the synagogue and the Coptic church. The synagogue was important because baby Moses was thought to have been found in a river there. The site was eventually turned into a synagogue and is no longer in use. Some of the wood inside is 500 years old and ornate fixtures are exquisite.
The Coptic church is famous because Mary and Joseph were thought to have hidden near here on the flight into Egypt. It was right next to the synagogue — imagine the coincidence— and full of ancient detail and a beautiful wooden dome. There was even a crypt.
Next door was the Coptic Museum. It was full of pieces of stone carvings that possibly fell off of buildings bits of churches from around lots of icons. It was a fun little place.
Back at the hotel, we rested a bit, shopped a bit, and then got ready for our last dinner together. Some will be flying home and others will be flying off to Jordan. Our wake-up call is at 2 AM for a 3:15 AM trip to the airport and 6 AM departure. Good night.
Day 13: 1/18/24 on to Jordan
The drama today started at 3 am when we were supposed to be on the bus— not still in our jammies! After some shouting and scurrying, we managed to get downstairs in 15 minutes. Oh my. What happened to our wake-up call?
From Cairo, Egypt to Amman, Jordan, through many scanners and finally to our new bus in a new country!
We trekked through a mountainous desert landscape while our new tour guide, Salah, told us about his early life as a Bedouin nomad, raising camels— a life which he still misses very much. With climate change and property disputes, many moved on. He got an education and became a tour guide for Viking. Truly an amazing person!!
The sad news is that Jordan has been hit way harder than Egypt by the war. Tourism is down by 80%. We will have our hotels and the sites to ourselves.
Our first stop was at the Panorama Museum with a view of the Dead Sea. We could barely see through the evaporation fog across to Israel, but it was there! Jerusalem and Bethlehem were just across the water. In the museum, we learned about how climate change is affecting the level of the Sea. Water from the Jordan River is being diverted for human use, and plans to bring in water from the Red Sea would severely alter the composition of the Sea, so they pray for rain.
From The Panorama, we went to our hotel, right in the shore of the Dead Sea—The Movenpick. We were now 1410‘ below sea level, the lowest place on earth, ears popping all the way here. Rooms are more like cottages with an outpost for restaurants and shopping, a few pools and a spa. Then all the way down are the changing rooms and access to the water. The lifeguard on duty is essential because the water is so salty that people die here on a regular basis! (Murder mystery idea— death by salt!) If you try to swim and any water gets in your mouth or eyes, it will cause such burning that you’re likely to panic and be unable to breathe. They lose tourists regularly. (Future traveler, beware) and indeed, we were 8 out of possibly 14 tourists at this exquisite beach, no one in any of the pools coming down. So the word is, “Come to Jordan. The water is fine!”
Our group had a great time, though, and did not die by salt. We did the whole thing, with Mr. Lifeguard’s attentive help. Getting into the water is hard because it’s a bit chilly and so different. Mr. Lifeguard helped us in, told us to squat then gently lead back so we could float. 5-10 minutes later, we came out and went for the mud— essential to the experience. We were to rub mud mixed with cakes of salt all over us. Mr. Lifeguard did our backs. We even scrubbed our faces with mud! (Wrinkles, be gone!) Then, we had to bake completely dry, then back in the Sea to scrub off, then to the cold shower — the hardest part.
The result—Super soft skin. Amazing experience. Peggy and I each tasted the water by putting a wet finger to our tongues. Just that amount was like a very hot spice— dangerous, indeed! Lee had a splash in his eye and was in some agony for some while.
Floating in the Dead Sea is a fabulous experience, but only if you dare. Dinner was at 6 pm. We all sat together and had lots of laughs. Tomorrow we sleep until a glorious 7 am. Hooray!!
Day 15: 1/19/24
In Jordan, we left the Movenpick Hotel for the long drive to Petra. We will be driving pretty much the entire length of the country today, making stops along the way. Our first was Mount Nebo— a monastery restored by the Franciscans who discovered layers of mosaic floors. They carefully removed and reassembled all the floors and put them on the walls. This is one of my favorite churches so far. Maybe it helped that John Paul II had been here in 2000 and donated a papel cross that stands next to the altar. From the back patio area, we could see across the Dead Sea to Israel— a view that makes the world seem so small.
We visited the Mosaic School and had opportunities to buy expensive mosaics or rugs. Lots of our group bought both. It’s wonderful to see how we’re all supporting the economy and especially local women.
Our next stop, an hour and a half later, was at Mudaba to see the Church of St. George. This was another restored church with lots of artistic architectural touches. See pictures below.
We had an included lunch here of native foods. All delicious. Recognizable items were eggplant, tahini, and rice. The big presentation was an upsidedown dish, called Maqluba, served in a huge pan and ceremonially flipped onto a platter as we all clapped.
After another rest stop and more chances to buy mosaics or rugs, we visited the ruins of a Crusader Castle, Showbek, that was completely fortified. The Crusaders had a secret access to water, but in the 1100s the Muslim leader, Saladin, discovered the underground access, cut it off and besieged the castle.
Riding for hours in the bus gave us a long look out the window. Without any narration from our guide, we saw flocks of sheep and goats, and occasionally camels. Our guide, a Bedouin, explained that the villages we went by were Bedouin villages, no longer nomadic.
As we entered Petra, we stopped at the Wadi Mudiand had a look at the great valley of homes and small structures on our way into the town.
This Movenpick hotel is as lovely as the last one. After dinner, we skipped across the street to the fabulous archaeological museum to see the full history of the Nabataean people.
Tomorrow— the big day!!
Day 16: 1/20/24– Patti Does her own Stunts at Petra
Today wow! We met at 8:30 AM and were on the road to the Petra entrance across the street. Our guide, Salah walked with us slowly down the pitched trail, toward the rocky outcroppings that were like the beginning of a gentle valley. As we looked closer, we could see lots of caves, and even some carvings in the rock. Salah explained that the Nabataeans did not live in caves, and that all of the holes we saw in rock were actually tombs. The writing was in both Greek and Aramaic and may be the only writing we saw all day.
We stopped and took way too many pictures. There was so much more to go. Around a few more corners we got to the Siq, which was the beginning of the beginning of the slot canyon. Here, the walls of the two sides of the path rose 60 to 80 feet and the space between the walls buried from 10 to 30 feet. There’s plenty of traffic even though tourism is way down and with Salah leading the way we had no claustrophobia. We learned about flood control, water pipes and dams. The Nabataeons were amazing engineers.
2 1/2 miles later Salah stopped us. He told us to face up the hill and then cross the path. Then he directed us to look back at the slot Canyon where the light was just coming in beautifully. We were all taking pictures of the rock perfectly lit against the sky, when he told us to turn around, turn around, turn around. It was a trick. When we looked up again, we saw the very top corner of the treasury at Petra, the big reveal of the Treasury. Sal got the reaction he wanted. Ooos and aaas!
The treasury was another tomb, but it was completely carved into the sandstone. Salah explained that it was curved from the top down, and that everything was perfectly engineered and designed with intricate detail to come out perfectly. The Nabataeans did these structures over and over again in smaller dimensions all the way down the canyon.
After recovering from the awe of this site, our little party continued down the next area which was considered the Road of Façades. Here we saw more examples of the rock face carving in great morning light.. Salah’s plan worked perfectly. we saw everything at its best. Next, we came to the restaurant where we could stop for lunch if we wanted to or continue on up to the even taller monument, the Monastery. Most of us decided to skip lunch and head on up the trail. The vote was fairly unanimous to take donkeys. Salah negotiated with the donkey manager, so that we could all ride for a certain price. The decision was to ride up and walk back. Even John got on a donkey. I was amazed!
I got the E-ticket ride, when someone kicked one of the wild dogs roaming everywhere here and the dog spooked my donkey just as my handler had let go of the reins. My donkey turned around and took off down the canyon at full speed. There were rocks everywhere as he darted to the right, the left, and the right again, going this way, and that and with me screaming and holding on to the saddle with my hands and knees. I’d like to say it was a thrill, but it was pretty scary. I’m not sure everyone would’ve survived, but somehow I stayed on. More impressive, those guys convinced me to continue riding the donkey all the way up the trail! The trail by the way, was all rock with ancient steps carved out by the Nabataeans. it was probably a mile and a half up by donkey. I’m still in a bit of shock, very happy to be alive, and amazed that I am that strong. To hell with that last birthday. I’m really only 35!
When we dismounted our donkeys, we still had another half-mile on the stone passageway, and illegal vendors trying to sell us their wares. (I gave out a lot of dollars and smiles.) Since I needed to change to pay John’s donkey driver, I bought some fresh squeezed pomegranate juice, which was worth the experience of watching the woman squeeze the juice with her mechanical machine. Money to women is never wasted.
The monastery was worth all the trouble. (though maybe not broken bones!) It was a third again as big as the treasury and not as detailed, but gorgeous to look at in a huge open space. Come see John’s pictures soon. Slideshow coming.
Our group unanimously decided to walk back down, fairly sure that the return donkey ride would be treacherous. There’s nothing to stop a horse headed for the barn! The total distance from the entrance of Petra to the top of the monastery, was probably about 3 1/2 miles— one way.
Our little party reconvened at a place called “The Cave,” which was actually in a Nabataean cave that has been shaped into a bar and restaurant. It was a very cool place to have a drink.
What a fabulous day— and another one coming tomorrow— though, hopefully without stunts!
Day 17: 1/21/24 From Petra to Amman
This was the long ride through the winter desert. It took from 6:30 am until 4 to get to our hotel in Amman, but we did make one significant stop. Besides the “coffee out” stops, as Sal likes to call them, we stopped at Gerash, the most significant Roman site outside of Italy.
When arrived, however, a Bollywood movie was being filmed. We had to walk by all the dancing extras dressed like Romans dancing to the boom boom boom. And the drone flew up for each take… and, because of the filming, we couldn’t see the front of Hadrian’s gate/large arch. (Emperor Hadrian of Hadrian’s wall, was one of our favorites.)
Inside the site were great examples of arches, pillars, and a hippodrome for horse racing. Then an oval forum and the center of town with lots of pillars and a cathedral. Pretty uppity place here. On the way back, the Bollywood cast had moved so we were able to walk through Hadrian’s gate. Hugh and majestic!
Back at the Fairmont Amman (the best hotel so far!), we met with our party friends and had one last great meal before the early flight tomorrow and tough ride to Chicago. These are friends I think we’ll see again. We bonded through laughter and terror together. Two weeks of stories and memories—and ancient history that never disappears! Dear friends, until we meet again!
Notes to future travelers:
1. Bring a fairly empty suitcase so you’ll have room for galibayas and gorgeous shawls (great gits and very economical) I even bought a tablecloth and napkins while others were shopping for Egyptian cotton sheets. (They’ll ship rugs for you for free.)
2. Any time is a time to travel to Egypt. Every season has its traditions.
3. Bring plenty of $10 and $20 bills. Everyone here has $1s which they have trouble exchanging. You will be such a help if you bring big bills and let them make change. (Your guide will ask the group for big bills once in a while– all exchanges are completely safe and cost nothing.)
4. Dogs and cats are everywhere –super cute and friendly, but do not touch—- one of our group had to have a rabies shot.
5. Have faith. You will be safe. We experienced zero attempts to steal anything. Everywhere people were happy and kind though salesmen can be aggressive. Watch a YouTube video on shopping in Egypt.
6. Support women in all things. If they’re selling something, consider buying it whether you need it or not. (Everything there is 30 cents to the dollar.)
7. Read about Egypt and learn some hieroglyphs and the history of ancient Egypt before you come. It really helps! And you’ll be the star of your group.
8. Learn a few words of Arabic. A few words will give you some power and will make you feel like a native!
9. Check projected weather. In January, we wore long sleeves, vests and jackets every day. As the weather warms, the nights might still be cool.
10. Ask your doctor for a Cipril antibiotic, just in case. Best not to drink the water.