World Cruise 2012: At Sea & Aqaba (Petra), Jordan

The distance is short from Safaga to Aqaba so our fast ship slows to 7 knots and cruises leisurely for a day between the two ports. We will have had to put the clock ahead an hour for Jordan so it helps to have a lazy day today. Did I mention there is a spa onboard??

As the ship enters the Gulf of Aqaba, between the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt and Saudi Arabia, along the shoreline we see mountains and sandy beaches, container ports, other ships and pleasure boats enjoying this portion of the Red Sea. Aqaba is Jordan’s only port on the Red Sea and is right next to Iliat, Israel’s only seaport following the 1978 peace accords with Egypt, which allowed them to retain this port on the Gulf of Aqaba. Aqaba also was the headquarters during WW1 of Prince Feisal’s battle against the Turks, as assisted by Lawrence of Arabia. It is now a shipping port, marked as are many Arabic ports by high-rise wheat elevators, and a resort area.

Petra, the tour for which starts in Aqaba, is a two-hour drive away along the King’s Highway. This road goes back about 4,000 years as a trade-and-travel route. Many renowned people are known to have graced this area with their presence – Moses, King Solomon, John the Baptist, etc. This is the area that people traveling out of Egypt into the Middle East would have routinely traversed. On one side of the road, the land is held by the Midians and on the other side the Edomites. There are still Bedouin families living along the roadsides and in the surrounding lava-diked granite and sand-stone mountains, eking out a living. We see tent and some mud-brick homes, with women tending goats and sheep and men tending camels. Our tour guide tells us that in Jordan in another 10 years, there will probably not be any Bedouin families living in tents because the government is helping set them up in housing and the young people are all moving into it. It is the grandfathers and grandmothers who want to remain living in the tents and tending the animals, regardless of the growing absence of “free range”.

Just a cute donkey

Khalid, our happy and well spoken tour guide, provides a great narrative during our journey, including informing us that the area near Petra is where Moses came, met and married Jethro’s daughter Sarah, received his orders at the burning bush, and later touched a rock with his staff to get water for the people during the exodus from Egypt.

Along the road into Petra

Looking over Petra area

Indiana Jones was here!

Arriving in Petra, we start our walk into the canyon-laden mountainous area to these magnificent ruins. We won’t even attempt to describe Petra’s long and spectacular history here. Let’s just say it was on our bucket list, are so grateful to have experienced it and we would like to return for a longer visit. Pictures are the best way to show off Petra. We would encourage others to visit.