Population is now 400,000. Back Egypt’s day, it was a capital was called Thebes

Previous rulers were Ramses, Neferari …. & so many!

Tombs, mortuary cemetery on west … life (temples) on east.

Temple for mummification(70 days),Tombs of Valley of Kings.

410 tombs found so far. All because when the Nile flooded people built houses on side of hills to escape it. They would dig in their “basements” and found tombs.

Only 62 tombs found…. Only 8 open. Others are being restored.

Tutankhamen was only on with the tomb intact.

They started working on a tomb when come the king/pharaoh came to power. If tomb is incompleted, means they died at an early age. If completed, he/she was old when died

Purpose for building the tombs where there are, was to hide from them tomb robbers away from river. There still missing 8 more. King Tut (618 th dynasty) was found in Nov 1922. Ramses (19th dynasty) was built on top of Tut’s. 5000 golden items found. Osiris god of death gods In total there are 741.

Kartouch… oval shape with name king. Each had 2 names…. The one born with and the one as king.

God of mummification- jackal shape

Ram head is sun god

Headless people…. Enemies of Egypt and those the king defeated

Mask 10 kg of gold of Tut

The first one we went into was Ramses III

Ramses II ‘s tomb was built on top of Tut’s tomb. He had 48 wives and 200 children…. Lived 95 years … longest reigning king.

Next we went into Ramses IV- has the largest sarcophagus

Unbelievable that they could find any of these tombs amongst all the rubble of the mountains.

This area too is extremely hot…. about 45C. Inside was even hotter…a real sweat box.

Stopped where they make things in ancient way with alabaster, alabaster with phosphorus (Linda’s green kitty), etc. … is brought by donkey from 8 kms away.

Temple of Queen Hatshepsut… 1st female pharaoh but she disguised herself as a man. During her reign ….19 years, there were no wars. She knew nothing of armies but developed the trade industries. After stepson took over after her untimely death by poisoning of blood stream. (It was from bad teeth), he erased a lot of the works about her and replaced it with his own stuff.

Up at 5am to catch a taxi to the airport. We are heading to Luxor, Egypt via Cairo.

The airport in Cairo, the signage left a lot to be desired.

We were picked up by Mohammed

Luxor Temple built 3500 years ago approximately. We stopped at “Snack Time” for lunch where overlooked the grounds

Palace of King Farouk, ruler of all Egypt and Sudan …. Now is a luxury hotel (Winter Palace) opposite the Nile River and all the riverboats

80% Moslem, 20% Christian … in Luxor.

Very rich fertile soil that is serviced by canals that are used for irrigation. This side on West Bank, the canal goes all the way to Cairo. There is one on the East bank too, that goes all the way to Alexandria.

There has been no flooding since the Aswan Dam was built.

Left @ 9 am right on time…. onto the road that runs along side Dead Sea.

FYI…. I’m feeling much better although not 100%.

Farms of solar panels in the middle of a very bleak landscape.

New border crossing being built between Israel and Jordan to facilitate those tourist from Israel that just want to see Aqaba, Wadi Rum and Petra.

Amira completed Baccalaureate in 3 years

Stopped at a restaurant supported by GAdventures that supports the women of the village that previously had never worked outside the home or interacted with others outside their home. It’s a very controlled environment for many of these women. Now some have completed their education and gone on to become doctors, etc.

“Lots” caves right close by ….part way up the mountains. On the other side of the mountains is Karak and the Crusader’s castle

Hot springs …..they are building chalets for people coming but they are too hot for Amira.

No pictures till later. Wifi sucks!

Missed picture of the sunset in the Valley of the Moon.

Aqaba…quite modern, lovely palm tree lined street. Apparently because it is so hot here in the summer (I can only imagine), the government has implemented cheaper taxes, lots of other perks and benefits…. just to have people stay.

Today is the day I was really looking forward to…to go snorkelling in the Gulf of Aqaba. Unfortunately I am sick. Two others are too…..maybe food poisoning??? I went out on the boat but was terribly sick again and kept falling asleep cuz I didn’t have any energy. Consequently not much in the way of pictures.

One thing of note…..no pictures are to be taken in a certain area because of military base/presence. At this point, we are in Jordan, across from Israel. A little further down beside Israel, is Egypt. On the other side is Saudi Arabia. Lots of shipping containers.

Hope I feel better tomorrow

We all got to sleep in …didn’t leave until 10:30. This whole area around Petra is so hilly. It’s a good thing that they don’t have snow. I tried to post a video of the call to prayer but failed.

Back onto Kings Hwy….from Roman period.

In 1917 was the beginning of WW1 & the first Arab revolt. Before 1917 it was under Ottoman rule. The British (Lawrence of Arabia), ordered Arab tribes to join together to oust Ottomans….to prevent the Ottoman (at the Suez Canal) from accessing Europe (to keep them busy so that they wouldn’t move into Europe). Britain and France originally supported the formation of a United Arab country but reneged the plan. They divided the area into different countries, be shared by the two country. King Hussein was leader of Jordan for almost 50 years before he died of cancer. He brought Jordan to 20th century with universities, bridges and roads, etc. etc. He was married 4 times. He divorced his 1st after couple of years. To guarantee Abdullah (British mother, the 2nd wife, wouldn’t convert to Islam so they divorced) to be king. The 3rd died in a helicopter crash at the location of the airport. Hence, the name of the airport. Jordan got Independence in 1946. It’s called Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

Wadi Rum …Valley of the Moon, was the area where many films were made including Lawrence of Arabia and Star Wars. It really does look like one would imagine what the moon looks like with vast flat barren “valleys” and strange looking rock formations

Aladdin- movie with Wil Smith.

Stopped at a couple of arches and were greeted by kids and adults with their pet camels. The camels have incredibly long, long eyelashes…maybe 3inches…..and very bristly whiskers

“Steps of the moon” where Starwars was filmed.

Camel races yearly here

Kefir is name of scarfs used by the arabs

Camels came from Austraila via Afghanistan

We met a Bedouin man and son who stay to protect the inscriptions on the rock wall previously damaged by hoodlums. The inscriptions tell story of travellers coming through.

When it comes to names……”Abu” is father of… ,“ om” is mother of….

We are staying in a Bedouin camp in the shade of one of these mountains. They are supposed to be tents but the the walls are solid, the floors have ceramic tiles, there are bathrooms and showers. Only thing is that the roof is fabric. There is a fire pit that some are sitting around in the middle between the “motel rooms”. OMG it is so hot…. Never cooled down.

Out the door at 5:45…. Yuk! But, got to get ahead of the crowds.

Genie blocks-cistern???

From the 6 century BC to 4 century BC the Nebateans were here.

Male and female pipes for the water

It was called the rose city because of the colour of the red sandstone

Treasury is a tomb….. they buried all their belongings with person. At the Treasury, a rich person had lots of gold which I understand was put in an urn at the top. The population expected it to collapse and then they would be rich. It is still standing. Stairs left and right…..Could be 4 levels…. 2 being below. At the Treasury …….Pillars are Corinthian with Nabatean influence. There are 12 pillars, 30 Rosettas, 365 cubes.

Faceda (the facade) street….all the rich peoples tombs

4600 Roman army attacked the Nebateans but only 50 survived …. And were sent back to Rome. Amphitheater influenced by the Romans.

Mahmoud gave demo on kohel application. It lasts 2-3 days.

The temple is in fact not a temple at all but a Palace …has huge garden and pool. Next is temple of winged lion.

Other pictures:-

Mt. Nebo is our first stop… where Moses passed away. Official Christian pilgrimage place ….. also a moslem pilgrimage place (who recognize the Christian prophets). Complex of 4 churches. Moses wandered for 40 years in the desert. They we forbidden to enter the promised land….. were diverted through Jordan. Moses consequently died here. Olive tree planted by prophet John Paul 2nd. Mosaics in the church were left undiscovered til 19th century. Cross and serpent symbol

St George’s Church …Greek Orthodox built in 590 Ad. It had a map hidden under floor. Hidden because Persians that were marauding in the area at this time, destroyed lots. The crusaders took faces off paintings, etc cuz were people were worshiping the Virgin Mary and prophets etc instead of God. The map showed 120 biblical sites. Only 10 were evident on the visitors map.

Madaba Mosaics factory. they use the ancient techniques. They get the rocks from mountains. Sliced into strips. It takes 4 years to learn trade. They use a glue made of flour and water to start, place the cut stones on a solid board. They have a rough irregular surface. When it is finished, it is flipped onto permanent place using a more sufficient glue It will then have a smooth surface. 48 of 50 employees are special needs. Some workers are blind. It takes 200 hours to make ostrich eggs from left over “dust” particles.

Crusaders castle at Karak built from 1142-1161. It is close to Jerusalem. It was used as a base to go to Jerusalem. Built in 1184…. Besieged for 80? days by Saladin after many previous attempts, they gave up. Moab people. Then became moslem going forward. Turks added parts. Crusaders used to sleep underground. Largest in Middle East. It was a city of 3000 people inside plus 700 outside. Entrance/doors …when Moslem controlled the castle ….faced south to Mecca, and when Christians controlled it, they faced Jerusalem toward the west.Military rooms hold 8, with view to be able to see oncoming armies. Window to see the mosque. Cisterns below. … 11 very deep ones. It is 50 kms from Dead Sea..

We are leaving early to get ahead of the rest of the big, big tourist buses.

There are tents here and there along the road…. They are not Bedouin tents but for farmers to use by the day…. for their animals and shade during the day. They all have open doors with no privacy. I don’t know if they have homeless communities like we have. Apparently they do have a slight drug problem but it is “still in the closet”…. not visible.

We are driving on the King’s Way from Roman & Greek times. It was built to connect from Damascus to

Madaba … translated “the land of water and fruit”.

It’s an area of caves… used by Christians to hide from the Romans in ancient times.

Mt. Nebo is our first stop… where Moses passed away. Official Christian pilgrimage place ….. also a moslem pilgrimage place (who recognize the Christian prophets). Complex of 4 churches. Moses wandered for 40 years in the desert. They we forbidden to enter the promised land….. were diverted through Jordan. Moses consequently died here. Olive tree planted by prophet John Paul 2nd. Mosaics in the church were left undiscovered til 19th century. Cross and serpent symbol

There 4 springs (oasis?) in Jordan…… one is here nearby.

St George’s Church …Greek Orthodox built in 590 Ad. It had a map hidden under floor. Hidden because Persians that were marauding in the area at this time, destroyed lots. The crusaders took faces off paintings, etc cuz were people were worshiping the Virgin Mary and prophets etc instead of God. The map showed 120 biblical sites. Only 10 were evident on the visitors map.

Madaba Mosaics factory. they use the ancient techniques. They get the rocks from mountains. Sliced into strips. It takes 4 years to learn trade. They use a glue made of flour and water to start, place the cut stones on a solid board. They have a rough irregular surface. When it is finished, it is flipped onto permanent place using a more sufficient glue It will then have a smooth surface. 48 of 50 employees are special needs. Some workers are blind. It takes 200 hours to make ostrich eggs from left over “dust” particles.

Crusaders castle at Karak built from 1142-1161. It is close to Jerusalem… (40 kms). It was used as a base to go to Jerusalem. Built in 1184…. Besieged for 80? days by Saladin after many previous attempts, they gave up. Moab people. Then became moslem going forward. Turks added parts. Crusaders used to sleep underground. Largest in Middle East

It was a city of 3000 people inside plus 700 outside. Entrance/doors …when Moslem controlled the castle ….faced south to Mecca, and when Christians controlled it, they faced Jerusalem toward the west.

Military rooms hold 8, with view to be able to see oncoming armies

Window to see the mosque

Cisterns below. … 11 very deep ones

It is 50 kms from Dead Sea

Shobak… another crusader camp from time of Richard the lionhearted

Petra (Wadi Musa)- half carving, part buildings. Nebateans … nomadic peoples. Came end of 6th century BC ……. Came from the Sinai peninsula. Learned agriculture, used to produce wine.

1 million years ago this area was under water. The area is all sandstone…. Easier for carve. It is in the largest chain of mountains in Jordan.

Higher the facade the more money, the higher the official. They had no statues. Water basins carved. No sacrifices in Little Petra. It’s only a place if business.

Jordan mines phosphate for export. Other main industries are agriculture, livestock & tourism

Egypt/ Jordan exchange water and electricity. The electricity is produce from oil in the past, which they have to purchase. Now they get it get from windmills. They also get water from underground wells from desert near Iraq. Water is brought in by truck and put into cisterns on top of roofs.

Pictures to follow ….. if I have wifi