18 days Jordan and Egypt March 2019
Peter and Cynthia Bollen
Jordan is a diverse country, lush green pastures in the North, desert country in the South.
In the North we travelled to the border that Jordan shares with Syria, where we looked out onto the Golan Heights, a parcel of land Syria and Israel have been fighting over for many years. Israel has occupied the Golan Heights since the 6 day war in 1967.
From Mt. Nebo we looked out over The Holy Land, towards Bethlehem, Jerusalem and the Dead Sea.
A highlight in Jordan was spending 9 hours exploring the Lost City of Petra, with its many caves, Royal Tombs, the famous Treasury, and the hike up 800 steps to The Monastery.
In the South we explored Wadi Rum by jeep and camel.
Our dream of floating in the Dead Sea was thwarted by rough weather, however we did get to dip our toes in.
Egypt’s capital Cairo was a crazy, busy, noisy city. 4 lanes for traffic clearly marked on the roads, but there were always 6 lanes of vehicles.
The famous Pyramids and Sphinx were of course a wonderful sight. Construction began on the Pyramids 4,500 years ago, hard for us Aussies to imagine.
In the South of Egypt, we visited the Temple of Isis on Philae Island, the Aswan High Dam, Abu Simbel, Temple of Horus, Karnak Temple and Luxor Temple.
We cruised the Nile from Aswan to Luxor, 3 very enjoyable days witnessing local Egyptians going about their everyday lives, tending to stock, crops and fishing.
This tour was in 5 star accommodation (the only way to go in Egypt) a highlight being the magnificent Old Cataract Hotel on the Nile in Aswan, where Agatha Christie wrote Death on the Nile.
Fabulous trip, made all the more special by our guide in Egypt who was an Egyptologist, amazing knowledge for dates and names etc.
Sorry……no historical dates in this report, OLD covers it all.
Peter & Cynthia Bollen
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