Petrafied... but in a good way.

The monastery at Petra on Christmas Eve 2011

Jordan is a buffet.... There is so much to choose from. There is culture, history, natural beauty, yearlong recreation.... Jordan is like "parfait"... lots of layers.
Jordan is a cross between Qatar and central British Columbia. It is very Arabic in culture and buildings, but the landscape outside Amman is totally Okanagan/Kamloops. It is very hilly with lots of evergreen trees and sagebrush. If you ignore the olive tree groves and the occasional palm tree and the crazy drivers ... imagine lots of Albertans.... its very much reminiscent of home.
We are very lucky to have an excellent driver and guide with us, his name is Ali and he has been awesome. He takes care of all our dealings with the locals and gets us good deals. You see there is the local rate and the tourist rate. you want tobe deallt with as a local.
Conor, Lenore and I arrived on Sunday and settled in. We used Monday to explore the sites of Amman. The city is built around a Citadel like Quebec City.

The view from the Citadel

The fortifications in Amman date back to 1800 BC and was occupied by pretty much everyone at one point in time or another.

Inside the Citadel

The name of the city became "Philadelphia" around 250 BC after Ptolemy II Philadelphus. There is an amphitheater at the base of the hill built in the second century AD. We tested the acoustics... still pretty good!

The amphitheater
View of the Citadel from the theater. The theater sat close to 6000 people.
Beautiful mosaic in the theater museum

Our driver Ali and our guide for the Amphitheater

We ran into Jim and Claudette Bennett from ASD and shared lunch with them.

What's for lunch? Shwarmas!

Amman's King Hussein has left the legacy of his collection of vehicles which is a magnificent collection for sure but also chronicles major events in his life...

Mercedes-McClaren
Bugatti! King Hussein was one very cool Dude.

We collected Breana from the airport at 8pm ... wonderful to see her after several months.

Reunion!

The Following morning we were on the road to the Dead Sea!

Sea level and we are still going down..
The lowest point on Earth -424 m
Arabian traffic jam.

We bought a day pass at the Movenpic Resort. Good call!

Low season and workers with time on their hands, still.... tres cool!

The Dead Sea is an amazing body of water. There are some places you must see if you can and this is one of them... The water feels slippery/oily with all its salts and bases.

The salt leaves deposits on the rocks like little moth balls.
Or spaghetti, string...

I think it must close to impossible to drown in the water. You float like a cork. Bu the taste of even a drop is something you won't soon forget. The Sea is like a good size lake 90 km x 10km avg.
The Dead Sea with the city of Jericho in the background.

The mud is suppose to have healing abilities ... its just fun to cover yourself in it and wait for it to harden.Cover every last inch to be sure....
And then ... rinse!
Yesiree we are one handsome bunch...
Christmas Card photo 2012!

Unlike Doha in Amman you can find a great pizza place where you can order designer pizza and a pitcher of beer.

This is where to go for pizza in Amman.. Books @Cafe

The next day was off to the holy land.
As they say, getting there is half the fun!
The border crossing we chose is called the King Hussein or Allenby Bridge. Getting into Israel is a unique experience!
The mighty river Jordan! It unites the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. You could jump over it and not get your feet wet.
You get to the Jordan side and leaving is easy but the Israeli side is a whole different story. You arrive and everyone seems to be packing a weapon.
We arrived at immigration and I asked that my passport not be stamped. An Israeli stamp in a passport is not a good thing it can limit the amount of traveling you can do. The officer insisted I give him a good reason why he shouldn't stamp my passport... I started feeling nautious... but I just insisted/begged that I needed to move freely about the gulf, so please... don't stamp! I got my way. We caught a bus and an hour later we were in Jerusalem.

Outside the walls of the old city

What an amazing place. The old city is narrow streets, bustling with shops like the souq in Doha. But unlike Doha there is is this huge wall surrounding these streets. You have to enter through gates like in Quebec City.

Herod's Gate

You get a tingling walking down these ancient streets, it is a marvel to realize that you are actually here, you grow up your whole life hearing about this place and you finally find your self there.

Kids going home from school in the Old city, very normal goings on in a surreal context.
And a school field trip! These little guys were funny. They always want to know where you are from. So I tell them and then I fire right back with, where are you from?? They are look at me strangely and then tell me they are local. Then I act like I don't believe them! Well that really gets'em going ... good fun!!

The Western/Wailing Wall had a big impacton me. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before. The power/passion of people at prayer in this holy place gave me pause, I just wanted to watch. It felt familiar and foreign all at once..

I was amazed with the number of soldiers, everywhere...
The streets within the old city made for a giant souq. But what you found in the Arab quarter of the old city is distinctly different than what you find in the Jewish quarter.

From there we went out of the old city and headed to the most powerful location for me as a Christian, the Garden of Gethsemane.

Conor just inside the garden.
The rock where Jesus prayed..
This tree looks like it might have been there the night of the passion.

Why was this more powerful than the church of the Holy Sepulcher, where Christ was crucified? I think because its still a garden, the olive trees that are there make it easy to imagine the setting of Christ's agony.

These gentlemen were bowing vigorously outside the old city ... Not sure what it was all about?!

The return into the ancient city was marked by the most disturbing event of our trip. as we entered the old city by the lion gate we saw some children playing to our right we walked maybe 10 steps and a piece of wood sudden flew over our heads and crashed on the wall behind us I turned to see the same children picking up stones and then they threw them at us!

What did we do???

I was stunned! We hurrried beyond their range but I was sorely tempted to walk back and drag a couple of the little nippers to an adult. We decided in the end to let it pass and continue to the hotel.
We stayed in a Franciscan Hostel called Casa Nova while we were in the the old city. It is right by the church of the Holy Sepulcher. It was very simple but clean, with nice beds and a hot shower.

The price was "very" reasonable, I would recommend it in a heart beat. Jerusalem can be expensive.

The sights flip flop from the distinctly Jewish to the distinctly Arabic
Dome of the Rock
To Greek Orthodox
Church of Mary Magdalene.
The church was built in 1886 by Tsar Alexander III to honor his mother.
We saw some very cool every day sights.
Nice balancing act!
These yummmmmmmy donuts are everywhere. They are called sufganiyah or ponchkes.
OMG they are delicious.
Bar mitzvah ceremonies were going on everywhere as we were in Jerusalem during hanukkah, the festivals of lights.

We stood outside the Jaffa gate to the old city as men and boys danced to traditional music and afterward they lit other light on the large menorah outside the gate. It was a moment that really made my trip as it was distinctly different then anything I had seen in the last couple of years.
From the old city we explored new Jerusalem which was a lot of fun.

Ben Yehuda street had Great restaurants, and no cars just pedestrians, reminded me of Granville Street in Vancouver.

We ate here ..

I had a sandwich called "Pullet" made of succulent lamb... It was very tasty.

Bye Jerusalem - Damascus Gate

Getting out of Israel proved to be more expensive then getting in. We were charged close to $50 each to travel back to Jordan. A mere 2 kilometers by bus. I paid only $6 per person to get into Israel. But, no regrets, a once in a lifetime opportunity ... Carpe Diem!
The next day we explored Northern Jordan coming within spitting distance of Syria. This part of Jordan is very much like central BC. Lots of trees, sometimes snow, arid scrub brush etc... Our driver Ali told us not to have breakfast before our trip as he would serve us breakfast!

We drove to Ajloun Castle. The castle is located on a mountain top provding a spectacular view. You can see as far a Syria in the North and Jerusalem in the West . The town at the base of the castle had some interesting sites.

A bakery that was clearly the center of activity of the town as people lined up for their fresh bread which was cooked in seconds right before your eyes.

Tossing the bread out to be eaten, hot out of the oven!A little cigarette ash... The secret ingredient??

There was a butcher directly across the street which provided a different reaction for us.

Up the hill Ali took us to the castle. Upon our arrival he laid out a feast for breakfast.

We ate hot bread, olives, houmus, lebneh and drank hot sage tea, all the while staring out at the beautiful vista.

Olives! Ali said his wife made the green ones but they are not very good. His mother made the brown ones and they are the best. I would have to agree.Sage tea
The tea brewer and his pots. They are wood fired with a chimney up the middle and the tea surrounds the chimney.

The Castle belonged to Saladin, scourge of the crusaders. Walking through the castle I couldn't help but think of the movie "Kingdom of Heaven" and the Saladin portrayed in that film.

We explored the castle which is in good shape considering it was built in 1184.

Inside
Walls were in beautiful condition
From a distance..
We headed from Ajloun to Jerash, about 1/2 an hour away, to the roman ruins there. Jerash has the best preserved greco-roman ruins in the middle east. Most of the major buildings were constructed in the first century AD.
They still have chariot races there. You can see the coliseum grounds in the distance.

From there we drove to Um Quays

Um Quays is the site of more ruins, but more importantly it provides a beautiful view of the Sea of Galilee and the Golan Heights. The Golan Heights are famous for the battles between Israel and Syria, now I can understand why. The area is beautiful! The sea of Galilee is actually a fresh water lake.
The Golan Heights are very beautiful and fertile. I can understand what all the fuss was about.
Breana with the Sea of Galilee beyond.

We went out for diner with a colleague from school, Lubna Shaheen, who is Palestinian Jordanian. She took us to a very funky restaurant. The walls were covered in art deco with pictures of old Arabic movie stars.

Lubna sharing a story.

Then we all went out for dessert and had kunafa. A mild cheese fried with coconut and sweet syrup... yep, its good.
Petra
Easily the most amazing place we visited was Petra. Petra is more than a man made wonder. The Geology is astounding and I know my rocks, let me tell you! The layering of the rocks is beautiful, they also twist and bend in the most amazing ways. Erosion has created beautiful canyons to walk through.

Getting Warm!!

Warmer!
You enter by a canyon called the siq.

The walls are beautiful and its a good kilometer walk along this path. My jaw stuck to my chest the whole way.

The walls were lined with ancient aqua ducts along the way.
as well as wall carvings and engravings.
The little girl
Camel hearder

One of the little munchkin hucksters along the way..
You walk for quite a while and the Siq twists and turns you get a glimpse of the treasury and then boom!!

You're there in an Indiana Jones movie!
built between 60 BC and 50 AD!!
From just below the entrance
It may be the desert near Saudi Arabia, but its Christmas and the wind was cool and howling.
The dwellings seem to be every where.
Some have beautiful facades and some are just holes.
Petra is more than just the Treasury.
wind erosion!
Inside looking out
The rock is a beautiful soft banded sandstone
very colorful
Petra is also called the "Rose City" once you are there its obvious why..
kids even sell the rocks... 1 JD each ... not cheap.
The kids have very little ( no shoes )... they are gypsies who live in the area.
The uphill hike to the monastery takes a solid hour but its worth it. The building is every bit as remarkable as the treasury.
From below its a breath taking site. Its amazing the condition of these buildings that are 2000 years old.
Christmas morning went went back to find the Siq heavily guarded!
Lenore played Santa Claus with the kids, giving them all candy. Which kind of through them off cause they were tryong to sell us stuff.
Climbing to the place of sacrifice.
and up..
The spot is directly above the city and it gives you an appreciation of the expanse of this ancient city.
On a mountain top as you head south from Petra, the white object...
is believed by some to be the burial place of Aaron, brother of Moses.
Aqaba Jordan, their resort town on the Red Sea. Across the bay the lights of Eilat in Israel glow brightly.
A ride in a glass bottom boat and then some SCUBA!
Never been in a boat like this before. The visability wasn't bad but it can't beat being there!
We all went for a dive to the Japanese gardens which was alive with fish and some of the most beautiful coral I had ever seen. We were disappointed to have our dive cut short by our dive master. For some reason he thought 30 minutes was a full dive. But in retrospect we were all wearing short suits and the water was chilly....
The lion fish in the Red Sea are big! There's lots of them too!
They are so beautiful.
The next day we dove to a wreck called the Cedar Pride. I had never done a wreck dive before. The Coral covered a good portion of the boat . Conor and I were able to dive under the boat (25m) , fun.
Our last day in Aqaba we headed for Wadi Rum. This is where Lawrence of Arabia spent part of his life with the Bedouin. Some of the movie was filmed here as well.
We called on Lawrence but he was out..
We climbed to Lawrence's watering hole, but he wasn't there either.
Wadi Rum is a very special place. I only wish I had seen it before Petra.

The color of the sand is a like a clay red.
Vistas are beautiful wide valleys with monoliths of rock shooting upwards.
Climbing up and down sand dunes was a hoot!

Our desert chariot... has seen better days.
I had seen it done in movies but never in person... LOOK MA no key! Our driver made sure to always park on a down slope otherwise we weren't going anywhere !
Show off!!
ditto!
Breana having a private moment.
Time for some Bedouin tea.
beauty..
The beauty in Wadi Rum was more Serene... Petra felt like hi octane.
The hills in Wadi Rum were a natural beauty with no distractions... like an ancient civilization.
Sunset Wadi Rum.. Good night Jordan...
Thank you for the memories.