Luxor Egypt and Aqaba/Petra Jordan

Friday, April 1, 2011 – in the Red Sea

Had breakfast with friends for her birthday. Talked to others, figured out tours for Safaga/Luxor/Karnak, Egypt tomorrow. Worked. Listened to lectures on Egypt and what to expect tomorrow and on Sunday in Aqaba, Jordan. Organized the last get-together for the Ensemble group! …How sad.

“The most important trip you may take in life is meeting people halfway.” - Henry Boye.

Saturday, April 2, 2011 – Safaga, Egypt for Luxor and Karnak, Egypt

Egypt has a longer recorded history than any other nation on earth – more than 5000 years. The Red Sea has always been the marine gateway between Europe and Asia for trading tea, spices, gemstone and elephants! The ancient ports still thrive but now as some of the world’s best diving and fishing resorts. Port Safaga was established for delivering and transporting phosphate exports. Hurghada is up the coast about 25 miles and filled with lavish hotels and resort complexes along the shore.

After an early morning 6AM arrival to Egypt and after clearance by customs, we boarded buses for the drive across the desert. We drove off in a convoy and had to stop for at least four checkpoints across the Eastern Desert, part of the Sahara Desert. Safaga port is commercial and there were lines of immigrants with all their belongings. We heard they were Kuwaitis but who really knows…Small pickup trucks were piled high with mattresses, toys and all the worldly possessions one treasures. The road was two-lane and at the checkpoints there were at least a dozen soldiers sitting around, mostly drinking coffee. Some waved at us, some watched us, but none of them moved to do anything to speed our clearance. Now, granted, we were not the first bus in the convoy so perhaps they had all the paperwork up there and we were just “in line” but work ethics were missing, from what I could see.

The ride was through a rocky and sandy desert with high mountains on either side - beautiful day with clear skies and pleasant temperatures – not the humidity levels we have been experiencing in our other Asian ports. The mountains were rugged, brown and dry. As we neared Luxor, we came to more villages and rode alongside a very deep water channel—missing any water! There was a lot of litter and GOATS (eating the litter!) in the channel. After one more turn, we came into a connecting section of the channel and it was filled with water.

The village life around the water is always fascinating. Kids with water buffalo, donkeys being ridden by men of all ages, women in their black dress hauling their goods back to their home. The homes were small tents with woven fabrics for the roof and perhaps also for the front door. The land was worked for farming and paths were dirt. There were several bridges across the channel and where they could not afford a bridge, they had a small boat rigged up to a pulley. You hopped in to the boat, pulled yourself across the river and got out of the boat. If the boat was not on your side of the water, you tugged on the pulley to get the boat over to your side and then hopped in and pulled yourself across the channel. Ingenious and cheap – you get where you want to be.

Luxor – Mom and I were here in January 1983 on an archeological study tour. I was very curious to see the city and what I could remember from that past visit. Our first stop was at the Karnak Temple. There is now a visitor center and they have razed all the homes which fronted the temple and backed to the Nile. There is a complete walkway and view from the water to the temple.

Impressive columns, hieroglyphics covering all the walls…huge cavernous rooms. To the ancient Egyptians, Karnak was known as “The most perfect of places”. It is perhaps the largest temple complex ever built and it grew in stages over 1500 years. An enormous statue of Ramses II seems to welcome visitors but his arms forbiddingly cross his chest. We explored the Great Temple of Amun, Gate to Precinct of Montu, Sacred lake, Festival Temple of Amenhotep II, saw the Avenue of the Sphinxes which went all the way down to Luxor Temple, Temple of Opet… There is an evening sound and light show also. Very impressive and there are still colors on some walls and ceilings. Extremely tall columns highly decorated.
We drove along the Nile River to the Sonesta Hotel – passing at least six rows of river boats, at least five-eight deep. All EMPTY. These are usually plying the river with hordes of tourists. EMPTY. Since January 25. And it will take a long time for them to return. BUT due to this, we had the entire temple to ourselves!! We were the only group visiting and we felt safe. There were a few private individuals roaming around but other than that, we had the streets and hotel to ourselves. NOT as I remember it from years ago.
The Sonesta Hotel is on the Nile and as the group was herded to the buffet, I ran down to the waterfront desk. You can hire a felucca for a private sail for $12!! We booked it and were off for our 1/2hour sail on the Nile – Gene’s birthday present! It was lovely and I helped (a little) to row. We sailed over to the Valley of the Kings and saw the swamp area, the animals and kids playing at the water’s edge – just as I did remember it from 1983. Lovely.

We ate a quick buffet lunch, with no lines at this time, boarded the bus and were delivered to the Luxor Temple, right down the street. Luxor Temple stands aloof in the heart of the town with its grand colonnades and pylons. Dedicated to the Theban Triad of Amun-Min, Mut and Khonsu, it was the “harem of the south” where Amun’s consort Mut and their son Khonsu resided. Every spring a flotilla of barques escorted Amun’s effigy from Karnak Temple to this site for a conjugal reunion with Mut in an Optet/fertility festival noted for its public debauchery. The clarify of its reliefs is due to the temple having been half-buried by sand and silt and overlaid by Luxor itself. They recently found a boat ramp which led to the Nile! In 2006, a massive underground ring-drainage system was installed to deal with the rising groundwater that had been damaging the temple. The Avenue of the Sphinxes is grand as you glance down to Karnak Temple.

Had a nice drive back to the ship. I am fascinated by the scenes of everyday life from the bus windows. And the sun was setting and we had no reason to be concerned about missing the ship since we were on a ship’s excursion.

“We all live with the objective of being happy; our lives are all different and yet the same.” – Anne Frank

Sunday, April 3, 2011 – Aqaba, Jordan for Petra

After another early morning arrival, we found a taxi driver to take us to Petra,(Galeb), along with some friends. The port has been enhanced with a new entrance/exit and new highway structure – but we soon found out why there were so many improvements! (always boils down to m o n e y)

Petra is an ancient city, about 2 hours away from the port of Aqaba. It was the center of an Arab kingdom in Hellenistic and Roman times. The valley is enclosed by sandstone cliffs veined with shades of red and purple varying to pale yellow, and for this reason Petra was called by the 19th-century English biblical scholar John W. Burgon a “rose-red city half as old as time”.

“It seems no work of man’s creative hand, By labour wrought as wavering fancy planned; but from the rock as if by magic grown, eternal, silent, beautiful, alone! Not virgin-white like that old Doric shrine, where erst Athena held her rites divine; Not saintly-grey, like many a minster fane, that crowns the hill land consecrates the plain; But rose-red as if the blush of dawn, that first beheld them were not yet withdrawn; The hues of youth upon a brow of woe, which man deemed old two thousand years ago, match me such marvel save in Eastern clime, a rose-red city half as old as time.” - John William Burgon wrote this poem without ever having visited Petra

Under Nabataen rule, Petra prospered as a centre of the spice trade that involved such disparate realms as China, Egypt, Greece and India and the city’s population swelled. The city was unknown to the Western world until it was rediscovered by the Swiss traveler Johann Ludwig Burckhardt in 1812. And it again became famous due to the Indiana Jones adventure film!

It is now one of the new “seven wonders of the world” and everyone enjoyed the day as they walked, or rode on the carriage or horse, down to the siq –the Treasury – the Al-Khazneh, of Indiana Jones fame. There was time to explore and climb in to the 7000 seat theatre, the Royal tombs, Urn Tomb, Palace Tomb of the Great temple. There is never enough time to see and do it all! The colors are magical and the pictures, even from amateur like me, can be stunning.

Gene and I opted to go out to another site, 15 minutes past Petra to “Little Petra” – Al-Barid. It is much smaller than Petra; so small that we were seven in there and Gene and I were two of them. We could hear the birds sing. We could wander at our own pace and explore alone in the tombs. The colors were just as deep and changing and the area smaller to cover. There was an immense Nabatean cistern that held approx. 1.2 million liters water/approx. 21 feet deep! It was said the camels drank from here as the merchants used them in their commute between Arabia and the Mediterranean.

We passed a Bedouin village and the camel was strung up to the light post. Our driver chased after two donkeys so Gene could ride one and finally a young boy rode by on one donkey, pulling another one. Galeb, our driver, spoke to him and Gene and I were both invited to ride the donkey – that’s been a long time since we’ve done that! I was only on a few seconds before I asked to be pulled off! That was enough. Had a lovely day and were dropped off at a local museum PLETH, which opened in November, Petra Life Exhibition For Traditional Heritage. www.pleth.org There were good exhibits on the traditional medicines based on herbs, an incense section, perfumes and aromatics, a local sweets section and traditional drinks and a documentary film on the Nabataean Life at Petra and lots of photos from the early 1900s of Petra. We met our friends and driver and went back to Aqaba to be dropped off in the city centre for a quick sunset stroll. We walked among the Ayla ruins, Gene rode a camel in the city streets outside of McDonald’s (what a scene!) and we enjoyed the sunset.

Jordan derives its name from the Arabic phrase “al urdun”, the ancient name for the Jordan River and surrounding territory. There is a fertile valley from the Mount Hermon to the Dead Sea. The Kingdom of Jordan, one of the smallest Middle Eastern nations, is made even smaller by the fact that the modest parcel is mostly desert. The Dead Sea is rich in minerals. Wadis, expansive valleys created during ancient torrential deluges, divide the terrain into four regions associated with an Old Testament kingdom: Kerak, Balqa, Ajlun and Ma’an.

“He who conquers others is strong; he who conquers himself is mighty.” - Anonymous