Upper Egypt - the South

The Nile flows North, so "Upper Egypt" was in the South. Upper and Lower Egypt (present-day Cairo and Alexandria) were united under Ramses II. Surely one of Egypt's greatest pharaohs, he left contributions from Memphis in the North to Abu Simbel in the South.

The flight to Luxor covered hundreds of miles of desert. When we fly over the U.S., everything is green. Here, everything is brown. There are dry riverbeds, and even canyons cut by water, but that was 30 million years ago. Today, everything is sand and rock.
The heat and sand are the major reasons some of these temples are so well-preserved: a massive sandstorm once in ten years would have completely buried a temple in 100 years.

And these buildings are 3,000 years old. Inscriptions carved by the French explorers who discovered the Karnak Temple are only 3 meters below the ceiling. They had no clue what was buried 40 meters beneath their feet.




We visited the temples built by Ramses III, which has magnificent carvings and paintings still in pristine condition; and the temple built by his grandfather, Ramses II, which has not survived as well.






An early-morning balloon flight was breathtaking.







We flew over both these temples, the Valley of the Queens, and the temples in the city of Luxor, at some 2,800 feet. We landed at a small community on the west side of the Nile, and kids emerged from everywhere, even at 7:00 a.m.



The Karnak Temple was probably large enough to contain the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The (solid rock) ceiling was supported by 134 columns, most 41 meters high. There are statues of pharaohs and dozens of sphinxes, and exhaustive histories and odes to gods carved on every surface throughout the temple. The Temple of Luxor, which is magnificent, paled in comparison. They are still excavating the Avenue of the Sphinxes, which apparently covers the entire 3 kilometers between the two temples, and which contains hundreds of statues.

Finally, we visited the Valley of the Kings, and actually explored the tombs of Ramses IX, Ramses III, and Ramses I. They were dug here, into solid rock, to minimize the chances of being plundered, as were the pyramids in Giza.

No such luck. Of 62 tombs discovered so far in the Valley of the Kings, the only one found that was not empty was Tutankhamen's. The treasure his tomb contained, and the age at which he died (18), are the main reasons he is now so famous.

The tombs are astounding. (Unfortunately, there is no photography inside the tombs.) I cannot fathom the work required to dig these chambers in solid limestone. The tomb of Ramses I goes straight down, perhaps 50 meters, to a chamber that still contains his massive sarcophagus. The tomb of Ramses IX goes through a long passageway to an empty burial chamber. The tomb of Ramses III passes through half a dozen chambers, takes a detour where it intersected with another tomb already carved into that part of the mountain, then continues on through more chambers. There are several more chambers left untouched. It must encompass thousands of square feet.

The tomb of his grandfather, Ramses II is not open to the public, but must be vastly more impressive. He had 68 wives and more than 200 children, and his tomb contains burial chambers for more than 40 of his sons. Literally dozens of rooms.

Almost every inch of these tombs is covered with carvings and paintings, containing histories and descriptions of relationships with gods. Where exposure to light has been minimal, the colors are still clear and vibrant, even 3,500 years later. (The colors were pulverized rock - ocher for red, for example - which were then mixed with honey and egg-white, and then painted on the walls. And they have survived extremely well.) The experience of walking into a hole in a mountain, and seeing the fruits of millions of man-hours of labor, performed so very long ago, is overwhelming. Each tomb surely seems like a holy place.


Finally, after some serious shopping, we moved onto the boat and headed upriver to Aswan.




The Rihana Dahabiya (our boat) was a fabulous experience. Unlike most cruise ships on the Nile, this ship has only ten cabins.

Our cruise had only a delightful couple from the U.K., a couple from Italy, and a family from Switzerland with two small boys, and accompanying guides. I listened as the conversation flowed easily from English to Italian to German to Polish, sometimes even between sentences.

We disappeared from the grid, no phones, no TV, no papers, no internet, no communication with the outside world at all for four days. And what a trip! This was special beyond any description, an absolutely fabulous experience. The boat is gorgeous, with spacious cabins and baths (real showers!), and a nice upper deck with a jacuzzi. It's a sailboat, with two huge sails, but no wind meant we were escorted by a tug the entire trip. The service and food were worthy of any five-star hotel.

The last night they stopped at an island, set up tables with linens and crystal, and served us a surf and turf dinner on the sand dunes.

 

Then a local musical troupe appeared, and they provided music and dancing well into the evening. Patrizia, our friend from the U.K., is a most accomplished musician, both voice and on several instruments. She picked up a brand new instrument, and was a regular member of the orchestra within minutes.

 In Aswan we visited the new High Dam across the Nile, a temple, and the city bazaar. Then a camel trip into the desert to visit the old St. Simeon Christian monastery, and a Felucca (sailboat) ride on the Nile back to the hotel. The hotel had a restaurant and bar at the top of a tower, and we enjoyed sunsets and views of the lights of the city both nights.

 The next day we took an early flight to Abu Simbel to see the temple with the four copies of Ramses II, and the adjacent temple he built to his favorite wife, Nefertiti. They are magnificent.

Built into the mountain, more like tombs, they are better preserved than any of the "outside" temples. The new lake behind the high dam would have submerged them, so UNESCO and a U.S. team completely dismantled both temples and moved them 70 meters higher; then recreated the mountains to complete the reconstruction.

The carvings are generally well-preserved, and the insides of the temples (protected from the sun and wind) contain markings and paintings that are in amazingly good condition after 3,500 years. We have seen most of the hieroglyphics before, but each temple tells different stories, and highlights again the importance they gave to their gods.

Egypt has been an amazing experience. We knew some of the history, and about the pharaohs and how they worshiped, but we had no idea that so many temples and tombs were so well preserved. And the boat trip on the Nile was a highlight rivaling the best of any of our trips. We are very lucky.

Images of The Middle East

Images in my mind, as they occurred to me.

We had fabulous fruits, fresh from the trees, every day. The figs and apricots and dates are a delightful treat.



Law-abiding drivers. On Egypt's main highways, we went through a radar trap every 20 miles. In Jordan, it was every 5 miles. No kidding. Some people may drive fast, but it is risky and expensive. And there are speed bumps everywhere, including in the middle of 4-lane divided highways, which guarantees that traffic repeatedly experiences abrupt slowdowns.

It seems as if everybody smokes. It's like the American South in the 1970s.

Developing education, and a changing society. These lands are very rural, and agriculture is very demanding. Many children work the family's land. But there are lots of satellite dishes, and TV and the internet and cell phones are changing everything, much as they do throughout the world. Parents who work the same land and live in the same house where their great-great-grandparents lived suddenly discover, within a single generation, that their kids want to sit at home and stare at screens. Many parents are having much difficulty adjusting to new attitudes toward work.

Lack of stature of women. Like many places we visit, women are very much second-class people here. Religion forces them to remain subservient, out of sight, and away from any visible role – yet they still have all the responsibility for running the family, and many would be vastly more capable than men we met. Muslim women remain fully covered, even in the heat of the summer.

Many women still wear the Niqab, with the entire body covered, and only a small slit open at the eyes for vision. In Egypt and Jordan, virtually every woman wore at least a Hijab, covering the head and hair. Teen girls on school field trips to major sites were scolded quickly when they tried to talk to foreigners of either gender. Muslim men must compete vigorously for jobs in the resort hotels, where women from around the world wander around in tiny swimming suits.

The importance of religion. Here, as in many places, religion dominates the culture and life. Turkey seems more secular, but it is still 99% Muslim. It defines who people are, and almost every aspect of their lives. These countries fight very vicious and bitter wars about religion, and they do it repeatedly. More important, in Egypt and Jordan, it keeps women from making major contributions to society.

The ever-present concerns about security. Every airport we flew into in Egypt had taxiways that simply disappeared into the ground. We had no idea how many military aircraft were in those underground bunkers, but in aggregate, it was likely most of the Air Force.

There is a very uneasy peace with Israel, and these countries have fought many wars.  Armed security guards are everywhere.

In the U.S. people want security, but they would have a fit about all these guys walking around with machine guns. The U.S. is like a wide-open kindergarten compared to these countries.

Business is booming, throughout this region. Major corporations from the U.S., Asia, and Europe are everywhere in Cairo and Amman. Construction cranes sprout like spring flowers. There are banks from around the globe, including local Islamic banks. In the restaurants in large hotels one can hear two dozen languages in a half hour.

A very casual relationship with time. It is like “island time” in the Caribbean. We had hotel wake-up calls that came 45 minutes after the time requested. Events occur when people happen to show up.

The importance of water. There is water, even in the desert, but it is scarce. Agriculture, growing cities, and demanding tourists use a lot. As in the American West, I remain concerned that great disputes in future years may erupt over access to water.

Great dependency on tourism. Both Egypt and Jordan are heavily dependent on tourists. The last couple of years have been very hard. Now tourists are traveling again, especially from Asia (hordes of Chinese are new here, as they already seem to be everywhere), both Eastern and Western Europe, and even South America, especially from Brazil and Argentina, as those economies boom. There are a few Americans, but not like before.

The working poor. There is poverty here, but it is not like many places. Everybody seems to be working. They may earn low wages, but we do not see lots of people doing nothing. And there’s no sense of entitlement. Everybody finds their own way to make a contribution, and they work at it.

History. Locals take things for granted – they've seen these things from birth. But we are astounded at the temples, monuments, tombs, statues, and everything else, from thousands of years ago, that are everywhere we go.

Much more important, most of that history has been written down, and is available to us thousands of years later. How different that is from the Americas!

New experiences, like the Dead Sea salt and mud.

And the most fabulous boat trip down the Nile.




Very good food. Local diets contain a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables. It is very easy to eat completely healthy foods, all the time. Of course, western fast food restaurants appear everywhere now, and locals find them as compelling as do westerners.

Good guides. There is a spectrum of guides, as elsewhere, but the best are very special. Our guide in Cairo will lecture at American universities this summer, and he is surely one of the most capable guides we have met anywhere in the world. The guides are also worldly: most have traveled to other countries, and many speak several languages.



Turkey is booming. We saw many six-figure cars, and hundreds one price lever lower. As elsewhere, many familiar manufacturers, but new models: a Toyota Avensis, for example, with flowers and streamers, was a lovely limousine for a bride.

From our hotel window, every morning there was a large fleet (one hundred or more) of ships waiting to pass through the Bosphorus into the Black Sea.



Everybody is working at something. Kids were carrying full backpacks on Saturday. Our guide estimated the literacy rate at 99%. Even if she is off by a lot, that’s much higher than in the U.S.

Turkey

Turkey!! My oh my, what a country!

Less than 3 hours from Cairo, we moved from Egypt's ancient history and efforts to move into the 20^th century into a booming 21^st century economy.

The Marriott is in the old city, in Asia, they suggested the Renaissance Polat, instead. So we're in Europe, a mile from the airport, on the 20^th floor, overlooking the Sea of Marmara, with the Bosphorus on the left, and Asia less than 10 kilometers across the water.

As I walked from the hotel, I immediately saw 6 cars that cost $100K+, and another 30 cars one notch down. 20- and 30-somethings were playing with their kids, or walking Cocker Spaniels and Golden Retrievers in the park. Like Egypt, Turkey is 99% (Sunni) Muslim, but here it’s far more secular. I only saw a few women, all over 60, wearing headscarves, every other woman was in western dress, and many women were driving cars.

From high above, we can see that this neighborhood has about 200 houses, the mosque is at the corner. We don't see single-family homes, instead, it is all five-story buildings, each with about 20 large apartments. From the street, the first-floor apartments look like they were decorated by Fifth Avenue decorators. Two houses had nothing but gorgeous stained glass windows on the first floor. Parking on the street is as difficult as in New York.

There is wonderful history and beauty in Istanbul. 17 million people, as busy and active as one might expect.  3,000 mosques. The Blue Mosque is one of the largest mosques in the world, very beautiful, but only one of several large mosques in the city. 

The Hagia Sophia church has existed as both a church and a mosque, has remnants of both religions, only some things damaged by the other.
 

The Topkaki Palace was built by the Ottoman Turks in the first decade after they conquered the city in the 15th century. The Harem where the Sultan maintained his 4 wives and some 300 other consorts is still there, as are the kitchens where 1,200 cooks fed both the palace occupants and many of the city's other residents. It commands magnificent views of the surrounding city, and its exhibit areas still display priceless artifacts from his reign and from conquered areas throughout Europe and the Middle East.  

Like Rome, the city is built on seven hills; unlike any other city, it spans two continents. The new business center is on the European side, as are our hotel and the airport. We found a viewpoint at the top of a hill, and gazed around the city, and across the Bosphorus to the Asian side. There is a business center there, also, and a similar dense, old city.

There are also forts and palaces from dynasties long past. The Bosphorus (31 km long, ~ 19 miles) is the passageway from the Black Sea, especially Georgia and Armenia, through Turkey, to the Sea of Marmara, then the Dardanelles, and on to the Aegean Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, and Greece and beyond. The city has long been supported by taxes collected on passing ships. And there are a LOT of ships – passage is closed at dark (each ship must use a local pilot as they pass through the straight, and there must surely be a finite number of pilots), and when the sun rose each morning, there was a huge fleet (at least one hundred ships) waiting to pass through during the day.

The Grand Bazaar grew from goods traded from ships passing to and from all parts of the world. It was perhaps the world's first shopping mall, and is still a bustling, fabulous, well-organized place, with many tourist and souvenir goods, and a few astoundingly beautiful original goods. We found an artist (with pictures with world leaders from across the globe) who does exquisitely detailed miniature paintings on leaves from houseplants. 

We traveled to Cappadoccia, in the center of the country, to see strange and exotic churches and communities that early Christians carved into solid rock towers, and where they lived to escape persecution from Roman soldiers.


This was the time of the Apostle Paul, and he developed small groups of Christians, who made their lives in these small canyons.

Amazingly, some of these cave homes were still occupied late into the 20^th century, until the government finally declared them unsafe, helped residents move to newer, more modern housing, then renovated and preserved the caves.

We stopped at several other rock formations, including one extraordinary community built entirely underground. They estimate 15,000 people lived there about 4,000 years ago. There are countless rooms on nine floors, down to more than 85 meters underground, with tunnels and rooms, and churches, extending a distance of more than 9 kilometers (5.5 miles!) underground. It is staggeringly huge, and sophisticated, with its own wells, food-storage, living and cooking spaces, and other features.  

We attended an evening show of Whirling Dervishes, a prayer performance in which the male dancers slowly begin whirling to reach a higher plane of spirituality; they continued for about 30 minutes while the musicians played and intoned prayers. Unusual and very interesting.

Cappadoccia is also the home of Turkish ceramics, and we visited the studio of a master potter and ceramics-maker. We will enjoy serving wine from one of his hand-made wine carafes!

While in Cappadoccia we stayed at Sacred House in Ürgüp.  This small boutique hotel is a fabulous reconstruction to resemble local rock scenery. Each room is individually decorated; they serve excellent (and attractive) food. The hotel is run entirely by women (they have one male support employee), everything is spotless, there is always music playing throughout the hotel, there are many thoughtful touches, good location in town (3 minute walk to the village square), and it was absolutely fabulous.

Like Egypt, Turkey is 99% Muslim, almost entirely Sunni. But what a difference! Women are much more liberated in Turkey. Only a small percentage of women cover their hair, and most wear western clothes. Our tour guide is an extremely capable single woman, who was so busy in 2009 that she had to decline the invitation to be the personal guide for President Obama when he visited Istanbul! Many women hold very responsible jobs in the community, many own and drive their own cars, and they make an extraordinary, and very public, contribution to the society.

As in every city and country, some people are well-off, and some people are poor. But there is no recession here. The economy is booming. The banks are solid. The middle class is growing. Tourists from all over the world are pouring into Turkey this summer. Some people are making lots of money. From what we saw, it is no surprise that my Turkish investment fund is up 100% in the last year. I think I'm going to put a lot more money into it.

Jordan

We're in Jordan! Nice country! Fabulous people! What a delightful surprise.

This is also the desert. The Jordan River forms the border with Israel, and is most of the water in the country. They measure annual rainfall in millimeters (usually less than 300 mm per year). From the airplane, it is clear that rivers carved patterns in the desert, but that was millions of years ago.

To the north of Jordan is Syria, to the East is Iraq, to the South is Saudi Arabia. Lebanon is just north of Israel, but does not share a border with Jordan. Jordan has long been a center of commerce, and as the eastern gateway to the Holy Land. Alexander the Great built the Kings Highway from Damascus to Petra more than 2,000 years ago to facilitate commerce and the movement of troops. But this land has been overrun by invaders many times, from the Greeks and the Romans, during the Crusades, to the Ottomans from Turkey, and the Arabs to the East.

This is also the land of the Bible, in the most literal sense. Every sight we see that is at least 2,000 years old (most places) is described somewhere in the Old Testament. We visited Mt. Nebo (Pisgah in the Bible) from where Moses gazed upon the Promised Land he would never reach. The holiest place in Jordan, at least some scholars believe this is where Moses died. It was hazy and visibility was poor, so we could not see Bethlehem, Jerusalem, or Ramallah on the West Bank, but they were all within 50 kilometers of where we stood.

It's challenging to build things in Jordan, because everywhere you dig, ruins are uncovered. Less than 20 years ago, in the city of Amman, they discovered homes and towers from 7000 BC. In Madaba a Roman church from the second century

AD was discovered to be built on top of another church which was already built on top of a third church. The Greek Orthodox Church of St. George contains a fabulous Byzantine mosaic floor, about 125 square meters . Two million pieces of colored stone show Jerusalem, holy sites, and hills and valleys and villages as far away as the Nile Delta. 

If a country is a reflection of its leaders, Jordan has been most fortunate in the last 40 years. King Hussein ruled for more than 30 years until his death in 1999. A staunch friend of the U.S., among his many accomplishments was the 1994 peace accord with Israel. Jordan immediately ceased its draft, and young men proceeded
with their education and careers instead of entering the military. After the Six-Day War Jordan opened its borders to nearly a million Palestinian immigrants. (It did the same thing in 2002, and allowed hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Iraq to enter the country.) Hussein is still completely revered by the Jordanian people.

Following the death of his wife, King Hussein married (the American) Lisa Halaby, who became Queen Noor. She continues her work today with international organizations focused on education and womens' rights, and on deeper understanding of Arab and Muslim issues.

After King Hussein's death, his eldest son (from his first marriage) became King Abdullah, and he has focused on economic development, education, and other internal priorities. He married Queen Rania, who may now be one of the most powerful women in the world.  A Palestinian girl born in Kuwait, she earned a Business degree at the American University in Cairo, then worked for both Citibank and Apple Computer in Jordan before meeting the king. Her priority has been improving Jordan's schools, and she established a scholarship program, with leading universities around the world, to enable Jordanian students to pursue college degrees.

Like Egypt, Jordan is 99% Muslim, mostly Sunni, although here there seem to be more highly observant people. Many women are dressed in black from head to toe, with only a slit about 1 inch by 5 inches for their eyes. Our guide, a pleasant fellow named Hassan,

speaks several languages, including French, German, and English, has been a teacher and has traveled, and is quite knowledgeable about world affairs. He has a brother in North Carolina. He is married, with two teenage daughters. But none of the women in his family can ever swim, anywhere, because no swimming costumes cover all of their bodies in a modest fashion.

We are becoming used to the call to prayer, which echoes throughout every community five times each day, the first time before 5:00 a.m. From a mountain-top, with several surrounding communities in all directions, it is most impressive.

But even religious limitations on business (paying interest is not allowed, many activities stop for prayer several times a day) seem not to slow things down. The national tax rate is about 7%. We have seen staggeringly impressive private homes that far outshine those in the Kalorama section of Washington, and cost one-tenth as much.

Since the 6-day war in 1967 (which decimated its military), Jordan has avoided most of the fighting that has plagued the Middle East, is highly respected, and manages to work with everybody. And it shows. We have seen less poverty than in other countries, and as business booms, a middle class is emerging.

We started with a city tour of Amman (named Philadelphia in 300 B.C.) and went to the Citadel which towers above the city. Excavations there have yielded remains from the Neolithic, Hellenistic and Roman periods, and from Arab Islamic times.

There is a small antiquities museum at the top, which contains, courtesy of Israel, three of the Dead Sea Scrolls. You can view them from inches away. As I write this 10 hours later, I still have goosebumps.

From there we went to a small village in the north, less than 10 kilometers from Israel, and about 40 kilometers from Syria, where we had lunch in a private home. The owner is the local village manager, and the village started these visits as a way to boost the local economy, which is supported only by minimal amounts of agriculture. We met in a lovely guest room, for a meal prepared by his mother (his

wife was not present to meet foreigners or men from outside the family; his mother did all the work, but did not eat). There was a massive tray of chicken and couscous, a dozen dishes of vegetables and hummus and tabbouleh, and the fabulous fresh local pita bread.

Five of us, including our driver and guide, who translated, didn't come close to eating it all. Their small yard was an agricultural oasis, with apple, olive, lemon, and lime trees, tomatoes, grape vines, and various other vegetables.

After Pisgah, in the area where Moses lived and died, we stopped in Madaba, where King David defeated the Ammonites and Arameans. These lands were also fought over by the Edomites, Moabites, Israelites, and other local kingdoms for thousands of years. We visited Karak, which has its own Citadel and vivid history, and whose doom was prophesied in Isaiah. The Citadel was built by the Crusaders, as part of a series of strongholds, each a day's ride from the next. A beacon was lit each night at each castle to signal to Jerusalem that all was well.

As we continued south there was desert in all directions, as far as the eye could see. Yet it was not empty. Bedouins and other local people simply appeared in the middle of nowhere. At night, small clusters of lights reveal small groups where I was sure no one could live. There are still 50,000 Bedouins (nomadic people) in Jordan.

They herd sheep and goats, and sell crafts. There are a few camels, but mostly for tourists; even Bedouins have discovered the advantages of 4x4s. And everybody, everywhere, has cell phones. People with AT&T service can't get dependable cell phone service in Brooklyn. Here, everyone gets fine reception in the middle of the desert, in the canyons of Petra, or in the lost desert monoliths of Wadi Rum. Who knew?!

Petra
It was on both of our “Life Lists.” But even after years of waiting, nothing prepares you for something like this.

One of the current 7 Wonders of the World, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Petra was built by the Nabataeans (ancient Arabs), who occupied Petra from 100BC-100AD, and turned the city into a major trading junction on the silk and spice trade routes between China and India with Egypt, Syria, Greece, and Rome. After its decline as a trading center Petra drifted quietly into oblivion, known only to local Bedouins, who guarded its secrets for hundreds of years. It was finally rediscovered in the 19th century by a Swiss explorer named Burckhardt, who pursued rumors of a lost city. Today Petra (“stone” in Greek) is perhaps the most spectacular ancient city remaining in the modern world, with thousands of visitors every day (some 90% of all tourists to Jordan visit Petra).

Buried in a canyon amid the mountains of Wadi Araba, Petra had a monastery, temples, a central shopping arcade, a central water system, and free-standing homes and caves which provided housing for a few thousand residents. But it is famous for more than 800 facades, which marked tombs, that were carved into the face of the rock. The facades may, in fact, have been carved over a longer period of time – the Treasury, for example, Petra's most important image, has Corinthian columns and Roman imagery, and was almost certainly carved during the Crusades.

The approach to the old city reminds me of Zion National Park, in Utah, with a narrow (sometimes only 4-5 meters wide) passageway between walls of rock that rise straight up for hundreds of feet. Our guide led us quietly to a single spot, focused on the trail, and then asked us to look up, to the first glimpse of the Treasury through the rocks.

The first impression completely took my breath away. We arrived early, before most of the thousands of tourists who arrived later in the day, and had a peaceful 30 minutes gazing at the carving and taking pictures.  

Later we discovered that the brilliant light in the desert, coupled with the dark rocks, seemed to overwhelm my camera, and most of my pictures are disappointing. These are the best we have.

We wandered another kilometer through the city, admiring gorgeous rock coloring, dozens of facades, gazing into now-empty tombs, to a hilltop-church discovered only in 1995. The church, at least the second built on the site (there's another church buried under it), contains extensive mosaic floors from the 6th century, and significant amounts of marble (perhaps carried from Rome – there's none in Jordan).

Leaving the church the trail passed the ruins of ancient houses, and I picked up a small piece of clay that might have been from a plate or urn. Then I noticed hundreds more spread everywhere. The guide said yes, it was probably 2,000 years old, and that there are so many the researchers focus only on more well-preserved objects buried in the ground. We picked up several pieces, which will surely deserve special status in our house!

That night dinner was at the Petra Kitchen, a cooking and eating place (no restaurant here, the tourists work with the chefs to prepare the dinner, then sit down to eat). The head chef was from the Movenpick Hotel, and clearly knew his way around the kitchen! Another really great experience!

Wadi Rum

T.E. Lawrence studied archaeology, dug ruins in the Middle East, then, at the start of World War I, joined the British Army and fought with Arabs against the Ottoman Empire, a German ally. Following a great victory at Aqaba he was promoted to major, and later helped liberate Damascus. Now more commonly known as Lawrence of Arabia, he used Wadi Rum as his headquarters during the years he fought for Arab independence. 

 Far in the south, only 20 kilometers from Saudi Arabia, Wadi Rum (“High Valley”) is a vast desert containing mazes of monolithic rocks rising to more than 1,700 meters . There are a few rock drawings (petroglyphs) that are 4,000 years old, but mostly the area is endless mountains and valleys and sand.



We visited a Bedouin camp, and had tea in the guest tent. But it is mostly wide-open spaces filled with sand and mountains. Locals could find water, the scenery was beautiful, and it would be an effective hiding place, but it would be a tedious place to spend much time.


Dana Reserve
We went to the small village of Dana, and had a local nature tour from Ahmed, the village elder. Fabulous guy, with encyclopedic knowledge, he had visited the U.S., and spoke excellent English. This village is some 600 years old, although some rocks in people's houses had Roman carvings from 1,000 years earlier. The town has about 150 people, and the houses are still made of stone, but the kids now know about cell phones, TVs, and the internet, and the world is changing rapidly around the local people.

We wandered about 2 kilometers down into the valley, then back up to town. Ahmed showed us all the plants, birds, and small animals we passed. The town has a sophisticated (Roman-style aqueduct) system for catching water – there were four springs around the town, water everywhere! – and water flows through the town. This is a huge sandstone and limestone gorge, as is the Grand Canyon, and 30-45 million years ago this was also at the bottom of the ocean. He pointed out fossils in the wall, then casually dug one out, literally millions of years old. When he tossed it aside, I grabbed it. There is so much nature, and so many things that are very old, that there's little sense yet that anything needs to be preserved.

On our way back he took us to his house, solid rock, surrounded by a rock wall around the outside. There is a small guest room at the front, a kitchen, living and bedroom, and another room at the back.
The guest room had a small wood stove for heat, and the living / bedroom had a raised stone ledge with a bedroll on it. No other furniture at all, no electricity or water, the kitchen was empty, we didn't even see any sign of his clothes. There was literally nothing in his house. It had been his grandfather's house, when he was a boy there were 10 people living there. Now he lives alone, his four children living elsewhere in Jordan. The house sits on the high point at the edge of town, facing down the rock canyon about 14 kilometers to the valley below. On a clear day he can surely see into Israel, less than 30 kilometers away. Absolutely magnificent location. Very special guide. Wonderful experience.


Dead Sea 

The Dead Sea really is. It is 33% salt. Absolutely nothing could live in it. Jordan is on the east side, Israel on the west, and only about 15 kilometers of water separates them. But they are a world apart.

We approached from the south, and the first images we saw were huge potash manufacturing facilities. As we drove north, there is agriculture everywhere, and they grow all kinds of fruits and vegetables. We have fresh figs, dates, apricots, oranges, grapes, and other fruits every day, only hours off the tree. They are absolutely delicious.



The Movenpick resort is very nice. It is old stone architecture, much as we might see in the Southwest. There is a nice health club where we worked out every day, and lovely pools. But we headed for the Dead Sea, where you can cover yourself with Dead Sea Mud (and save $150 vs. the spa charge for that treatment). When Fran rinsed off, her skin did feel as soft as a baby's. 

Then you go in to float on the water. Literally. I could not even put my feet down to stand up, although Fran managed that feat. But you surely don't sink in this water.





Three hours before our international flight back to Cairo and no driver; after I verified that the tour company had not even assigned one to collect us, we hired a local car, and made the flight. Major problem barely averted!