15th February - Petra

Today we docked back in Aqaba - which is where we sailed from a week ago.   At 8.15am we were loaded onto 2 coaches for the 2.5-3 hour trip to Petra.  The temperature in Aqaba was about 17 Celsius, but Petra is up in mountains and it was only 3 degrees there, so the people who'd worn shorts and t-shirts were finding it a bit nippy.

On arrival we had to get down several sets of steps before we reached the area where you can hire horses or golf carts to traverse the long narrow canyon down to the Treasury building.   The builders planned it that way thinking that it was that much more impressive if your friends (or enemies) had to walk all the way down this long canyon and then the first building they saw was the Treasury. 

 

The horses will only take people about the first 800m and it's 2-3Km down this canyon to reach the city. You can walk down, but you are taking your life in your hands if you do, as the golf cart drivers think they are in one of the Fast and Furious movies.  Part of the journey is also over cobbled stones, so by the time I reached the Treasury I felt like I'd been on the Indiana Jones roller coaster ride at Disney.  

Petra was the capital of the ancient Nabatean civilization.   It was rediscovered in 1812 by a Swiss chap called Johann Ludwig Burckhardt - who was supposedly trying to find his way to the pyramids.  Not someone you want to ask for directions then....

The most famous building in Petra is the Treasury building - which you will all recognize from various movies - basically any movie that needed a "lost" city.   Although in the lost city movies it never has all the tourists and camels in front of it.

Today's fascinating fact is that the building is not a Treasury at all - it's a tomb.  The designers made the mistake of carving an urn at the top of the building in the middle.   It seems the urn is a symbol of treasure and a lot of people thought that there was somehow a treasure trove hidden in the rock behind it so shortly after Petra was rediscovered in the 19th century, people used to come and shoot at the urn with rifles - thinking that at some point it would shatter and shower them with gold. 

 From the Treasury area, the only way on is by foot.   However, you don't have to walk more than another half a mile to get a good panoramic view of the city as a whole.  you can walk right down to the theatre and explore if you like, but Denise and I didn't fancy the rocky path.  There were also locals offering to guide you to vantage points  high up in the rocks above the city and I saw quite a few (younger) people up there.  

Unfortunately the wait for the golf carts back up to the parking lot was dreadful.  They wouldn't send down carts until there were people who wanted to come down in them, and most people were walking down and then finding that they didn't have the energy to climb back up again.  So the queue was very long and we spent over 45 minutes standing in the cold on a rocky, uneven surface before the hair-raising ride back to the top.   

After a very late "lunch" at the Movenpick Hotel in Petra it was a long coach ride back to the ship.  Denise and I had a short dinner and spent the rest of the evening packing, as our suitcases had to be outside our room by 11pm.

So that is it - the end of my cruise.   Tomorrow morning we disembark and head back to the Intercontinental Hotel in Aqaba for a couple of nights before our flight back to London.   Originally we'd intended to organize a day trip to Wadi Rum or the Dead Sea, but after 2 days of walking the rocky trails in Timna Park and Petra we're totally exhausted and will probably spend our hotel time mostly in the hot tub instead.

 

Valentine's Day in Eilat

Today we docked at Eilat, Israel.   The first excursion was to the underwater observatory (AKA Coralworld).   This is the oldest specifically built tourist attraction in Israel and it opened 45 years ago.  

The white building above is the observatory, and as you enter at ground level you can go up to the top for a view of the surrounding countryside, or down to the underwater rooms (there are 2) which are 6 to 8 metres below sea level.   They somehow managed to construct this without damaging the coral that it is sitting in the middle of, so it was teeming with colourful fish. I know it looks like Denise is standing in an aquarium in this photo - it's hard to believe that it's the actual sea outside those windows.

As well as the observatory, the park had several actual aquariums and some large pools for turtles, etc.  There was also an enormous tank holding shards and stingrays.  So we spent a very pleasant few hours enjoying the sea life.

Unlike Egypt and Jordan, Israel isn't full of hawkers trying to sell you cheap Chinese "authentic Egyptian" items.   So I chose to do most of my shopping at the gift shops in the park. 

Our second excursion of the day was to a place called Timna Park.  This is an area of mountains rich in various ores with some spectacular rock formations.  It is also the site of the oldest copper mines in the world. 

By the time we finished in Timna it was dusk, so it was back to the ship for the Captain's Farewell Dinner.   Technically, there is another night left of the cruise after this one - but we will all have been on an 11 hour trip to Petra and will probably be too exhausted to enjoy ourselves tomorrow night.  We sat with Slavko, the future cruise sales manager, who is from Montenegro.   After a lovely meal I went up to deck 6 where I joined a few other passengers to form a team and take part in the music trivia quiz.  We managed to win - and our prize was 2 boxes of dates, which no one wanted.   We even tried to give them to the 2nd placed team, but they didn't want them either. 2nd prize must have been 3 boxes of dates.

A Recovery Day

 Today we were docked at Safaga, which is yet another Egyptian beach resort, similar to Sharm-El-Sheik and Hurghada.   The included excursion was a "beach break" at nearby Soma beach.  But I'm not really a beach person, and neither is Denise, so we decided to stay on board.

I managed to do a load of washing in the guest laundry and then we headed up to the Jacuzzi on deck 7.  With several people still off the ship on the 2 day excursion to Luxor and with most of the others on the Soma Beach excursion we practically had the ship to ourselves.    There is a bar up on deck 7 next to the hot tub - so we had our own personal bar tender to make our drinks. 

Denise's birthday

 Today we docked at Hurghada which is another beach resort similar to Sharm-El-Sheik.   The day started well with a cocktail class up at the Sky Bar on Deck 7, where we were taught to make (and got to sample) a lemon drop martini, a cosmopolitan, a french martini and an espresso martiini.   Sen (our mixologist) used to work on one of the really big Royal Caribbean ships with 8000 guests and he used to have to make 2 or 3 thousand cocktails at a time.   So he really appreciates working on Emerald Azzurra where there are only 65 guests.

 After lunch 14 people left the ship for the overnight excursion to Luxor.  Most of the excursions are included in the price of the cruise, but that one was extra and Denise and I had decided not to take it.  This was probably a a good decision as we were knackered after our 11 hour trip to the pyramids yesterday.   Emerald had organized a shuttle which ran every hour to take people from the port to the centre of downtown Hurghada where you could visit the beach or do some shopping.   So we hopped on the bus and went for a look around.   
Honestly, Hurghada doesn't have much to recommend it.   The shopping area is pretty tacky and the highlight of the eating places was a Costa Coffee. The shop keepers are all quite persistent about trying to get you into their stores to buy their cheap tat.

Downtown Hurghada

Denise and I managed to find a store selling stamps and then spent a while at a bar on one of the hotel beaches where we could put the stamps on our postcards, before posting them in the Hotel's post box and catching the shuttle back to the ship.   At least we got to sample a local Egyptian beer.

Back on the ship the evening's entertainment got into full swing.   As it was Denise's birthday we were invited to dine with the ship's director, Christian.   Two other couples we've become friends with joined us at the table and a lovely meal was finished off with a chocolate birthday cake that was made for her. 

The evening's entertainment was an amazing local dance troupe with a belly dancer and a whirling dervish who had a costume studded with LEDs.   It was quite an evening!

 

 

 

 

Another tick on the bucket list

 Apologies for the late post - we've had some internet connectivity issues on board.

This morning we docked at Ain Sokhna, which is the nearest port to Cairo.  We left the port in a convoy of buses with a police escort.   Egypt has an entire branch of their police force which is just for tourists.  Tourism is their livelihood and after past terrorist attacks against tourists they aren't willing to take any chances.

The drive to Cairo was over 2 hours, and there wasn't much to see except desert on the way.  But it was worth it.  We had 3 separate stops in the Giza complex.  The first was at the "panorama" which is an elevated point from which you can take photos of all the pyramids.

The 2nd stop was close to the pyramid of Khafre where we had the opportunity to go inside.  The pyramid of Khafre is the only one with some of its outer casing stones remaining (right at the top).  It also appears to be taller than the Great Pyramid, but is actually shorter.  This is due to the fact that it is built on bedrock that's higher up than the bedrock the Great Pyramid is built on.  Denise declined the offer to go inside because she's claustrophobic, but I figured I would give it a go.   This turned out to be a mistake.  It really is a tiny tunnel and  even someone as short as me would have to bend double to go along it. First you have to make your way down a really steep ramp to the doorway - which is probably only about 3 or 3.5 ft high.  The ramp is so steep they've had to put metal bars on it for people to use as steps.  When you get to the doorway you find that as well as bending down to go in, you also have to proceed down some rather small steps.  I gave up a few feet inside the door and turned around and came out again.  But I got some good photos of the pyramids from close up at least

The final stop in the complex was near the Sphinx, which I found even more impressive than the Pyramids. Sadly, the Sphinx has seen better days.   First of all Napoleon's soldiers used its nose for rifle practice, then it lost its beard during WWII.   The largest piece of the beard is now in the British Museum and the Egypt and British governments are negotiating its return as the Egyptians want to restore it.  The Sphinx's neck has suffered some erosion and they reckon that the beard provided at least partial support for the head.
Poor old Sphinx, it's had a bit of a hard life.  I don't imagine all the pigeons nesting on it are doing much to preserve it either.

 

Then it was time to leave Giza and drive to the Hyatt West Cairo for a rather mediocre lunch followed by a trip to the Papyrus institute where we got a demonstration of how to make papyrus before being encouraged to buy one of their over priced papyrus paintings. 

Finally it was another 3 hours on the bus back to Ain Sokhna where we were just in time for a late dinner.   We are now totally knackered!

-Sharm-El-Sheik

 Arrived in Sharm-El-Sheik this morning

Today's excursion was a coach over to Na'ama Bay for a glass-bottom boat ride followed by some time on the beach.    On the 15 minute bus ride Denise and I were quipping that it ought to be called Sharm-El-Shut as we didn't see a soul on the streets.   However, when we got to our destination we realized that this was because EVERYONE was on the beach.
We had 1 hour on the boat looking over the coral reef here - which is the second largest in the world after the Great Barrier Reef.

It was very hot today - much hotter than I was expecting.   So after the boat trip Denise took a dip in the sea.   I just stayed on my lounger in the shade.  Back on board after lunch I went up to the observation deck to watch as we pulled out of port. The Harbor "pilot" was back on shore waving goodbye to us from the dock - but apparently he still gets paid even though he didn't actually do anything.  

This evening we had the Captain's welcome cocktails and dinner, followed by a great show from Chloe (our cruise director).  She sang songs from the 60s and 70s and also some numbers from musicals like Les Miserables and A Star is Born.

Tomorrow is one of the highlights of the trip -  the Pyramids and Sphinx at Giza.

All Aboard the Emerald Azzurra

 Today we spent a lazy morning in our hotel room repacking our bags ready for the transfer to the ship.   

At about 2pm the buses arrived and our luggage was loaded on for the trip to the port terminal.  The Emerald Azzurra is a new ship and very chic!

Onboard we chatted to Chloe (the cruise director) while we waited in the lounge for our room to be available and drank copious quantities of champagne.  There are 65 people on board for this sailing and the vast majority are Brits (as are most of the crew),  we also have 4 Austrians, 2 Germans, 4 Americans and 5 Canadians (including me).

After a short stop in our room to unpack, it was back to the lounge for the port talk and then a tour of the ship.   Despite the Emerald Azzurra being built for a maximum of only 100 guests it has plenty of facilities.  There are 7 decks.  Deck 1 is the crew deck.  Deck 2 is the spa, sauna, 24 hour gym and medical station.  Deck 3 has the Amici lounge (with the main bar),  the main restaurant (La Cucina),  Reception and the boutique.   The cabins (including ours) start on deck 4,  also on that deck is the observation lounge and the guest laundry and 24 hour coffee/tea station.   On Deck 5 we visited the bridge - the ship operates and "open bridge" policy and we can drop in whenever we like.   Deck 6 is the Pool and the Aqua cafe.  Deck 7 is the Jacuzzi, Sundeck and Sky bar. 

After our tour of the ship we had our sail away party with more cocktails.

Finally, we headed for the restaurant where we sat with Hilary and Peter and shared Peter's birthday cake. 
Tomorrow we dock at Sharm-El-Sheik and go on a glass bottom boat ride.

Paddling in the Red Sea

 As I said in yesterday's post.   Our "resort" hotel is an amazing place.  It's enormous, but with us being here out of season there aren't that many guests - so we're getting very personalized service... the staff know exactly who we are and what room we're in. 

The hotel has a very expansive pool complex, and also a private beach.  There are indoor palm trees in the lower lobby and numerous restaurants.   So far we haven't needed to pay for anything.   Breakfast is included and because we upgraded to a sea view room we get free laundry services and free food and drinks (including alcohol) in the Martini Lounge.

As we were traveling all day yesterday we decided to just spend the day relaxing in the hotel and take advantage of the beach cabanas and the pool complex.  We definitely made the right decision in taking the direct flight from Gatwick and arriving a day early.   Today lots of very tired disgruntled people who will also be on the trip arrived from Amman (which is the option Emerald cruises included with the cruise).   Apparently the connections in Amman were completely disorganized and they were also freezing because it's snowing in Amman!   It's not that warm here in Aqaba (about 15-20 Celsius) but at least it isn't anywhere near cold enough for snow. 

The sea water is supposedly over 20 degrees Celsius - but it didn't feel that warm to me so I just had a paddle in the Red Sea while Denise (in the background) braved the coldness of the water and went for a full swim.   Then I sat on the sun loungers by the pool  while Denise had another swim in one of the hotel pools.   

We spent the evening back in the Martini lounge with Peter and Hilary (who we met in the ambulift yesterday).  Tomorrow we board our ship:  the Emerald Azzurra.

Arrived in Aqaba!

Most of the EasyJet planes at Gatwick were out on the tarmac with staircases needed to board.  Denise can't manage those stairs so we had to wait for a special assistance "ambulift" to take us out and connect to the door of the plane.   In the ambulift we met Peter and his wife Hilary (who also couldn't manage the stairs) and it transpired that they are also going to be on our cruise.  So we've already made some friends.

The flight out to Aqaba was uneventful.   We landed in Aqaba at 6.30pm local time, when it was still light.  Aqaba is surrounded by some very impressive mountains.  Aqaba airport is quite small and all the planes park on the tarmac - so again we had to wait for an ambulift for Hilary and Denise to disembark the plane.  I have to say this one was a bit rickety and I was wondering if we were going to reach the ground in one piece.

On the ground we were met by an entire entourage of young men to push wheelchairs, carry luggage and generally escort us to the (empty) building.   All the able bodied people had left while we had been waiting for the ambulift.   I lost count of the number of times we were wished "Welcome to Jordan".   All our luggage was scanned on landing (sort of the opposite of normal) and all of Denise's medications were inspected, but in the end we were allowed in without any issues.    An Emerald rep was waiting with a mini bus to take us to our hotel - the Intercontinental Aqaba.  By this time it was dark so we couldn't see much, but the hotel looked enormous. 

On check-in we were told we could go to the "Martini Club Lounge" and have free food and drink until 8pm.   So while our bags were taken to the room Denise and I headed straight to the lounge, where we were offered "canapes" - which turned out to be an entire full size pizza and some sliders.  We also had several glasses of wine.   I can't believe this was all free!

This is an incredible hotel.    It's quite late now,  so I can't do it justice with the photos I have so far - but I'm definitely going to explore all the facilities tomorrow.    In the meantime, after stuffing our faces with free food and drink,  Denise and I have retired to our extremely posh room.  The bathroom is about 3 times the size of the main bathroom at home and includes a shower that looks big enough to hold 6-8 people.   The view from our room is of the hotel pool - which looks amazing (definitely checking that out tomorrow).   

Gatwick Lounge

Managed to meet up with Denise without problems yesterday and we spent the night at the Holiday Inn Gatwick. 

This morning we're at the airport waiting in the No1 Lounge for our flight out to Aqaba.  Denise is enjoying some of the complimentary pink champagne for breakfast!

At the Airport

 Another trip - this time to the Middle East.   

 Like many people the Pyramids have always been on my bucket list.  But the Middle East is not exactly the safest place in the world and I'd pretty much written off any chance of ever going to Egypt because I wasn't willing to risk staying in country for a week or more. So what happened?  Well I was browsing through small ship cruises for 2023 with no particular destination in mind.  Only to come across an Emerald cruise called "Marvels of the Red Sea".  This was the answer - I could see the pyramids without staying on land.

So here I am at the airport at the start of my adventure. The cruise doesn't leave until 9th Feb, but it's going to take me a while to get there.  The cruise ship departs from a port in Jordan called Aqaba, but it's pretty hard to figure out how to get there.  Aqaba has an airport but you can count the number of incoming flights a day on one hand.  Basically, there seemed to be less than 1 flight every  24 hours from Amman (Jordan's capital) and the only international flights are by a couple of low cost airlines (EasyJet and RyanAir) who fly from a few airports in Europe - but only 2 flights a week.
I started off by trying to fly direct from Canada, but there are few flights to Amman from Canada and the connection time between landing in Amman and being able to travel on to Aqaba was over 12 hours.  Too short to exit the airport, but way too long to sit around in an airport.   As I was going on this cruise with my friend Denise (who is based in Britain) I then decided to fly to London first and meet up with her and then fly on to Jordan from there.  But again, flying from London to Amman had the same problem with over 12 hours stuck in Amman before we could fly on to Aqaba.  In the end we decided to take the EasyJet option and fly direct from London-Gatwick to Aqaba - but the flights are only twice a week, So we're getting into Aqaba about 36 hours before the cruise starts and staying 2 nights at a hotel there before boarding. 

So here's the run down - flying from Toronto tonight and arriving at Gatwick tomorrow (6th).  Then I'm meeting up with Denise, staying overnight at a hotel in Gatwick and flying on to Aqaba with her on the 7th.  Arrive in Aqaba on the evening of the 7th and staying in the designated hotel for Emerald cruises until the morning of the 9th when we board the ship.   The cruise itself takes in Jordan, 4 stops in Egypt (including Ain Sohkna - from where we'll take our excursion to the Pyramids), Israel, and ends back in Aqaba (with a trip to Petra on the last day).  

Wish me Luck!