Farewell my African sun

Howdy doody, Ok, so I had just about completed my last blog and pressed save to draft when the whole thing decided that after 2 hours of typing on my phone to delete itself.AAAHHHHH, despite saving every 5 minutes no back up to be found anywhere.

So, here I go again 😜🙃

Last news was from our days at sea after the Seychelles on our way to Aqaba. 

It was bright and early that we slipped into the harbour which is split into two, with on the left the city of Eilat in Israel and on the right the city of Aqaba in Jordan.

We had booked our tour to the lost city of Petra in advance through the ship due to very high demand to visit the place and also to make sure we were back on time as the ship does not wait of you arrive late from a private tour; you'll have to find you own way to the next port and reboard.

As with all tours the busses were lined up on the port,  in this case 24, so 1200 people visiting Petra.

Luckily we were on bus 2 so departed early at 7 am.

Jordan is a poor country compared to its neighbours like Egypt, Saudi Arabia,  Iraq and Kuwait, and has no natural resources e.g. oil.

The south of the country where we arrived is fairly barren land, high rocky mountains and the port of Aqaba which also supplies the main income for the country, being tourism.

In the North the only big city named Amman, and also the area where 90% of the local produce come from. 

On the way we had the tour guide explain a lot of different sites to us related to biblical times.

We passed the location of the tomb of Aaron (brother of Moses), high on the mountain, a 7 hour hike, which we thought it was better left for another time as there was no guarantee that the coffee would be ready on arrival 😜

Tomb of Aaron

The countryside is stunning with high mountains, cliffs, valleys.

Nomads and their tents on the middle of the dessert landscape, goat herders and their flock in the fields or on a mountain side with hardly any grass. A local seller pushing his wares on the side of the road out of a 30 year old utility.

Petra  is a 2 hour plus drive away but all that time we admired the landscape changing from flat dessert to high mountains.

After a  brief stop along the way we arrived at Wadi Musa, the township near the red lost city.

We got briefed by the guide and received our vouchers for entry as well as for lunch at the Mòvenpick hotel, which was right opposite.

We made our way down a gently sloping path towards the gorge. Scenery and burial caves along the way.

You have to go through the gorge to get to what they call " The treasury", high cliffs, an ancient water channel along the bottom of the mountain.

Petra was once a thriving trading center and the capital of the Nabataean empire between 400 B.C. and A.D. 106.

I can not describe the sheer size and beauty of the place, just amazing!!

Unfortunately the place is too big to explore in one day. 

We would have loved to see a lot more and a return visit is definitely not out of the question, including some more of the country.

The way back to port was also fascinating with plenty of scenery.

The ship left port at about 6 pm and we made our way down through the gulf headed for the Suez canal. 

We arrived there around 2 pm the next afternoon and dropped anchor a few kilometres out.

More and more ships joined us until there was a group of about 50 in line.

What we learned was that there are 3 crossings per day of approx 30 ships.

Crossings are always one way alternating north or south bound. 

According to ship staff we were scheduled ìn for departure between 2 and 4 am.

As I was very keen to see us enter the canal I stayed awake and indeed by 3 am we moved into position and were sailing into the Suez.

A lot of sand barges at the start pumping sand continually onto land and keeping the channel clean and open.

Once again so much to see, therefore it wasn't until 6.15 am that I did have a snooze for an hour and a half only to be woken by the screaming ship horn of the tug underneath our balcony as the little fishing boats, (and I mean small row boats) were blocking safe passage for the ship.

They are absolutely mad as they drag their nets right across and don't get out of the way until the last minute.  

So up and at them again to the front of the ship on deck 14 as we were about to entry stage 2 of the canal after passing through Bitter Lake which forms a a holding bay for all the ships before entrenched the second stage of the canal. 

We were now the first in line with a ship loaded with 10400 containers right behind us.

The west bank of Egypt is the more inhabited and interesting one,  with the east mainly desert however a LOT of development happening.

We were surprised by the amount of building going on,  with new cities rising out of the ground, thousands and thousands of apartment buildings identical, 10 deep in perfect rows and stretching for miles. 

The security is extremely tight all along the canal,  with manned posts as well as army barracks.

I did not give up and enjoyed the crossing from start till end and at 2pm we entered the Mediterranean sea at Port Said headed for Crete.

One day at sea brought us into the port of Hereklion this morning.  

But where have you gone my African sun?

It has left us behind whilst crossing the Suez, temperature has dropped from a comfortable 30 + to 19 degrees and rain.

First day since leaving home I had to wear jeans and a warm top.

We split into 3 different groups today with 2 doing private tours and us catching the hop on hop off bus around town. 

We visited the ancient ruins of the Knossos palace, dating back to 3000 b.c. but unfortunately not much else to see in Hereklion itself.

We did some shopping and had a nice local lunch with ended with a small complimentary bottle of Raki.

A local double distilled alcohol made of grapes and between 40 and 50% alcohol.

The more you drink the easier it slides down 😜.

As the bus was a waste of time we walked back to the ship. 

Only a couple more days and the cruise comes to an end. 

Tomorrow we are going to see Pompei before we get to enjoy Rome for a couple of days and then fly to Malta followed by Holland.

Until then we shall remain on ship time doing a lot of nothing all day long.

Ciao ❤️.......