Aqaba, Jordan
We took a very long duration excursion to Petra. Netra is an ancient Nabataean Capital City established in about the 4th century BCE. It was used extensively by nomadic Arabs in the incense trade routes. The most famous building is called the Treasury. There is a large theater and many tombs. Not really much of a city! To get there today is a long walk in through steep cliffs.
Eventually we made it to the Treasury. This is perhaps the only view of Petra known by most people.
Some people actually paid to sit on a camel to have their picture taken. We did not.
I was amzed at the goats that graze in the area.
Some groups of people just walked in and about out the same way. That’s too easy. Kathy and I went with much of our group to walk by the theater and the “cemetary”.
And the cemetery.
Typically people walk in, see what they want and ride our on a shuttle bus. But the shittle bus drivers went on strike over some dispute about the tour buses of which there were many. So we had to walk out. We were told that walk was 2.5 kilometers. Uphill!
Do you see the buildings at the top of the hill? That was where we walked after a full morning to walk in. We walked a total of 18,000 steps. Kathy did better than me. Around one of the curves in the road I sat on a railing and rested for 5 minutes or so. She kept going.
This terrible long delay in our excursion meant we missed our lunch reservation in a local hotel. We were even so late that the ship had to stay in port for a couple hours longer than scheduled. We did get some food in the evening in the cafe.
Johnson's Travel 