
Amman Jordan.
A view from the 17th floor of our hotel.
Limestone buildings everywhere.


Jackie and I.
Jerash Jordan
Jerash is considered one of the largest and most well-preserved sites of Greek and Roman architecture in the world outside Italy. And is sometimes misleadingly referred to as the "Pompeii of the Middle East"
Up to 30000 people lived here in 5500 to 7500 BC

Suburbs of Amman

Jackie and Randy

Jackie Ron. T and R

Photo bomb in the Theatre



Water mill to power the stone cutting saws

North coliseum

City plan of Jerash

Our guide Eyad loves taking group photos. He’s knows \240all the best places. 📸



Bouganvalia Tree outside in the courtyard at Sudra Restaraunt Amman.

Lamb Mansaf dinner
They told us you don’t need a fork or spoon to eat this dish.
You only use 1 spoon and four fingers.

MOSES!!!
The view from the mountain was spectacular. We had a beautiful and clear day.


This is the view of Israel, without the settlements, that Moses saw. He died on this mountain. And no one is certain where Moses was buried

John 3:14-14
14] And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: [15] That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.



Poppies

The arid scenery


The mosaics found in the Memorial Church of Moses.
Dates back to the 4th Century


Natuaral \240coloured stone was used

‘Swimming’ in the Dead Sea. (Lake). The lake is losing 2 feet of water \240a year.

Mosaic artists keeping the traditional craft alive.
Petra



Walking through the carved mountains to the Petra Treasury


The Nebaeteans hid their treasures here until 1812 when it was discovered by John Burckhar, from the UK.
He was interested in the area of Jordan. He took a coil years toLearned the language. He arrived in that area \240pretending to be a local Arab. He chatted with some local people and said that he wanted to sacrifice a goat with them.
They then made a mistake and showed him the ruins of the Lost City.

Many caves behind us.
They had a sophisticated system of cisterns and tanks and stone pipes to brig in water.
Their water came from \240the mountains during rainy season, via the ‘River of Moses’

A hand carved cave. One of many hundreds of caves where they lived and were buried

Their theatre


Wadi Rum
Jeep tour through the desert.

Lawrence of Arabia and many other movies have been filmed here.

Randy Ron Lynn and Manfred climb to the top of this sand hill.

The Bedoins offer camel rides.
They live in this desert.

A view from the sand hill and the vehicles we were riding in.

Sunset over the desert and mountains

Travelling back to Cairo today. Leaving the amazing ruins of Petra.

Selfie at the Jordan museum.
The museum holds many artifacts found in the city of Petra.
Travelling by bus to Medaba
It was once a Moabite border city.then under Israel.
It is mentioned in the Bible in Numbers 21:30 and Joshua 13:20
The Univeristy of Toronto has been excavating this archeological site since 1996.
They have found treasures dating back to the Bronze age, and the 9th century BC


Greek Orthodox \240Church site where the mosaics were discovered.
Doing the sites of Cairo today
First stop
Egyptian museum, with the treasures from some Pyramids. I sliding King Tutunkamens treasures
All of these treasures were found in the pyramids that we will be visiting this week
They say that they have only discovered 40% of the tombs and pyramids that exist in Egypt.
We we’re not allowed to take pictures of King Tutenkamen’s \240treasures found in his tomb

Tombs






19th century mosque




Inside the mosque

Mohammed Ali mosque. Built for the King.in a Citadel (fortress)
We are visiting
The sphinx of Memphis.
There is no pyramid or large monuments here because they were torn apart by locals that lived here. They used the granite and stone as a quarry for their own use.
They are still digging and finding different treasures.

Giving the sphinx a \240tickle \240under the chin
This is the largest marble statue in the world

Ramse II


Ramses II found here upside down without legs.


The great Pyramids of Giza. In Cairo
Built in the 26th century.

















We are visiting the Hanging Church today
A Greek Orthodox Church. AD 42
Moses was here.
Joseph, the Virgin Mary and the baby Jesus spent 2 1/2 years to travel here from Bethlehem to flee the persecution.
They spent 3 months here.

The ruins of Jericho




The Coptic Hanging Church


They call it the gaming church because if you look through the floors you can see pillars and wood beams which support the church.


The routed that Joseph, the Virgin Mary and Jesus took to get to this church in Cairo. They stopped and stayed at Monestaries along the way.

This well fed many people ,water, through centuries. It never ran dry

The base of the stone cellar where Jesus stayed



The space where Jesus lived.
Valley of the Queens

Inside the tomb of Queen Hatshepsut


One of 100s of tombs. Closed for now.


Temple of Hatshepsut


Riding to the tombs



Tutankhamun’s tomb


Felucca Sailboat

Temple of Horus. One of the most well preserved temples



Falcon bird with two crowns protecting the temple.


Cleche. Form of transportation in Edfu


A surprise visitor to our cabin
Flying to Abu Simbel Temple today.

Lake Nasser. Largest man made lake in the world. Created from two large dams on the Nile in Aswan



This temple and 23 others were flooded after the upper and lower dams were built in the area.
With funding from other countries and 8 years of construction they moved each temple piece by piece to higher land to save them.






A visitor to our cabin

Our Riverboat. The AmaDalia

Returned from Abu Simbel and boarded a Felucca to have high tea at the Old Catract Hotel





Philae Temple









We then boated to this Nubian Village. We had tea with them and they entertained us and we danced with them.


We then sailed along the Nile and lofted up beside KomOmbo





Mummified Crocodiles


Sunset over the Nile

Our Egyptian dinner, party games and dancing.







We sailed up the Nile today back towards Luxor.
We are visiting the Luxor Temple and the Temples of Karnak


A replica of the boats that they would use for transportation on the Nile.
And for trnasporting the massive limestone, granite and marble that built this temple.










We thought we had seen it all. Then we visit Luxor Temple.
Wow. It’s a religious site where, at different times, Muslim’s, and Christian’s have celebrated there





We are on our last sail day.
We will say goodbye to the Nile tomorrow when we leave Luxor
Today we visit Qena, the Temple of Hathor


The local children serenading us from their surf board

Rules for all the temples and pyramids

Temple of Hathor
Beautifully green because of their location close to the Nile.


Ibrahim, our Egyptologist/ guide finally got in a picture with us.
He was an incredible and interesting teacher. Very patient with allll of our questions.
What a scholar he is.

Artistry of the cartouches and sculptures are beautiful. Such talented people.
Every inch of these walls tell a story of their lives.


They kept their treasures hidden here. Below the floor of the temple

Scenes from our ship on the Nile

Last Egypt stop🥲
We flew to Cairo today and had a quick lunch and tour of the Palace

A very busy market in Downtown Cairo

Abdeen Palace was the seat of government from 1874 to 1972
King

King Fuad and King Mohammed Ali ruled over Cairo during this time.



We say goodbye to the our new best friends
We spent two weeks with this group and had the most fun, memorable, and special time with them all.
Our Egyptologist/ guide/ Ibriham, \240said that he had never seen a more cohesive and fun group.
We even taught Ibrahim how to line dance!
We called ourselves the Habibi group.
Meaning, my love/dear/darling.
What a ride. 😂
Leaving Cairo for the last time.
Said goodbye to our group, cruise manager, security men, and Egyptologists:)
Wow. That was one of the most amazing special and fun trips everrrr.
We are now finishing our holiday in UAE




Fancy airport

We have arrived in Dubai.
Visiting the city for the first time.

A view from the Bar at our hotel

All new and fancy buildings.



A view from the Burj Khalifa. The highest building in the world

The view of the water where the fountain show takes place.

Sand bashing through the Saraha \240with a stop on top of a dune

BBQ dinner and show with belly dancers, fire, and whirling dirbish

The Burj Kahlifa at night.
Today we travelled an hour to see the capital of UAE- Abu Dhabi

The ladies had to cover head arms and legs to visit the very large Mosque in Abu Dhabi



The largest Chandelier in the world.

Visited Yas Marina. The locations of the Abu Dhabi F1 race. Randy posing in front of the Ferrari symbol at the ‘Ferrari Experience’ amusement park.

Night time fountain show at the Burj Khalifa Marina


Left Dubai at 2 am their time and arrived home 8am Toronto time
We had \240a perfect trip in soooo many ways.
Thank you.

A Great 13 hour flight.