Wednesday, 1 April 2015

2015 Gap Year #8

Highlights below from our week in Jordan and the 3 days visiting the lost city of Petra. Successfully made it to Egypt and now in the Sinai at Dahab.

Leaving Israel and walking through no-mans-land and into Jordan

Time out for an ice cream in Aqaba Jordan

First views of Petra formations from above

Exploring Little Petra (lots of climbing)

Little Petra

Girls scrambling around Little Petra


Little Petra

Bedouins still live a nomadic lifestyle in this area

Taking in a sunset at the Bedouin camp we stayed at

The evening entertainment at the Bedouin camp

Bedouin camp at night with the rock formations lit up

Same view of the camp in the daylight

Our first trip down the 2km long Siq into Petra

The worlds only amphitheater carved directly out of the rocks

Dazzling rock formations and one of the reasons its called the Rose City

The climb up to the Monastery

The spectacular Monastery which was built as a grave
Another view of the Monastery (and yes a gum tree)

Looking down on the Monastery from above

Looking back across the valley to the Royal Tombs

Closer view of the Royal Tombs

The Treasury in afternoon light (can't get Indiana Jones music out of my head)

Bedouin children all over Petra trying to get you to buy all sorts of things

More of those rocks

Climbing to the Royal Tombs

Caves everywhere

Looking down from the Royal Tombs, this policeman wasn't keen for his photo to be taken (from the front)

This little Bedouin fellow joined us for lunch

Couldn't resist feeding the donkeys

Sitting in the Great Temple and ruins of a church on the other side of the valley

Royal Tombs

Climbing to a view of the Treasury from above (rock cut stairs)

More hiking

Treasury from above (track down closed so we had to walk back the way we came)

Next day climbing up to the High Place

Cooling down on a cold rock

The High Place of sacrifice

Played a game of "Spot the Bonnie"

The Lion Fountain

Nancy making friends

Heather making friends with a baby goat (or sheep?)

Not sure what these were (most likely graves)

The photogenic Treasury

Indiana Jones first glimpse of the Treasury as he exits the Siq

North of Petra we climbed Shobak Castle built by the Crusaders in about 1100

Indiana Jones at Shobak Castle finding treasures in dark tunnels

Shobak Castle (walls rebuilt by the Ottomans)

Drive back to Aqaba from Petra

Tuesday, 24 March 2015

2015 Gap Year #7

For the last 2 weeks we have been on a study tour running around the North of Israel and then back to Jerusalem these last 4 nights. We have really loved our time here in the Holy Land and looking forward to heading to Petra in Jordan tomorrow. 

The view from our accommodation on Mt Carmel in Haifa where the study tour was based

Two headed cow at Haifa zoo

Looking down over the harbor in Haifa

The church in Mt Carmel

Overlooking the Jezreel Valley where Elijah battled the prophets of Baal and site for the battle of Armageddon

Elijah himself

The ruins of Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee

The beautiful Sea of Galilee

The Jordan River (maybe it should be called a creek)

Fishy lunch at a Kibbutz at the Sea of Galilee

Waiting on the Galilee shore for our boat ride across

Looking back across the sea towards the Kibbutz and the Golan Heights

Tel Dan in the very North of Israel (lush and green with lots of water off Mt Hermon)

Tel Dan and the false altar (Judges 17 and 18)

Looking into Lebanon from the North of Israel

The gates of the ancient city of Dan

The springs at ancient Caesarea Philippi

The springs at ancient Caesarea Philippi

Mine fields on the Golan Heights left over from the 1973 Yom Kippur war

A memorial from tank battle on the Golan Heights

Looking down into Syria and could hear gun battles in the distance with their ongoing civil war

Bunkers from the 1973 war on Golan Heights

Mt Hermon in the background and Syria on the right, fortifications from previous conflicts and now UN observation post

The Bahai Gardens in Haifa at their international headquarters (not short of cash)

New toys to play on

Nancy makes a friend from the women's shelter at the church in Mt Carmel

Amphitheater at Caesarea Maritima on the Mediterranean

Caesarea hippodrome in the background

Horse races on the Caesarea hippodrome

The crusader walls of Caesarea

The aqueduct on the beach near Caesarea

Climbing the aqueduct at Caesarea

Wouldn't be Israel without a picture with a tank

Overlooking Jerusalem from Abraham's Ridge

Dome of the Rock

Dome of the Rock

The Western Wall

Synagogue at the Western Wall

How big is that rock - foundations of the Temple Mount

Back to Masada - the desert in bloom

Back to En Gedi

Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered

Cave #4 where the Isaiah Scroll was found

Back to the Dead Sea for another swim (bob) - perfect weather

Bobbing around in the Dead Sea

Clowning around in 32% salt concentration - makes it hard to sink and hurts when it gets in your eyes

View over the Old City of Jerusalem from Mount of Olives

St Anne's Church in Jerusalem - location of the pools of Bethesda