2023 Cruise Dubai to Ft. Lauderdale

  23.03.24 Post 09 – Aqaba, Jordan and Petra   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petra   Well – have I used the word AMAZING yet.   I was going to save that for Petra in case it lived up to its billing and AMAZING barely begins to describe the city carved into the rock!   Fitting, because Petra gets it name from rock, just like Peter was the rock upon which the church was founded. Rock is everywhere and beautifully decorated and carved rock. Caves and pillars and tombs and steps and even an amphitheater carved directly into the rock.   You start your journey to Petra with a two-hour bus ride from the port of Aqaba over the jagged mountains surrounding the port.   Petra is at about 3,000 feet so the winding track to get there is beautiful. There are many vistas that give you the opportunity to look out over the desolate countryside. The hills are often dotted with shepherds tending their flocks looking for patches of green. ...

  23.03.18 Post 08 – Muscat, Oman   We finally made it to another of the 10 countries in the world that only have 4 letters in their name – Oman.   Can you name the other 9?   We spent the day on the hop-on-hop-off bus.   It took about 2 hours to go around the whole city where they described the various palaces and Mosques. At the end they dropped us at the souks (bazar or shops).   We found a nice little shaded restaurant right near the bus stop at the entry to the souks and had a snack with Jan and George. We then spent a couple hours wandering the many covered aisles and marveling at the local people and shops. Some things were just for tourists, but much of the souks are for the locals, so wandering and just people watching is a fascinating experience.     In the harbor, right near the Island Princess (our ship) we saw two of the yachts owned by the Omani Royal Family and the Sultan of Oman (#2 Fulk Alsalamah and ...