Chris convinced me that I need to go to Petra in Jordan while we were so close. He was absolutely right but the way we got there is a story.

We took the bus from Cairo to the coast port for the ferry. The ferry would take us from Egypt to Acuba, Jordan. It was an over night bus trip. I don't really recommend that trip. Sleeping in a bus was a bit tough. The bus was in excellent shape (Chris had made sure we were traveling in a first class bus). We were also very lucky. Someone on the bus started smoking which is not allowed. A lady with her baby on board chewed the man out. Needless to say he stopped!

Once we got to the port there were many people there with taxis to take people into the city or wherever. We hired a taxi to take us the 3'ish hour ride to Petra. The driver was VERY happy to do the trip. He had family there that he would stay with. He also got to refer us to our overnight hotel which I am sure he got something from them for.

Petra was fantastic! The city is carved completely out of the side of the mountain. You could have seen it in Raiders of the Lost Arch. The city has an amphitheatre, huge meeting rooms, living quarters, and a monastery. Also, in the first set of pics on the right you will see something that looks like a carved out trench in the side of the walkway. That was the water system going into the city.

The last of the sequence of these pics has a pic looking up a hillside and then one looking down. We climbed that! It took over an hour to get up and it was hot. It was also WELL worth it. The monastery is at the top. The views were unbelievable.