Day 20
We had a bonus hour in bed due to our late arrival in Aqaba. We got up at 8:00, got ready and headed up to the Windjammer for some breakfast. Graham had his usual fruit followed by a cooked breakfast. I had a strawberry pancake with whipped cream and strawberry compote followed by fried rice and sausage. We both had coffee and juice. On the way out, I decided to check at the bar if they sold bottled water, which they did. So I got a couple of bottles of water for us. A couple of days later, I had a distinct “doh” moment when I opened our fridge. They have a small mini bar in each cabin containing various cans of soft drink and bottled water. So all this running around was for nothing, I could just have taken it from the fridge. The cost would have been the same than getting it from the bar.
After breakfast, we quickly went back to the cabin to grab our stuff and then we went to our meeting point. We were still out at sea at that time. The new arrival time was supposed to be 9:00 and we were supposed to be our meeting point for 8:45. The meeting point was near the midship entrance to the casino. When we got there, most people in our group had arrived. We went to our organisers and checked in. Then we waited. Initially there was only our group there and that was fine. However, there were multiple private tours organised through Cruise Critic and obviously all the organisers had the same idea and the area got pretty congested. Somebody from the cruise director’s staff came down and tried her hand at crowd control. She got us all to line up in two lines by the staircase leading down to deck 2. Initially this worked well enough, but as more and more people arrived, the area got quite congested again. At that stage, the ship was still moving. Some conversations went on via the radio and then we were asked to go downstairs. This solved the problem for a short while, but then we had the added issue that we filled the whole elevator lobby and people who started to arrive in the lifts could not go out. At some stage, Graham and I had got separated at some stage and he was still on the staircase. He took this rather interesting photo of the crowds. This was the only time where I really felt that
Royal Caribbean dropped the ball even though this was not entirely their fault.
Once the ship had been cleared, disembarkation was very quick and smooth. I know that they market the ship sponsored excursions by stating that people booking those would be first off the ship. That day this was not the case. We were off first. We made it off before even the photographers could get there. One of the organisers directed us towards the bus and the other one checked us off his list as we got on. We were on our way very quickly. It is about a two hour trip from the port in Aqaba to Petra. Our guide introduced himself and his driver and then told us a bit about Aqaba and the surrounding area. Aqaba is the only coastal town in Jordan and as such, it has a special status. The area around Aqaba including the city itself is a free trade zone. Before the cruise, I was under the impression that there is nothing of interest in Aqaba. I was wrong. They have some fantastic beaches there, a wealth of history (there has been a settlement there since about 4000 BC), beautiful architecture and world class snorkelling and diving. Had I known this before we went, it would not have changed my plans for that day, but there is a strong possibility that we will return to Aqaba for a holiday at some stage.
As Aqaba is a free trade zone, at some stage we had to cross a check point when we left that area. Our guide continued to introduce us to his country, pointing out Israel in the distance at one stage and also pointed out various sites that are significant to Christianity. This kind of surprised me. He also told us about the Bedouin culture and what the government is doing to support those communities. It was all rather interesting and time flew. The fact that we were treated to some pretty stunning scenery certainly helped, too. The scenery was even more stunning when we came back due to the changing light.
Just past the half-way mark, we stopped at rest area that had bathrooms and a gift shop. Most people used the bathroom, but I had quick look around the shop before getting back on the bus. The day was definitely educational and one unexpected piece of education I got is that if you have dual nationality, it just means that sometimes you are ashamed of people of two countries rather than one. I definitely had ample opportunity to be ashamed of citizens of both countries that I am a citizen of. Just before we approached the rest stop, our guide checked if people needed a bathroom break or wanted to push on. A significant number of people needed a bathroom break, which was not that surprising considering we were waiting for quite some time before we even got off the ship and had been on the bus for just over an hour. So our guide said we would make a 20 minute stop. There was a couple from Germany that was sitting near us that were very vocal about complaining and stating that this was ridiculous as this would mean that this would mean we would lose the advantage we had leaving ahead of the other coaches. I could understand their disappointment, but was also a bit surprised by how forceful they were with their complaint. Anyway, soon everybody was back on the coach and I don’t think we lost much of the advantage. I saw a couple of buses going past while I was waiting for the rest of the group to come back.
After we set off again, it did not take us long until we reached the modern town of Petra. I had not appreciated that there was a town by this name, too. Our guide pointed out his neighbourhood and also shared that he comes from a Bedouin family and that up to the age of 11, he lived in one of the caves within the historical site. Then his father took a job in the modern town of Petra and the family moved there. Up to the mid-1980s, members of a Bedouin tribe still lived in the caves of the historic site. Once Petra became a UNESCO World Heritage Site, they were forced to move out and a new village was built for them on the opposite side of the historical site from modern Petra. Most people from that village work at the historical site as tour guides, animal handlers or at the shops and restaurants. Our tour guide shared with us that we would likely encounter children from the village that would try to sell us postcards, jewellery and various trinkets. He asked us not to buy from them. The kids skip school to sell their goods to the tourists and the locals are hoping that if they can’t sell their stuff, they will return to school.
We arrived at the entrance of the historical site shortly afterwards. The historical city of Petra is completely hidden. Even from the entrance, you cannot see it. We passed the visitor centre and a square with a fountain and various shops. There were bathrooms there and we stopped at those before setting off for the site proper. Near the visitor centre, we saw the first tombs and we stopped while our guide explained what we were looking at. Then we headed towards the Siq. The Siq is a canyon leading down to the historic city itself. We were lucky on the day we visited. A cold front had come through a couple of days earlier keeping the temperatures down. When we arrived, the temperatures were in the mid-twenties. I had heard that the Siq can be like an oven. We found it to be a very pleasant temperature that day. The mountains that form the canyon provide a lot of shade. There are horses and horse-drawn carriages going up and down the Siq and I had read that this can cause problems, but this was not our experience at all. We walked close to the sides and the carriages kept to the middle. We stopped a few times on the way down to take photos and for our guide to point out things of interest including the irrigation system that Petra is famous for. We also encountered the kids that we had been warned about. They were impeccably polite and seemed to be really interested in us. I have to admit that I did wonder if they actually learned more by being at the site than what they would have done in school.
You deserve it!
