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Petra: Top Rated, Tips, Ideas, History??!!


TLCOhio
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On 7/28/2019 at 11:05 PM, Janet&Carl said:

Hi TLCOhio thanks so much for your very informative reviews - we travel to Petra in October.  As I recently broke my ankle I am reluctant to do all the walking on uneven ground to get to Petra and our guide has advised us against using the pony carts.  So I have a couple of questions.....Did you pre arrange the golf cart or was it readily available.  Did you pay for it in $ or Jordanian money - we pay for our tour in American $ but we are Australian so will have exchange fees either way.  How much should I budget for this option ?   Thanks Janet

 

Appreciate these excellent questions from Janet.  As I recall and pull up right now from my "foggy" brain, I think use of the electric cart was about $100 USD for our group of four and was just added on to the total cost of our tour.  It was arranged that morning by our excellent tour guide. Clearly working with a good and skilled company makes a positive difference.  That $100 cost allowed for going down there and back over a total of a one-hour period.  Our friends went back by the cart.  We stayed a little longer, walked around more and walked back.  You have been correctly advised to be careful about those "pony carts".  Those drivers are fast in going over the rocky road and that would be challenging for some with medical issues.   Keep up with such good questions and info needs.  Always welcome more inquiries to share background for this wonderful part of the world. 

 

Why is my brain a little less than perfect now?  Just completed yesterday, for our first time, flying into Calgary, seeing Jasper/Banff National Parks, doing the Western Canada Rocky Mountaineer rail adventure, having three days in Vancouver, then sailing up to Alaska, doing a post-cruise excursion to Denali, etc.  After that on our priority list is a first-time trip for exploring in early 2020 various South Pacific islands, including Fiji, Samoa, Bora Bora, etc.   Would commence this 18-day cruise in mid February from Auckland.  We plan to get there a week ahead in order to explore more of New Zealand's North Island and be escaping from the Midwest winter cold.  In 2014, we did Wellington, Napier/Cape Kidnappers, Tauranga/Rotorua and Auckland/Waiheke Island, etc.  Will welcome all good suggestion for other exciting opportunities and fun locations in NZ's North Island.  More good photo opportunities??

 

THANKS!  Enjoy!  Terry in Ohio

 

Just completed Calgary, Jasper/Banff National Parks, Western Canada Rocky Mountaineer rail adventure, Vancouver, sailing up to Alaska, post-cruise excursion to Denali, etc.  Lots of visuals and details!!  That live/blog is at: 

www.boards.cruisecdritic.com/topic/2682584-live-terryohio-silver-muse-alaska-canadarockies-pix’s/

 

Or, you could simply do a quick Google search with these terms: 

“Live Terry/Ohio Muse Alaska”

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Terry, there's a typo in the link you posted:  a "d" in the midst of cruisecritic in the link.  I'm just now catching up with your travels.

Appreciate Barb catching of this "goof".  Have corrected and will update the other posts with this better link.

 

THANKS!  Enjoy!  Terry in Ohio

 

CORRECT LINK

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2682584-live-terryohio-silver-muse-alaska-canadarockies-pix’s/

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From CNN, the cable news network, they had this headline two days ago: “New Seven Wonders of the World: See our greatest achievements” with these highlights about Petra being in this select group of stars: “Set in modern-day Jordan's southwestern desert region between the Dead Sea and the Red Sea, Petra was inhabited going back to prehistoric times.  People today may recognize it from the 1989 movie "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," but during the classical heydays of Greece and Rome, it was known as an important caravan stop between the Mediterranean and the Far East. By the 7th century AD, it was abandoned. But its desert location preserved much of it through the centuries.  No wonder it mesmerizes visitors today -- its blend of Eastern and Hellenistic styles, half-built and half-carved into the natural red sandstone of the area, truly deserves the term "unique."  Best time to go: Summer can get very hot in Jordan, and winter is much colder than you may realize. Weatherwise, aim for spring or fall.”.

 

Full story at:

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/new-seven-wonders-of-the-world/index.html

 

THANKS!  Enjoy!  Terry in Ohio

 

Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise from Copenhagen, July 2010, to the top of Europe. Wonderful scenic visuals with key tips. Live/blog at 236,959 views. 

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923

 

Here are two of the visuals used to illustrate this CNN profile on world wonders.:

(Open your screen/viewer wider to see these pictures larger/better!)

2106116691_ScreenShot2019-08-11at5_44_10PM.thumb.png.ad5d08b0be26cc110b711c05a9ad26a0.png

 

1386118371_ScreenShot2019-08-11at5_43_47PM.thumb.png.0b8e43b65130c384000a1de4af97c231.png

 

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  • 4 months later...

As posted earlier, we super enjoyed our stop at Wadi Rum after doing Petra.  From the Travel Section of CNN, the cable news network, four days ago, they had this headline: “Star Wars' locations that actually exist” with these highlights about Wadi Rum: “From another "Star Wars" film, this desert country was pressed into service.  Welcome to Wadi Rum, Jordan, the russet sandy locale that serves as a backdrop in the final "Star Wars" movie, "The Rise of Skywalker." This dramatic landscape in the country's south, also called The Valley of the Moon, stood in for the moon of Jedha in "Rogue One."  Wadi Rum is a frequent location for otherworldly film shoots. It doubled for Mars and hosted a profane Matt Damon in 'The Martian.' ”.

 

Nice memory refresher that brings back wonderful memories.  When we visited there a little over a year ago, our guide explained that they had finished this Star Wars filming at this site only two weeks prior to our visit there.  Stars following stars??!!

 

Full story at:

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/star-wars-destinations/index.html

 

THANKS!  Enjoy!  Terry in Ohio

 

Sydney to NZ/Auckland Adventure, live/blog 2014 sampling/details with many exciting visuals and key highlights.  On page 23, post #571, see a complete index for all of the pictures, postings.  Now at 227,192 views.

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

 

From CNN and the Jordan Tourism authority, here is the visual used for the sandy landscape of Wadi Rum in southern Jordan that served as a location in both "The Rise of Skywalker" and "Rogue One".:

(Open your screen/viewer wider to see these pictures larger/better!)

http---cdn_cnn.com-cnnnext-dam-assets-161220145125-wadirum-jpg.jpg.011c02ecf14f4f27a4c27b8cc1a18c0f.jpg

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  • 5 months later...

From the Travel Section of the London/UK Sunday Times today, they had this headline: “Ideas for 2021 — the best of Jordan” with these highlights: “It takes just the blink of an eye. One second my camel is padding across a monochrome desert beneath an ambivalent dawn sky still sprinkled with stars. The next, without warning, a celestial hand is daubing warm rich colour across the silent Jordanian valley. Suddenly it’s a different landscape: waves of burnt orange dunes dwarfed by cappuccino-coloured cliffs and vast rock formations resembling Henry Moore abstracts. It’s a moment that makes me feel very small and completely justifies TE Lawrence’s passion for 'this processional way greater than imagination'. Arabia’s favourite Englishman was referring to Wadi Rum, but 'this irresistible place' is a fair description for most of this extraordinarily beautiful, safe country. Jordan’s elegy-inducing landscapes, astounding archaeological sites and intriguing history — including some divine biblical spots — need to be seen rather than imagined.

 

Full story at:

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/travel/ideas-for-2021-the-best-of-jordan-3k9tdrfzj

 

THANKS!  Enjoy!  Terry in Ohio

 

From late 2018, see “Holy Lands, Egypt, Jordan, Oman, Dubai, Greece, etc.”, with many visuals, details and ideas for the historic and scenic Middle East. Now at 18,365 views.  Connect at:

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2607054-livenautica-greece-holy-lands-egypt-dubai-terrypix’s/

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  • 5 months later...
  • 1 month later...

I hate to be a naysayer but our non experience of Petra wasn’t regretted.

 

Hubby was recovering from a back issue, I from my first surgery. Our young healthy active table mates were disappointed with the QM ll tour as once you were at the site  it was time to leave. If it is possible , at their suggestion, was to book an overnighter at one of many hotels in the city itself.

 

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The electric cart or horse & cart does speed things up a bit..otherwise it’s 40 min walk each way to Treasury from entrance.

 

We did a private tour with Jordon Horizons ,the ships tours were arriving as we were leaving for lunch and onto Wadi Rum.

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  • 2 years later...

From the London/UK Independent in late October, they had this headline: “Petra guide: Where to stay, eat, drink and shop in Jordan’s rose-red ancient city" with this sub-headline:  "With thousands of years of history carved into the rocks, the Rose City’s architectural beauty and links to a forgotten past are as beguiling as ever" in an article by Paul Stafford.

 

Here are some of their reporting highlights: “Petra, in southern Jordan, is a love letter to human civilization from a long-lost empire. The Nabataeans, a nomadic Arabic people, began chiselling away at the natural sandstone surroundings around 2,300 years ago, slowly fanning out into the surrounding wadis (“canyons” in Arabic) over the centuries until it contained, it is believed, between 30,000 and 40,000 people. When Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt put it on the archaeological map in 1812, it was a ghost town, following centuries of abandonment.”

 

Additionally, this story shared: "While much of the city is gone, many of its monumental structures remain, carved straight into the cliffs. It’s a powerful testament to their construction abilities that the buildings most important to the Nabataeans withstood the intervening centuries while so few other civilizations were able to conjure anything quite so magnificent."

 

Full story at:

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/north-africa-middle-east/jordan/petra-travel-guide-jordan-best-best-hotels-b2426639.html


THANKS!  Enjoy!  Terry in Ohio

 

Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise from Copenhagen, July 2010, to the top of Europe. Scenic visuals with key tips. Live/blog at 249,313 views.
https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/1172051-livesilver-cloud-norway-coastfjords-july-1-16-reports/

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