Wednesday, May 14, 2008 - From Eilat to Jordan

Today, I was off to cross the border into Jordan to tour Petra, an archaeological site in Aqaba Governorate, Jordan, lying on the slope of Mount Hor in a basin among the mountains which form the eastern flank of Arabah, the large valley running from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba. It is renowned for its rock-cut architecture.
I was leery to go with a tour group and really wanted to go alone, so I could explore and stay as long as I wanted, perhaps even a night, but I was advised against it. So I forked out the cash for a tour. I was picked up in the morning at the Shelter by the tour agent and he had also picked up this girl named Julie Gottshalk from Seattle, who has been living in Eilat for 9 months and now planning on moving back to the States the next day. She had decided to check out Petra before she left. I was very glad she had come, because as suspected the people on the tour were mostly older people, and mostly couples. Julie was a youthful blessing and we ended up spending the whole day together.





We boarded the bus and headed for Jordan.





Jordan is officially called the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Tourism is a very important sector of the Jordanian economy, contributing between 10 percent and 12 percent to the country's Gross National Product. In addition to the country's political stability, the geography makes Jordan an attractive tourism destination. Jordan's major tourist activities include numerous ancient places, its unique desert castles and unspoiled natural locations to its cultural and religious sites. But Petra is Jordan's most visited attraction.







We travelled through Aqaba, it is strategically important to Jordan as it is the country's only seaport. The town borders Eilat and there is a border post where it is possible to cross between the two countries. Both Aqaba and Eilat are at the head of the Gulf of Aqaba.
The town is best known today as a diving and beach resort. However, industrial activity remains important to the area, and the town is an exporter of phosphate and some shells. The town is also an important administrative center within the far south of Jordan.


Aqaba has been an inhabited settlement since 4000 BC profiting from its strategic location at the junction of trading routes between Asia, Africa, and Europe. The early settlement was presumably Edomite in ancient times. It was a center of the Edomites, and then of the Arab Nabataeans, who populated the region extensively.
The Bible refers to the area in (1 Kings 9:26) "King Solomon also built ships in Ezion-Geber, which is near Elath in Edom, on the shores of the Red Sea."