Jordan – Aquaba – Westysclan World Cruise 2023

Aquaba

We skipped the gym this morning as we had a 7am start for our arrival in Aquaba. We had also been forewarned to expect temperatures in the 40’s and a UV of 13! Best to save our energy for our excursion to Petra.

Aquaba is the only port in Jordan. It consists of all of 26km of coastline. That made this a pretty unique geographical location because from our ship you could see 4 countries- Jordan, Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia in the distance.

Aquaba is a bit like the Far North Queensland or NT of Jordan – typically warm in winter even when the rest of the country is very cold.

As we headed out of Aquaba on our way to Petra the scenery started to look like this or even more spartan.

Outskirts of Aquaba – note the plastic tanks on the roof. This is the houses only water supply!

Our guide explained that these remote communities were Bedouin (agricultural) communities. We passed lots of goat herders with their goats and also saw a fair few camels and donkeys. There are still nomadic Bedouins that live in their more portable tent houses. Almongst all that rock, the people in the photo below are harvesting barley. All done by hand. Of interest to me as a teacher, the schools in these communities are staffed by military personnel because it is too hard to attract people to live and work in these areas.

We also commented that most of the houses had an unfinished look to them.

Unfinished?

But it was explained to us that this is typical – the parents begin the house and down the track, when their children (sons?) become adults and marry, a new floor is added for them on top of the existing structure.

We passed by Wadi Rum in the distance with its red sand

Our journey to Petra took just over 2hrs through the very ‘dramatic’ landscape. From sea level at Aquaba we did quite a bit of winding and climbing in the bus along a highway that seemed to carry only tour buses, semi trailers and the very occasional private passenger vehicle. Of course there was the obligatory 15 min toilet stop on both the outbound and return journey at souvenir shops.