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Walked to and through the temples and tombs of Petra in Jordan today. It was about 4 to 5 miles of walking. It’s stunning to walk into the narrow canyon where the best carved out “building”, the Treasury, is. Can’t think of a better word than stunning and photos and videos don’t tell enough about…

Toured Amman, Jordan and saw some Roman ruins. Then, we drove a while to get to the top of Mt Nebo, the mountain where Moses saw the promised land, the Land of Canaan. From the top, Jerusalem could be seen in the distance as well as Amman. The Dead Sea was visible, but barely, because…

Visited Memphis. No, not in Tennessee, the original Memphis in Egypt. It was the Rome of Egypt. But, most of the ancient city is now covered over by a crappy town. It seems unlikely that archeologists will be able to dig much in the area. Also today, saw the oldest stone monument in the world,…

Saw the Great Temples of Abu Simbel which were carved out starting in 1274 BC. This temple had the best carved figures on the walls and the paint still looked incredible considering the age. Ramses II had the temple built for himself and another for his wife. It was rare for the wife to have…

Visited the temple of Isis at Philae near Aswan, Egypt this morning. The temple was on an island so we took a boat. Also went on the Aswan High Dam, a huge dam across the Nile that has stopped the annual flooding. It was built during the 1960’s with a lot of help from the…

Near Luxor, Egypt is the Valley of the Kings where a lot of pharaohs were buried in tombs carved into the mountains. One pharaoh was King Tut. Got to see his tomb with his mummy and tombs of three more pharaohs. The painted figures on the walls and ceilings were still incredibly colorful even after…

Today, flew from Cairo to Luxor, Egypt and visited the temples of Karnak and the temples of Luxor. The columns were huge and engraved with scenes of pharaohs, gods and queens and covered in hieroglyphics, some that I learned to read. The Luxor visit ran into the evening and the lighting made for some great…

Today, went to the great pyramids of Giza, one of the wonders of the ancient world and today’s world too. They were built as tombs for a pharaoh, only one pyramid complex per pharaoh. The ancient Egyptians learned that pyramids just let thieves know exactly where the pharaoh’s treasure was so they started building tombs…

Went to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo this morning. Over 5000 years of history in the place. It was a lot to absorb. The display of stuff found in old King Tut’s tomb took the entire second floor and he was a very, very minor pharoah. I was told by our guide, an Egpytologist, that…