Travels with
Lois and Jason
(and Adi,
Naomi, Michal, Stacy and Uri)
IsraelÕs
Negev Desert and JordanÕs Petra Ancient City
April 9
- 16, 2019
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Our
granddaughters turned 12 and in Israel that calls
for a party. Girls
in Israel do not have a Bat Mitzvah as here in the
States, but instead have a grand party where all
their classmates are invited to celebrate. For girls
there is no religious aspect nor reading from the
Torah, just a fun evening of dancing, games and
food! We wanted to join the party so traveled to
Israel and oh what a wonderful welcome and trip!!! |
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The ShoshanÕs live in the north
end of Israel, in the development called Aztmon, about an hour east
of Haifa. They live
in one of those Jewish National Fund forests Ð all
those trees we gave Tzedakah
for as kids. This picture is the view from the Shoshan backyard. We were
surprised by how green (and cold) everything was. We
were told that everything is watered with drip
irrigation. |
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Another
reason to travel to the Middle East was to visit Petra, the
ancient carved city
in the Arabah Desert of Jordan.
The Shoshan family joined Lois
and Jason for a week long road
trip to the southern desert of Israel and an overnight
excursion to Petra,
Jordan.
Desert desert
everywhere,
Lots of sun and very strong winds,
Multi-colored mountains rise above
and splendid deep
valleys spread below.
Two deserts, divided by the Jordan
Valley Ð the
Negev to the west and Arabah to the east -- caressed our eyes as
we went by.
Quiz question:
What trail is two miles downhill and two hundred miles
back up the
hill?
Answer: The ancient stone city of
Petra trail!
Petra is in the south of Jordan. The closest boarder
crossing from Israel
to Petra is at Eilat.
Our Road
Trip |
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Our road
trip took us south with our first night in Beer Sheva, a 3 Ð 4 hours drive
from Aztmon. The next
morning we drove a couple of hours through the Negev
Desert to Eilat and
stayed for two nights. We spent the day at a beach
on the Red Sea and some of the Shoshans
snorkeled. Before dinner we went for a hike in Red
Canyon. We
arranged our trip to Petra through Desert Eco Tours.
They picked us up at the hotel and took us to the Eilat-Aqaba boarder
crossing. They told us that it was best to be picked
up at 6:30 AM Òto beat the tour bus crowdsÓ as it
could take two hours to go through security. But we
said we were on vacation and wanted a 9:30 pickup. So,
instead of beating the lines, we slept for two
hours. Were we sorry?
No way! When we arrived at the border
crossing we were literally the only ones there and
went through in less than 10 minutes. We then
drove north to Petra and had lunch at a nice
restaurant. We then walked the Sig, the long crack
in the mountain and entrance to Petra (with the 200
mile walk back to the entrance). We stayed
overnight in the city of Petra and the next day
drove south to the border crossing and spent the
night in Eilat. The next
morning we toured Timna
Park and spent the night at the Ramon Crater, then
returned to Aztmon. |
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Our
trip is best
described through
pictures.
Petra
Highlights |
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Timna Park |
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Adi,
Naomi, Michal and Uri at arch |
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Red Canyon in the Eilat Mountains |
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Desert
Warning Signs |
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UriÕs
military training camp |
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Jordan
Experiences |
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We had
arranged the trip from Eilat
to Petra via an Israeli tour company. The Israeli
company picked us up at our hotel and took us to the
border where we were met by a Jordanian guide,
driver, and armed security guard (who stayed with us
until we got to Petra). |
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Petra was
about a two hour drive from the border crossing in
Aqaba. On the way to Petra we made a comfort stop
and were introduced to Bedouin hospitality. The
headdresses were quite comfortable and we bought a
couple. |
The
guide spent the afternoon with us, and the driver spent both
the afternoon and
most of the next day.
He was
the more interesting of the two.
Both spoke excellent English, having learned in school
and much practice
with tourists. Our driver was a Bedouin and said he grew up
following Bedouin
customs and lived as a nomad. His mother died when he was an
infant. His
grandmother and father wanted him to have an education so they
moved to the
city when he was 12 and he started school. After school he
served in the Jordan
army, and spent two year in Ivory Coast as a member of the
United Nations Peace
keepers. He said he was the first in his family not to have an
arranged
marriage.
Eilat Dinner
Highlights |
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Food, food
and more food.
We had three excellent dinners in Eilat Ð Indian, Asian
fusion, and steak Ð to fill our evenings after a day
of exploration.
After
returning from Petra we went to a steak house for
dinner Ð Stacy ordered the rib eye and literally got
a mouth full! |
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Lois and Jason Travel
Logs
Frand
Family Homepage
Photo
journalist: Lois Frand
Writer:
Jason Frand
Editor:
Lois Frand
You
can reach us via email at Jason or
Lois
April
30, 2019