Israel Day 9 and 10

On the 16th we left Tel Aviv and flew over the most wonderous desert to Eilat.  No picture I could take seemed to do justice to the colors of the sands.  Eilat is the most southern point of the country and sits on the Red Sea.  It is like any other tourist sight by the sea with all kinds of shops and cafes and water activities.  We would have considered diving  except flying and diving dont go very well together unless you have interest in getting the benz.  So after a nice lunch we went back to our hotel and hung out by the pool.  Notice the bread was served with an olive mix not butter.  I liked it.

The following day we were up quite early for our pick up to take us to the border crossing and into Jordan.  It was a short ride, but took about an hour to get across the border.  Then a two hour ride to the ancient rock city of PETRA, named the  Pink City by the Jordanians and you would understand why if you could see the rock and stone.  The city was built by Nabateans about 600 BC.  Petra was recently voted in as one of the 7 wonders of the world.  It has a history long and vast that is filled with people and natural occurances.  Most important to me was the beauty of the rock and the carvings and heat of the day.  It was a two mile walk down through the rocks which was nice and at time a breeze blew through cooling us.  However, the walk back up was not that nice and although we had a choice to ride a camel or take a chariot we walked.  I had to stop and rest a few times on the way back up. 

 

just a few more images...camel foot and person feet, remnants of a caravan carved into the rock and looking out from inside one of the carved out rooms.