A Visit to Petra, One of the World Wonders

I will try to describe Petra in a short description:

Petra, famous for its rock-cut architecture and water conduit system, is a historical and archaelogical city in southern Jordan. It is believed that it could have been established as early as 312 BCE and as since become Jordan's most-visited tourist attraction. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985 and is described by them as "one of the most precious cultural properties of man's cultural heritage."

It is also on the Smithsonian Magazine's list as one of the "28 Places to See Before You Die."

CHECK!

We are ready for our tour!

AJ made a friend

In the same day we rode horses and donkeys - we are becoming quite the equestrians

Renewed our vows..

This is what Petra is know for

you want to go right pull the right ear....

My donkey seemed a bit small...

Aqaba and the Red Sea

We are in for heat! On landing the thermometer indicated 34 degrees Centigrade or 95 degrees Fahrenheit

Jordan is a peaceful and welcoming country

Can I tell you that we found the water "Cold" but welcoming

we know

we rode a camel to dinner at McDonalds!

Just kidding, we had a fun ride on the sidewalk of a busy street, never done that before, can we say tourists?

And Jeffrey followed suit

Our Flight to Aqaba, Jordan

The sun rose on the Aegean Sea at 7:00 am. It was a beautiful, quiet and very zen start to the morning.

With all the news about Syria, we are hoping the different entities are feeling the same zen we are and that our flight path does not encounter any "military assets" on our way south. 

The crew is ready to go!

A very nice looking bunch

But our ladies top it all.

All confident and ready to fly south...

We could not be further away from all the hot zones

A close up shows you how close we are to the Israel border.

The least we can say is that the approach can be confusing and with big letters, writing out "DO NOT OVER FLY ISRAEL AIRSPACE." 

Here is the ILS assigned to us:

For you pilots, how do you start the approach when assigned to fly to the VOR first and then start the approach by avoiding Israel airspace which is .5 miles to the west of the runway!

It would have been a lot easier to ask for a straight in, but at 11,000 feet, 6 miles from touch-down, it can be a little challenging. The PC-12 demonstrated a beautiful go-around after trying.

in Aqaba, the fuel truck is always escorted by the fire truck

Beautiful new FBO facilities

The Pilot Brief to Aqaba

Our next leg is to Aqaba, Jordan.

This flight and chosen route will keep as far away as possible from the Syrian border. We will leave Turkey for Greece, then Cyprus followed by Egypt and finally Jordan.

We spent a good time reviewing the approach into Aqaba to be certain that no one confuses the airport with the one in Eliat, Isreal (short distance between the two).

A Side Trip to Ephesus

Today we went to Ephesus to visit this unique site.

Ephesus was an ancient Greek city and later a major Roman city on the coast of Ionia in the Izmir Province. With a one time population of 250,000 in the 1st century BC, it was one of the largest cities in the Mediterranean world.

Famed for the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, Ephesus was said to have been rebuilt by Emperor Constantine I after a raid by the Goths. It is believed that the Gospel of John may have been written here and is also a site of a large gladiators' graveyard. 

AJ was along with us and enjoyed the sites but complained about the heat, boy was it hot!

We did get some local Figs and are pretty certain we will continue to feel them for the next couple of nights.