Luxor is located on Nile which provides water & life. The listed annual rainfall is 0.00in /year.

All Luxor Temple at sunset

In an area outside of Luxor – along the Nile is the Valley of Kings – resting place of Pharoahs. While the tombs have all been raided of treasures- the hieroglyphs are amazingly colorful.

We were able to tour 4 of the tomb sites and each was unique & fascinating. The coloring in these sites is provided by minerals – lapis lazuli, iron, copper to name a few. The coloring is magnificent. The tomb sites quite large – with walkways around 100-200 feet. Some of them declining up to 100feet deep.

We are not huge fans of museums – and boy did that change as Marym guided us through Egyptian history & King Tut’s tomb story. spellbound.

First, the many artifacts in the museum & their stories – fascinating.

Then….King Tut his unremarkable life story & the amazing story of the search for his tomb – crazy good!

So he was not an amazing king – after all he ruled from 9 -19 years old…he should be playing soccer! Died early-tragic. What is amazing – as he was not a ‘big deal’ – no grave robbers looted his burial site. Good luck for us. It took archeologists decades to find this site & they were months away from giving up when a kid dropped an urn of water – revealing steps that lead to his burial site – again CRAZY. The amount of artifacts in his grave site for his ‘after life journey’ remarkable. I am going to post lots of photos & this is a fraction of the whole.

And I didn’t include food & chariots!

We signed up for a 8 day tour of Egypt – an amazing experience. Marym Hafez Ahmed – our trip leader amazing! She made 4000 year old rock piles fascinating & don’t get me started on The Egyptian museum. So fun & interesting. Did not have good WiFi for our trip – so am going to recap here.

Started with pyramids & sphinx. Funny that sphinx was created as they had extra rocks 😎. Immense & humbling.

We arrived in Cairo & 2 hours later went on a great Food Tour – Bellies Enroute.

Then next morning played pb with players from Amman & Cairo. Fun!

Shared an amazing traditional meal – such a treat.

Oh yea / probably want to mention the Nile – wow! Beautiful. Architecture is lovely – tho the beating desert winds have been punishing. 20 million in this fair city.

We enjoyed 6 fun days in Amman.

Walking Food Tour – giving us an intro to fun cafes & neighborhoods.

Exploring Petra& seeing the barren desert of Jordan.

Greg made new pickleball buddies & had a blast playing & learning more about the country.

Dead Sea.

Bustling markets.

Citadel & Roman Theater

1 hour from Amman CBD is the Dead Sea. Lowest spot on earth. Water is a bit sketchy. So buoyant it is tricky / cannot stand up.

The mud treatment did not sound enticing – tho we changed our minds on this as our hair & skin loved it. The photos of us – not glamour shots are quite frightening. All in good fun!

The world is a pretty big place with a lot of cool places, so for a spot to be one of the seven natural wonders of the world….you got to wonder….

It did not disappoint- the photos will never do it justice and usually you only see photos of the Treasury…there is so much more. The huge carvings in the sandstone rocks of this canyon are majestic & wondrous. The canyon itself / impressive. We walked 7 miles and only saw part of the area.

The area around Petra is interesting. One drives for miles through a barren desert …think barren – no really nothing! Then you get to Petra where there is a change of topography and the beautiful area is hidden in a gorgeous canyon. …see for yourselves..

The Middle East was not on the top of our bucket list and it sneaked its way onto our schedule after a number of fascinating conversations with recent travelers. We have been here one day and it has been great. Food – interesting and excellent. Perhaps the most interesting & varied brekkie – ever. Lots of Jordanian specialties loaded with fresh fruits & veggies- prepared so well.

We walked to the national mosque& historic sites & on our 3 mile journey – encountered a lot of everyday life in Amman. Shops. Shopkeepers. Parks. Roman ruins. Fascinating.

Then while Greg played pickleball with a group of Jordanians, I took a fascinating walking tour to street food vendors, galleries, markets, historical sites. Best of all the leader is interesting and the two women – one a physician & other accountant were interesting FUN!

Very nice citizens. Lovely city! We are very fortunate.

We flew from Phoenix to Amman Jordan and needed to get to airport in Phoenix. We saw these great Waymo vehicles buzzing around & had to try it. Love it! Prompt clean timely reasonably priced. A very fun way to start our adventure.