03/08 - Nuweiba

After a painkilling night ferry from Aqaba to Nuweiba, we badly needed some rest. And we got it!

Nuweiba is an egyptian resort for Israli people that was totally empty. An idiallyc place within paradise beaches, hot water, reefs for snorkling everything but that due to political reasons we found as a ghost city! We were received as kings and treated as such...its a shame and a great deal for those wanting to get out of the egyptian Las vegas - AKA Sharm-el-sheik. It can also be a great strating point to explore the desert with a Bedouin.

Next Stop Cairo, going trough the Sinai!!

31/07, 1/8 e 2/08- Aqaba

2 hour south from Petra is the strategic city of Aqaba. Being the only port of Jordan it is one of the main gateways to the transport of people and goods coming from the Red Sea and beyond.

Besides that, aqaba is sold, turist wise, as the perfect diving place in the red sea.

Well....we were extremly disappointed. The city itself is pretty basic and unworth any visit; The diving/snorkeling is quite pleasent but for me same price you can get much more in Sinai; it even doesn't have the party atmosphere of the neighbor Eljat..summing up: if your aim its to dive continue to Sinai, to party go to Eljat to sleep go to Egypt.

Curiosly we had our first Mcdonald's meal in 1 month..

Transport tip:

DON'T EVER TAKE THE FERRY TO NUWEIBA!!!Besides being too expensive ($60) its also too slow and uncomfortable - we had to wait for 6 hours to get in..there was people sleeping everywhere..total chaos..who would have guessed??Still i had some interesting conversation about the other side of the story - to be posted soon!

You are much better off taking the way across the border..

29 Julho: Amman - Wadi Mussa (Moise's Valley)

For those who feel Jordan as a developed country while walking in the fancy streets of Amman should try their transport service to remind themselves of where they are. Most turists come to Jordan through all-arranged tours, in and of tour buses, and never see the big mess of a country that lies beneath. For those individually trying to get from Amman to Petra there are only 3 options:

a) either you join one of those pre-arranged tours
b) get a taxi to drive you
c) or, you take the minibus as everyone else!!!What an experience...i will tell our experience and you can jugde by yourselves

In our hostel we asked for the bus schedule but it was told us that it is non-existence and we'd better go there early. So we did..bargained a taxi to the main bus station - 15 min out of Amman - and there we were. Quite easily we found the "platform" from where the bus was about to arrive and leave (they told us any moment and it took 1h30min) and waited. When everyone saw the bus coming they didn't even let it stop and they all got inside while the bus was moving...just like that..in 30 sec it was full and throughing people off!!Altought we were there before anybody else we had no sit..again we waited and 30 min after we got a new shot and this time..NO MERCY!!!We got a tiny spot for both and the bags, payed 2 or 3 times more than the locals but we were on the bus on our way to Petra!!!An adventure that real exemplifies the mess of the transport system. It happened again for us from Petra to Aqaba. No time-tables and no fix prices..worse than in Syria or Turkey!!!

"NO WOUNDER ITS A WONDER"

"NO WOUNDER ITS A WONDER", by BL

Petra - recently considered as one of the seven wonders of the world this red-rose stone carved city, home of an ancient people - the Nabatiens - deserves it all. Its a magical and overwhelming place that should be on the 'to-do's-list' of every traveller. From 8am till 6pm we walked, climbed and trekked, sweat out our bodies to exaustion in order to see and feel every place, to enjoy every moment. A great day in a very special place.

Welcome, Welcome: epidemia nacional!!

By now I already feel the need to share a special remark: the proliferation of a number of key english terms which the local population seem to know by hard. Its a national/regional ephidemia..

Top:

Welcome!!
Where are you from??
Come and visit my shop...i will do you a student discount!
Hotel??Cheap taxi??How much?

Best ones:

How many camels for the lady?
Want a taxi with air-condition? (kids selling donkeys in Petra)

Now, after 1 month travelling in this area, i can easily identifie the different steps that a tourist goes through related to the unstopable approach from the locals:

1) In the beggining its nice, you smile, thank, sometimes go in their talk..
2) After you start to be anoyed and realize that most of them are just trying the best way to rip you off
3) You get tired and rude..
4) You finally aknowledge that most of the times they are even jocking with you and then its when you have 3 ways: you laught of them, you despize them or just enter the third dimension..

28 de Julho - Amman

Lets be honest: Amman isn't a city worth a visit for more than a few hours, specially if you are coming from Syria or another Middle Eastern country. Its a city short on historical hot spots and a big mess between a dirty downtown area and a (wanna be) modern and western ring area.

Still, we visited the Citadel with its Hercules temple and walked around its rings..been there, done that, lets go. Destination: Petra!!

(The normal path in Jordan would lead us to the dead sea but due to a leg burn not yet healed that mandatory trip had to be postponed)

Amman is rich in cheap hostels mainly in the downtown area. 5 euros per night per person is a reasonable deal.

27 de Julho: Syria - Jordan

(On the request of some friends the official language of the blog will be english from now on..hope you understand)

Following what is becaming our sunday habit/tradition, this morning we were in our route to Amman, capital of Jordan. Altought only 200 km away, our journey lastest for 5.30h due to border traffic and bureaucracy.

2 special notes:

American jeeps - One of the highlights when crossing a border in these countries is to see the huge American GMC jeeps all from Saudi Arabia or Kuwait completly full of people and trash and totally sand dirty from crossing the deserts....its their place: cheap (almost free) fuel and big roads!

I will also add that Syria could be a great place to buy old american cars very cheap as they are everywhere..its unbeliavle the amount of lincolns, Chevrolet, Mustang that you can find in the streets of Damascus or Aleppo.

Departure Taxes - I still can't understand - and nobody could explain me - why here we have to pay an exit tax. It seems like one more measure to take money from turists...10 euros in Syria, 5 for Jordan, 5 for Egypt..even for Israel!!

26 de Julho - passeio a fronteira!!

6.30 am - Toca o despertador no belo Al-Rabie Hotel em Damascus. Razao para um acordar matinal tao madrugador: visita a Beirut, capital do Libano.

Confiantes e com algum sono mas elevada expectativa la chegamos ao autocarro a tempo e horas e seguimos na curta viagem(50km) ate a fronteira Syria - Lebanon. Estavamos ja psicologicamente preparados para mais uma maratona de carimbos e vistos mas ora que somos supreendidos pela tipica mentalidade 'rip off the turist' dos nossos amigos arabes e, aquilo que seria uma pacata viagem ate Beirut tornou-se rapidamente num potencial cash-flow redondamente negativo: taxas para sair do pais, taxas para entrar, taxas para o tio,para o primo...a certa altura estavamos a somar mais de 30 euros apenas para um satinho de um dia!!Nao nos concediam transit visas porque....sei la, era domingo, e ainda nos obrigavam a pedir novo visto a entrada na Siria.

Ridiculo e muito caro, logo, saimos de um lado da fronteira, saltamos para o outro lado ,metemo nos no autocarro de regresso e voltamos apos a nossa visita matinal a fronteira..

Fica mais um conselho a futuros viajantes: pecam com antecedencia visto de multipla entrada nas embaixadas necessarias.

25 de Julho - Damascus

Frustacao!!!!

Nao podera existir outra palavra para descrever o nosso espanto ao sairmos para um passeio em Dasmasco neste bela 6a feira e depararmos com tudo fechado!!Vamos sublinhar: TUDO FECHADO!!pior que um domingo em estarreja..nao havia vivalma nas ruas e ate os agitados souqs eram agora longas ruas mortas..fica entao a dica a futuros viajantes para estes lados do mundo: a sexta-feira aqui e dia de descanso e familia!!

Mesmo assim passeamos e visitamos alguns dos pontos e interesse na cidade - por exemplo o Azem Palace, construido em 1749 e cuja arquitectura remete para o estilo damasceno (foto), colmatado com um belo jantar sobre o olhar contemplativo da grande mesquita - construida em 705 AD - a ultima casa de Saladin, um dos grandes herois arabes.

24 de Julho - DAMASCUS

Com uma historia suficientemente extensa para escrever varias encliclopedias a cidade de Damasco e uma daquelas cidades do mundo em que se sente a forca da sua historia em cada esquina. Com uma populacao actual de 5 milhoes de habitantes, a cidade, fundada em 7000 A.C., e actualmente a capital da Syria e o seu centro cultural, economico e politico. 8 imperios deixaram a marca - Egipcios, Assirios, Persas, Gregos, Romanos, Umayyads, Mongois, Turks e ate os Franceses - da sua presenca nesta cidade que desde tempos imemoriais e um centro de comercio entre o Mediterraneo e a Asia.

A expectativa era alta mas a Grande Damascus ja nao possui o carisma que as palavras dos livros escritos sobre si e os que filmes realizados - exemplo: Lawrence da Arabia - tentam transmitir. E hoje uma confusa metropole encalhada entre a modernidade e a antiguidade. A sua old city continua a ser certamente o bairro mais esplendoroso da Medio Oriente mas a magia da cidade ja se perdeu entre os inumeros anuncios megalonomos a marcas estrangeiras e uma vontade de desenvolvimento rapido mas sem estrutura.

Mesmo assim experiencei um fantastico banho Sirio com massagens incluidas por apenas 2 euros e um passeio muito recompensador nos seus souqs e ruelas perdidas entre as muralhas da citadela.

23 July - Hama

Algures perdida entre Aleppo e Damasco surgiu-nos a cidade de Hama. Apesar de um pouco fora dos principais roteiros turisticos, a cidade revelou-se uma agradavel supresa (possivelmente devido as baixas expectativas e a leve nostalgia de Tomar) . Com efeito a cidade estende-se ao longo de um vale banhada pelo rio Orontes, sendo que a sua principal atraccao sao as famosas NORIAS - grandes rodas de madeira para a distribuicao e canalizacao de agua dos rios. A maior da cidade tem cerca de 22 metros de diametro!!Existem cerca de 6 em apenas 500 metros de rio. O seu principal uso era a distribuicao de agua pelos campos agricolas.



Uma cidade calma e pacata onde descansamos antes de irmos para a grande Damascus!