Egypt and Jordan February 2026

February 18, 2026 Petra and the Trip Home We returned to Petra this morning with our guide and toured the site.  The Nabateans were an Arab civilization which existed from the 4 th century BCE until the Romans annexed them in 106 CE.  Petra was the capital city, and only 15-20% of the city has been excavated.  There are mounds which remain to be explored, and most of the city’s residential areas remain hidden.  It is estimated that the population might have been as great as 30,000. There is a visitors' center at the entrance to the site, and a broad walk for about ¼ mile to the canyon which leads to the city.  From there, it’s a narrow downhill canyon all the way, mostly a gentle downhill but with some steep portions.  Here’s the entrance to the canyon:  And a view in it:  This is a very arid area, and the Nabateans had an elaborate water system to bring fresh water to the city.  Part of it was this channel along the side of the canyon...

Tuesday, February 17, 2026 Touring Amman; Petra at Night Monday was a travel day; we flew Aswan-Cairo and had a layover there, catching an early evening flight to Amman, Jordan.  We have left the Egypt tour and it's just the two of us now. This morning, we met our Jordan guide and toured the city of Amman.  There’s not much for a tourist to see.   We drove past the Blue Mosque which holds 3000 worshipers:  We then went to the Citadel, a hilltop collection of buildings and ruins compromising settlements and a fortress dating back to 5000 BCE.  Here are some Roman ruins:  And the remains of a Byzantine Church:  It takes some imagination.  Pretty much intact is an Umayyad Reception Hall built on Roman and Byzantine foundations (and using the stone from the Roman and Byzantine buildings):  There is an archeological museum on the site, and it has some interesting things, perhaps the most interesting is a pair of Neolithic plaster statue...

 Sunday, February 15, 2026 A Quarry and the Temple of Isis So much education today, focusing on the creation of statues and obelisks, and on the Byzantine repurposing of Egyptian temples into churches. We began at a granite quarry which was the source of many obelisks and statues.  Researchers have been able to figure out many of the techniques used to build the enormous structures without the use of iron tools, which didn’t exist yet.  Much learning has come from this cracked, and thus abandoned, obelisk:  And this unfinished statue:  There’s a stone harder than granite called dolerite, and it was used to pound the rock and create the channels around the obelisk:  The engineering was amazing, especially how these behemoth structures were moved; I don’t have the time or space to relate it all, but it’s available online.  After the quarry we visited the Aswan High Dam, which was built upstream from a much smaller British dam, creating a lake betwe...

 February 14, 2026 Abu Simbel Today was extraordinary!  A visit to Abu Simbel is something I’ve wanted to do ever since I learned about the site.  Some geography:  We started our trip in Cairo, to the north, then flew to Luxor, and took our boat to Aswan where we are now.   Abu Simbel is even further south, close to the current border with Sudan.   It was here that Ramses II, who reigned for 66 years (1279-1213 BCE) built two huge temples, one to himself and the other to his Queen Nefertari.   It is thought that the purpose of building here, so far south, was to awe and intimidate the Nubians so that they would not challenge his reign. The desert here is truly barren, with no rainfall at all, there are no living things—no cactus, no scrub, nothing.   Much of it is a sand ocean with rocky islands poking up:  We left our dahabeya with our luggage and went to the Aswan airport.   The staff took our bags to the Old Cataract Hotel where...