Aqaba, Jordan

First off, my apologies for the lack of postings over the past couple of weeks. We have been on safari in Kenya and then climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. Internet was non-existant in both places. We are now on the Indian Ocean in Tanzania relaxing for a couple of days. The internet access here is quite slow so I will try to catch up a bit, but make no promises.



It seems like a very long time ago that we spent our last few days in Jordan. After a week traveling south through the country, we thought a few days' rest in the seaside town of Aqaba was called for. It wasn't quite the seaside resort we had hoped for.



The beach in Aqaba is lined with vendors of one sort or another, selling everything from kids slippers to brickabrack souvenirs. These vendors are lined along a pedestrian walkway that runs the length of the beach. Between the pedestrian walkway and the water is a row of thatched-roofed cafes. Not quite the cafes we were looking for. After the cafes is a 15 foot strip of sand. Then there are loads of people swimming in the Red Sea between the beach and the oil tankers that are anchored some 300 feet off the beach. Again, not quite what we are familiar with.

So instead of lazing on the beach, we went to explore the city. Kelly was happy to pose on a wall by a restaurant.

Although the country is generally very dry, Aqaba seemed to have a tremendous amount of green space.

Of course, the hills overlooking the city were as dry as the rest of the country. We spent our time in Aqaba exploring the small shops and the side streets. It was actually a nice little city as long as you stopped thinking of it as a seaside resort.