Safaga, Egypt: Today almost everyone is ashore, everyone that is except the DrsC. For us today the Legend of the Seas is our more-or-less private superyacht whose crew exists to meet our every whim. Ah, the decadence, the luxury.
Most passengers have gone to Luxor, a place we've already been. So here we sit enjoying the quiet and the room, sharing with almost no one. Bliss....
Yesterday. We did the same thing in Aqaba, Jordan. From there passengers were headed to Petra wadi or Wadi Rum. Petra you remember from Indiana Jones III (the search for the Holy Grail). We've seen Petra and it is worth the fatigue and dirt - truly an amazing place, but so tiring as the only way to get there is on foot over unimproved trails with no shade.
Aqaba is a fascinating port, within a very few miles the territories of four nations come together: Jordan, of course, plus the Israeli city of Eilat. Then further down on the Israeli side is Egypt, and similarly on the Jordanian side is Saudi Arabia. All of this within a very few miles.
Looking at a map, it is apparent that both Israel and Jordan "reached" down to grab a port on waters connected to the Indian Ocean, and got away with it. Some of the "reaching" may have happened when the colonial powers were carving up the former Ottoman Empire, at the end of World War I.
As I look around Safaga it is clear this is a ferry port taking people and vehicles back and forth to Saudi Arabia. Some of this traffic is associated with the Hadj pilgrimage of the Muslim faith, which requires believers to worship in Mecca and Medina.
