GEJ: Jordan (pt 1)

Day 9: Today we said goodbye to Egypt and hello to Jordan! The transitions have been seamless as we’ve had people meet us straight away and help us get through customs, get our visas, etc. It was also nice to have one tour guide for the entirety of our visits and have it be completely private tours! 

Our first stop was Mount Nebo. The view was pretty and, on clear days, you’re able to see the Dead Sea and even Jerusalem! It was here that Moses viewed the promised land, which he was not permitted to enter due to his disobedience.

We then drove a couple hours as we headed to our next destination... But first! A stop at Little Petra! 

Little Petra is also known as Siq Al-Barid and is located north of Petra.

As its name suggests, the site is much smaller which makes it easier to walk around. It’s free to visit and not very crowded. It also has buildings carved into the walls of the sandstone canyons.

The hotel we stayed at was called Petra Guest House which was literally right by the entrance to Petra! On our first (and only) night there, Mike and I went to Petra by Night.  It’s an experiential and musical show which happens 3 times a week. Basically, it’s seeing Petra at night all lit up. They also had a flute and violin player so you could sit and listen to their performance while viewing Petra. 

GEJ: Egypt (pt2)

 Day 8: This was probably my favorite day from the whole trip!! I LOVE iconic sites and the pyramids are definitely iconic!!! 

We got to see the pyramids, the sphinx, ride camels, and took so many awesome photos!! On this day we also had a security guard with us the entire time which was cool! I felt even safer knowing that he was looking out for us. 

Did you know there are actually more than 100 pyramids in Egypt ?? It was so cool being able to touch (and stand on) part of history!! 

Afterwards, the boys ate at an Egyptian restaurant while the girls went to the iconic Pizza Hut overlooking the pyramids !! 

I am so thankful to be able to travel with someone who is just as picky as I am when it comes to food. LOL 

I follow many travel influencers and that’s where I first learned of Pizza Hut. It was definitely a bucket list for me to have Pizza Hut at the pyramids! (Dumb, I know, but it was so good!) 

After lunch we went to the Egyptian museum. This museum has over 150,000 items in its collection!! There are statues, jewelry, masks, etc. It is the largest museum in Africa and they even had a whole room/section for King Tutankhamun and the mask/treasures found in his tomb. 

While in Cairo we stayed at the Sheraton Cairo hotel. Overall, we had a really wonderful time in Egypt and I felt very safe. Egypt takes extra good care of their tourists  and I would definitely recommend using Emeco travel. Not only did it help with the language barrier, but it was nice having a private guide. Thanks, Carter! (pictured below) 

I also want to leave you with this video... In it, I asked Carter what he would say to people in the U.S. who are afraid to travel to Egypt. This was his response: 

I was definitely one of those people who was very anxious/nervous about traveling to Egypt, but it far exceeded my expectations!! 

GEJ: Egypt (pt 1)

 Day 6: The flight from Athens to Cairo was only a couple hours so it wasn’t bad! We got to Cairo and had a private transfer to our hotel. 

Before we could even enter the lot, they had a bomb sniffing dog check our car (and all the others around). We also had to go through security when we entered the hotel. 

Our guide told us not to go out by ourselves and to be careful with Egyptian street food. He actually recommended that we eat at a New York/italian restaurant at the hotel so as not to upset our tummies. 

After dinner we had a walking tour of Cairo. We saw the bazaar and walked Al-Muizz street and it was crazy busy!!  

Walking through the streets of Cairo was definitely an experience, but I’m glad we did it. I didn’t feel unsafe, but at one point a fight broke out among the locals. Our guide said not to worry about it. He also mentioned that police typically don’t get involved, but that the elders would break it up. 

It was hard to focus on the guides explanation of things because there was so much going on around us. There were so many people and so much activity. 

Day 7: Desert day! We drove out to Fayoum and visited the Qarun Lake which is considered the oldest of the natural lakes in the world. Then we headed to Wadi El Rayan and the waterfalls. The waterfalls are a natural phenomenon and are considered to be the largest waterfalls in Egypt. It was kind of funny seeing lakes and waterfalls in the desert! 

Our jeep in the desert

Mike sand boarding 

After that, we stopped by Valley of the Whales, Wadi Al-Hitan. It contains invaluable fossil remains of the earliest, and now extinct, suborder of whales, Archaeoceti.

Stay tuned for part 2 of Egypt - the pyramids, safety, and more ! 

GEJ Adventures: Santorini

Day 3: We took a short flight to Santorini today! It was a pretty relaxing day to start, then we ended with a Santorini ATV Quad tour. We got to explore the island and got some great pictures! 

Day 4:

We slept in today and, in the early afternoon, we got picked up for a Catamaran sunset cruise. This was NOT an enjoyable experience! 

1. The description was a bit misleading in regards to the hot springs. The “hot spring” was really only a couple degrees warmer than the rest of the water and the water was COLD!! I didn’t even get in. 

I was looking forward to the hot springs and snorkeling, but that didn’t happen. (BUMMER)

2. There was a group of older folks (mostly women) who were pole dancing and grinding on each other right in front of us.  We did not need to see that. (Gag!!) It was not a pretty sight. 

That was 6 hours of my life I won’t get back. Don’t worry- I’ll spare you the videos of the dancing ladies. 

Day 5:
We booked a private, tailormade tour of Santorini through Viator! This ended up being super nice because we got to see Oia and a bunch of other things we wouldn’t have seen otherwise. Having a local guide who was able to share his knowledge was wonderful ! 

We spent time on the streets of Oia (it was so crowded!!) and then we went to our guides grandfathers village and saw a traditional underground cave home. It was pretty cool to see how people used to live. 

Blue domes!

Iconic Oia

Loved the view in Santorini

Traditional cave home 

We also stopped at Akrotiri which is a settlement that was destroyed in a volcanic eruption sometime in the 16th century BCE. It was buried in volcanic ash which preserved the remains of many artifacts. It has since been excavated .

Finally, we stopped and saw some windmills and I found a cute friend.  (See photo below!)

Throughout our Santorini journey we stayed at Cliff Side Suites and it is one of my favorite stays ever!! The rooms were HUGE!!  The only problem was that it was very humid inside the room and everything got wet / soggy. 

Some of my favorite pictures from Santorini are from our last night there:

I LOVED Santorini -especially the architecture and maze of stairs. (Well, didn’t so much love the stairs, but it was so unique!!)  Definitely worth visiting!