Sailing Through the Dardanelles

Entering the Aegean Sea, we sailed between Crete and the Greek island of Rhodes and other small Greek islands that looked uninhabited. At some point, a fighter jet flew close overhead. The captain announced that it was a NATO jet doing surveillance of the area, or perhaps it was a U.K. or U.S. jet coming close to say hello.

Over the past two months or so, the seas have been very mild, in fact, pretty placid. The seas were beautiful, but after awhile somewhat boring. In comparison, the Mediterranean Sea was much more energetic and dramatic, showing movement with white cap waves. One afternoon I went to a classical piano concert in the Queen’s Room. I sat next to the window where I could see the rolling seas while pianist Domenic John played Gershwin’s vibrant Rhapsody in Blue. It was a fabulous afternoon.

After a day of sailing through the Aegean Sea and into the Dardanelles, the captain announced that we would be passing Gallipoli in Turkey, a major battle site during WWI. The Dardanelles is a narrow strait in northwestern Turkey that connects the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara, which leads into the Black Sea. We stood on the decks waiting to see the place we had heard so much about and the site of such tragedy.

Gallipoli

During our travels to multiple cities in Australia, we stopped to see the ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) War Memorials in each city we visited. These memorials were erected following the tremendous loss of so many ANZAC soldiers during WWI and especially at the Battle of Gallipoli. I wrote before about the high percentage of the Australian and New Zealand populations these soldiers represented. As we sailed through the Dardanelle Straits and actually got to see Gallipoli, those memorials became even more meaningful to us.

Coincidentally, just a few days earlier on April 25, ANZAC Day, a ceremony had been held on the ship. ANZAC Day is similar to Memorial Day in the U.S. or Remembrance Sunday in the U.K.

At 5:00 p.m. we approached Gallipoli, where British RN and RMs and ANZAC military personnel had attempted to gain a foothold on the peninsula to fight the Turks, who were aligned with Germany during WWI. The military commanders at the time, which included Winston Churchill, decided that going over land was the only way they could get into the area. The British had previously sent 18 battleships to fight their way into the Dardanelles and the Black Sea, without success because the seas were heavily mined.

The peninsula consisted of high cliffs, which the soldiers tried to scale without success. As we slowly sailed by the peninsula, we could see two memorials on the hill, one honoring the Allied fallen, and the other honoring the Turks, who lost an equally high number of troops.

Allied Memorial

Turkish Memorial

Amanda Reid, the entertainment manager, provided commentary describing the military campaign, which lasted for months and resulted in the loss of over 270,000 allied soldiers. Six months or so after the campaign began, Britain withdrew.

At the end of the commentary, a bugler played The Last Post, the equivalent of Taps. There was complete silence on the decks.

Ancient Fort on the Peninsula

Transiting the Suez Canal

Leaving Aqaba, we retraced our route back through the Gulf of Aqaba and into the Red Sea, sailing for two days before we reached the Suez Canal. At this point, since leaving Southampton, we had traveled approximately 33,000 nautical miles.

The Queen Mary had been sailing behind us for a few days, but sometime during the night she passed us. We had heard that she had been refused admittance to Aqaba because of illness onboard, which must have been devastating to the passengers who had planned to visit Petra. I would have been distraught since Petra had been the carrot John used to convince me to make this long trip.

Queen Mary 2 Taking the Lead

For the past 40 years or so, John has talked about someday traveling through the Suez Canal, specifically going east to west. You could say it was high on his bucket list. As a young Royal Marine he had made the journey west to east on a troop ship on his way to Aden. So it was with great excitement that he rose at 4:30 a.m. ready to experience something that held great wonderment for him.

Early Morning Viewers

The Suez Canal is a partially manmade waterway through Egypt that connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. It allows ships to travel between Europe and South Asia without having to sail around Africa, reducing the voyage by about 4,300 miles. Since it is at sea level, seawater flows through it and there are no locks.

The canal is owned and operated by the Suez Canal Authority of Egypt. Under the Convention of Constantinople, it can be used “in time of war, as in time of peace, by every vessel of commerce or of war, without distinction of flag.” It was completed in 1869, and like the Panama Canal, at the cost of many lives. It is about 120 miles long and enables about 50 ships per day, 25 each way, to transit the canal.

During our transit of the Suez Canal, we were third in a convoy of 25 ships, preceded by a German cruise ship, the Europa II, and then the QM2. The captain said that it was the most expensive part of our voyage, costing $750,000, which is based on the size and tonnage of the ship.

Before entering the canal, the ships in the convoy anchored overnight and got themselves into position about 4:30 a.m. We began our transit of the canal at 6:15 a.m.

The captain arranged for the front decks to be opened to passengers, so we stood at the bow and watched as the canal unfolded before us. The winds on the deck were quite chilly, and we had to pull out the cold weather clothing again. Temperatures were dropping drastically as we traveled north. A few days before we had hiked to Petra with temperatures in the 90s, and now we had temperatures in the 60s.

Entering the Canal 

The view was mainly of sun, sand, and brilliant emerald green water. As a former military man, John pointed out the frequent lookout or guard huts, police escort on the road that ran along the canal, the military installations we passed, and the ramps and pontoons on the side that could be used to cross the canal. Security was high protecting both the ships in the canal and the canal itself.

Soon after entering the canal, we looked over at the left bank, and high on a tall sandbank someone had been spelled out in large stones Egypt=Peace. This sentiment was similar to the one we heard in so many of the Middle East countries: the people don’t want the world judging them by the actions of extremists.

I focused on the people along the shore and on the ferryboats. They were probably as fascinated by the QM2 and QE as we were about them. This may have been the only time that two Cunard ships sailed through the canal together. We followed about 1.5 miles behind the QM2, close enough that with binoculars, we could see people sitting on the back deck eating lunch. With even more powerful binoculars, we might have been able to see what they were eating.

There was a real party atmosphere on the ship, and people spent the day coming and going to the front of the ship and on the side decks to watch the passing view.

The voyage through the canal was fascinating. We entered it at Port Tewfik at the city of Suez and were surprised at how close the city’s mosques and houses sat next to the walls separating the city and the canal there.

Suez, Egypt

The canal was narrow in places but widened considerably as we entered Little Bitter Lake and Great Bitter Lake. A few by-pass channels were off to the sides behind tall sand dunes to allow for ships coming from the other directions. I’m not exactly sure how that worked since we didn’t see the channels or any ships traveling south. 

We passed some ferry ports, and we could see the ferries getting ready to quickly cross the canal between the fast oncoming ships in the convoy. In addition to the ferries, the canal provides some crossing methods, including a railway swing bridge, a large highway bridge, and a highway underpass.

Ferry Crossing the Suez Canal

The view of Egypt along the canal was a study in contrasts. The west side was green and covered with cities, farms, and resorts. Desert stretched out for miles on the east side, the Sinai Peninsula, with golden sand dunes along the banks. Long stretches on the east side were piled high with sand approximately 50-60 feet high. We gathered that the sand had been piled there during the construction of some of the by-pass channels. We could see workers using heavy construction equipment loading the sand onto trucks to be hauled away. Sand blew across the flat lands, and we thought what a challenge it must be to keep the canal from silting up with sand.

Sand Along the Banks of the Canal

About mid-way through the canal, several monuments rested on the banks of the canal, one in particular was dedicated to the workers who built the canal.

Suez Canal Memorials

Memorial to Canal Workers

That evening after completing our transit of the canal and passing Port Said, we entered the Mediterranean Sea. At that point, the Queen Elizabeth pulled along side the Queen Mary, and we sailed in tandem for about three miles. The decks of both ships were lined with passengers waving their arms and Union Jacks, and from somewhere on the ship, we heard strains of Jerusalem and Land of Hope and Glory. It was as though relatives were coming together on the high seas, and we were sad to see the QM2 pull ahead and speed away.

Queen Mary 2 Sailing in Tandem With the Queen Elizabeth

QM2 Passengers and Crew on Deck

Waving the Flag

Aqaba, Jordan for Petra

After leaving Salalah, our three-day journey to Aqaba and Petra took us through the Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Sea between Yemen on the south coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and Somalia in the Horn of Africa. We later sailed into the Red Sea, passing Ethiopia and along the coastlines of Sudan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, coming within 75 nautical miles of Mecca. Early in the morning we passed between Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and the Island of Tiran, the gap between them marking the entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba.

To me, sailing through the various bodies of water around the world has been as interesting as the countries and cities we’ve visited.

We arrived at our destination of Aqaba, Jordan, which sits at the most northeastern point of the Red Sea. It is the only coastal city in Jordan. Standing on the deck, we could see four countries: Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia.

It was Aqaba that Lawrence of Arabia and the Jordanians attacked and conquered during their war with the Turks during WWI. Wadi Rum, about 35 miles away, was the desert area used by Lawrence as a base. The movie, Lawrence of Arabia was filmed there and it is supposed to be a spectacularly beautiful place. This year marks the 100^th anniversary of that revolt against the Turks. 

Some passengers went to Wadi Rum and spoke glowingly about it. Although Wadi Rum would have been interesting, my goal was to see the Lost City of Petra. Since seeing a photo of the Petra Treasury on the cover of National Geographic, I have always wanted to visit there. It was the one place on our long voyage that just the thought of made my pulse race.

At 9:00 a.m., it was already 85F. Forewarned that it was going to get really hot, we took lots of water, as well as sunblock, a back-up camera, and walking sticks that we had gotten just for this occasion. We thought perhaps the sticks might be overkill, but as we made the hike to Petra, we were glad that we had them.    

Approximately 1200 passengers, traveling in 30 buses made the trip to Petra, a two-hour drive from Aqaba. Jordan has only 11 million people, most of whom live in Amman, the capital of Jordan, and it only takes a few hours to drive the length of the country.

Our tour guide told us that although Jordan is a small country, the people have big hearts to welcome visitors. He said that King Abdullah told the tour guides that they were ambassadors for Jordan, and it was evident that the guides have taken this to heart. Our guide appealed to us to tell our family and friends about Jordan and our good impressions. Jordan has no oil or gas, and little water, so it is dependent on its mining of phosphates and tourism.

Although the north of Jordan is green and has forests, this part of the country was very arid, and we passed barren mountains and countryside during our drive to Petra. Even with as dry as the countryside looked, we could see strips of land along the highway that were being irrigated and used to grow tomatoes and watermelons. It was amazing that anything could grow there. We also saw herds of sheep grazing on the hills.

Jordan Countryside

The mountains are sandstone and change continually because of the effects of wind, rain, animals, and humans. Deposits of different minerals cause stripes of different colors on the rocky mountainsides. The mountains surrounding Wadi Rum, which we could see the fringes of, contain a crystal-like mineral that gives the mountain range an iridescent appearance.

We stopped at a rest center and had spectacular views of the valleys below and of a small statue of Mary and child Jesus sitting on a hill in this Muslim country.

Statue

The majority of the people in Jordan are Muslim, but according to our guide, there is a spirit of cooperation between the Muslims, Christians, and other religious. Women have the same rights as men and are members of the government, police force, etc.

Our guide spoke glowingly of Jordan’s monarch, King Abdullah, who has instituted many things to help all the people in Jordan. He has accepted into Jordan large numbers of refugees from Syria.

If we traveled much further into Jordan, we would have come to the Dead Sea, which is 420 feet below sea level and the lowest point on earth. Our guide told us about the challenges the country is facing keeping the sea from drying up. The Jordan River is the only source of water for the sea, and other countries control that source. It is hoped that the Two Seas Water Channel project will help to keep the Dead Sea from dying. Fortunately, Jordan had a good rainy season this year, and it had rained solidly for the two days before we arrived. It would have been just our luck having to see Petra in a pouring rain.

We traveled on the Desert Highway, the main road through Jordan. Aqaba is a duty free area, so we had to go through a customs checkpoint when we left the city. Fortunately, they didn’t stop our bus. Later we turned onto the narrower Kings Highway, which wound through several villages on the way to Petra.

Our guide pointed out groups of Bedouins who roam the countryside. He said that because of a requirement to have their children educated, they spend less time roaming and at least part of the year in housing. Piles of stacked stone identified their property. Bedouins are known for their hospitality to travelers.

Actually, we found the Jordanians to be very friendly. As we drove through the villages, we passed young schoolgirls in white headdress who, when they saw us,  jumped up and down waving to us. Going down into Petra, every student we passed made it a point to say hello. The king must have told them that they were ambassadors of Jordan as well.

When we arrived at Petra, we were surprised to find the outer area surrounded by a fair-sized city built on the surrounding hills. We shouldn’t have been too surprised since businesses, hotels, and the homes of the people who work there usually surround most tourist sights. We stopped for lunch at one of the hotels before heading out for the long hike into the lost city.

City Outside Lost City of Petra

Main Entrance Into Petra

The path started out as smoothly paved and quickly disintegrated into a rocky trail. Actually, parts were smooth in some places and uneven in other places. We were glad that we had brought the walking sticks, which gave us balance, and then later helped propel us on our journey back through the Siq, which was all uphill. It would take us about 1.5 hours to reach the Treasury. We later determined that the journey had been over six miles round trip.

Beginning the Trek

Carved Rocks and Figures that Appear in the Rocks

The builders of Petra guarded their city and even built a fake city to convince raiders that they had found the city. Water channels dug into the rock along the Siq brought water into the city. Later the Romans were able to conquer Petra by cutting off those water channels.

The Fake Petra to Fool Outsiders

The thing that surprised us the most was the height of the Siq walls, estimated to be 100 feet high at places, and how long the canyon was. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

Starting to Go Deeper into the Siq or Canyon

Colorful Rock

Occasionally we would see a lone tree growing out of the rock, struggling for light and water. It reminded me of the people of Jordan struggling to survive in an arid country with little water.

  

Horse Riding Police Officers

The smell of camel and horses overpowered us at times. Men and boys had been taking horses, and horses and carts, up and down the Siq, giving rides to people who were willing to pay for the ride. It proved dangerous to one woman whose carriage tipped over. Every time we heard the clopping of horses, we quickly went to the sides of the Siq. The vehicles would come barreling down the hill and around a bend in the path with little warning. Sometimes the horses would slip, and we were surprised that we didn’t see one injured. We wouldn’t accept a ride from them because we felt the horses weren’t being well taken care of and we didn’t want to encourage their use. 

Horses and Carriage

Mountains Getting Higher

At one point on the path, our guide told us to line up three abreast and turn around to something he pointed to in the Siq behind us. When we told him we couldn’t see anything on the hill, he told us to turn around, and there behind us was the opening into Petra and the Treasury building. The view took my breath away.

First Glimpse of the Treasury

Treasury

Camel and Rider

Amphitheater

Unknown Building

Sadly, we didn’t have very much time once we actually got into Petra and only saw a fraction of the facades that are there. Apparently there are thousands of facades, both large and small. But what we got to see was absolutely amazing. The theory is that the buildings were carved out of the stone from the top down. I was surprised to learn that the Treasury wasn’t a church like it looked, but was either used to store money or was a burial plot. Unfortunately, there isn’t much information that can be found to tell the story of Petra.

Before we retraced our steps through the Siq, we turned and looked back at the Treasury one last time. It was a moment I will never forget.

Later our daughter Laura asked if Petra had met our expectations—that sometimes places don’t live up to what you expect. All I can say is that not only did it meet our expectations, it exceeded them a thousand times.