Turkey - Istanbul

I had the nicest time in Istanbul. It is a very clean and exciting city with the nicest people EVER. It is the only city in the world that is on two continents (Europe and Asia). We stayed in a small, but stupendous hotel near Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. First, we went to the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia. The inside of the Blue Mosque was beautiful. A Mosque is a Muslim church. The Hagia Sophia is a 1500 year old church which was eventually turned into a Mosque. We also walked around an ancient underground cistern that was dark, wet, and cool! We took a cruise down the Bosphorous which is the waterway that divides Europe and Asia. We met a friend of my mom's from High School in Istanbul whose name is Jennifer. She is a writer and she was so nice. She gave us a box of the best Turkish Delight ever. It was covered in Chocolate. We ate the whole box in just a few days!

We had a really great time in Istanbul!

Jordan - Amman with Friends

Jordan is a really great country with a ton of fun stuff to do. It is bordered by Iraq, Syria, Israel, and Saudi Arabia.

I had a fantastic time with our friends in Amman (the Capitol of Jordan). We met them during our tour in Egypt. The kids (Rhys, Rahdika, Carson, and I) played, made a band, and watched movies. We ate a scrumptious home cooked dinner. It was really nice to see our friends.

Jordan - Wadi Rum

I had a phenomenal time in Wadi Rum. Wadi Rum is a big desert area in Jordan. It is where Lawrence of Arabia lived. We stayed in a Bedouin camp with the Bedouins who live in the desert. We took a jeep ride through the desert with a Bedouin named Aboud. He showed us a few sites and then he started driving really fast through the desert and flying over big sand dune cliffs. I was in the back of the truck with no seat belt on. After that, we took an evening camel ride deeper into the desert to watch the sunset. When we finally got back to camp, we ate a deliciously delicious dinner of rice, lamb, beef, chicken and pita bread. Our room was a tent with a cloth door and lit by candle light. My family had a great experience in Wadi Rum.

Jordan - Petra

Petra was AMAZING! Petra was a city built by the Nabataens over 2000 years ago. They were a desert people who controlled the trade routes. Most people think that Petra was just the treasury building, but it was actually a whole city. When you are walking in, you see an Obelisk tomb. To get to the treasury, you walk through a siq. A siq is a very narrow canyon. After walking through the siq, you get to the main attraction -- Al-Khazneh (or the Treasury). It was delicately hand carved into the side of a mountain. All of the buildings were carved into mountains and use the styles from the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, and other desert people. After a long but enjoyable additional walk up about 1000 steps, we reached a monestary in the mountains. It was very beautiful.

Jordan - The Dead Sea

Jordan has been a tremendous hit so far. The Elliott's would like to thank John DeBlasio for helping us set up our trip here. We stayed in a super Marriott with 3 swimming pools, 4 or 5 restaurants, and the Dead Sea. We had a delicious dinner with John, his Jordanian business partner Walid (who took care of most of the trip details), and Walid's family. We also played in the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea has 7 times more salt in it than the ocean. You can float so high you can even read a book without it getting wet. You can't play in it too long though. The salt starts to sting after a while. The sea is the lowest point on Earth. It is over 400 meters below sea level. We also caked ourselves in Dead Sea healing mud. It is supposed to make you feel younger. Carson said that he felt like he was 3 (Carson is actually 6). I can not wait to see Petra.

Jordan - The Biblical Part

Once we got to Jordan, we went to a church in Madaba. Madaba is famous for it's Mosaics. Inside the church, there were a lot of beautiful mosaics. We then went to Mt. Nebo which was where Moses finally saw the promised land and then died. From the top, we saw Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Jericho. We then went to the River Jordan and saw where Jesus was baptized. Across the water was Israel. I can not wait to go to the Dead Sea.

Cairo Egypt and Trip Friends

I had a superb time in Egypt with my tour buddies. We ate a delicious good bye dinner and went to eat ice cream. My favorite tour guide ever is Sam. He is from Egypt and worked in Virginia. I can't believe he wrestled with us, let us play his computer, and even bought us chocolate and ice cream. Our friends from the tour are Joe and Finn (age 10) from Australia, AND Jennifer, Matt, Radhika (age 8), and Rhys (age 7) from America. Jennifer, Matt, Radhika, and Rhys live in Amman Jordan. I hope we can see all of our new friends in the future.