The Red Sea that is! I'm now in Aqaba, located at the tip of the Red Sea, where Egypt, Israel and Jordan meet. Aqaba is not a place I'd stay very long and if I had known better I probably would have just passed through here.Reading the guidebook I thought that there would be some interesting ruins and beaches here. The ruins are in very poor shape. Mostly they're just holes in the ground. There is also a small Malmuk fort (originally built by the Crusaders). It's not a sight worth going out of the way for, 95% of it seems recently reconstructed.
The beaches were a bit of a let down too. This is Jordan's only coastline. It used to be smaller too, until they gave the Saudis 6,000 sq meters of desert for 12 kms of coast line. The problem with such a tiny coast line is that everything is crammed together, Navy docks, Commercial docks, Recreational docks, etc. There really isn't much of a beach and what is accessible to the public is pretty dirty. Broken glass covers the sand, among other things.On the positive side, the weather is amazing and it's quite a laid back place. The lack of sights is probably a good thing, as I wouldn't take much rest otherwise. It's a little cheaper too and I took the opportunity to pig out a little. Aqaba is also 10 km from Israel. Tomorrow I will see about going across the border and taking a bus to Jerusalem.
Streets of Aqaba:
Mamluk fort:
Remains of Mamluk fort:
Beaches:
Sunset over the Red Sea:
