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In May of 1999, I went on a two-week trip to the Middle East, visiting both Jordan and Israel. The first week, I visited a good friend of mine from Jordan and we had an excellent time touring the country together. It has a lot to offer, very highly recommended!

Jordan has seen the birth of civilization, and has indeed seen quite a few civilizations come and go. I was absolutely awestruck by Petra, Jordan's premier tourist attraction. It is a city which was built by the Nabateans in the 3rd century BC. The remains you can see today are primarily tombs, carved out in the beautiful rose-colored rocks. It is situated very strategically surrounded by a gorgeous landscape of mountains and desert.

We hired our own guide, who showed us around and made sure that we took advantage of all of the best photo-ops. After entering the site, we walked through a narrow canyon that leads directly to the most amazing tomb in Petra, which is referred to as the "treasury". Obviously, not everyone was lucky enough to get buried in one of these so we also saw plenty of square little holes in the rocks for the ordinary folks.

Facade of the "Treasury" tomb in Petra	Photo-op pointed out to us by our helpful guide

I definitely had a thing for the camels, they seem to be immune to it all and riding them was quite an interesting (and a very shaky) experience!

This guy did not hit a nail on the head, but this poor camel:-(

This is the monastery, well worth the climb of about 800 steps.

What are you looking at?

This is not how Sal usually gets around in Jordan ...his BMW is far too comfy!	Here are some of the tombs for regular folks

Besides Petra, we visited numerous other places, such as Jerash (a beautiful city built by the Romans, with amazingly well preserved remains) Wadi Rum (spectacular desert scenery) and the Dead Sea.

The next week it was time for Israel. The investigators at the airport were quite intrigued by my travel plans, my background, my job and my entire life, basically. They discussed all of these topics, and many more I'm sure, with me at great length. In the end, I was relieved that they did finally decide that I wasn't going to overthrow the state and let me in.

I made the pictures below on a guided tour to Bethlehem, Yad Vashem (the Holocaust memorial site) and the old city of Jerusalem.

Wailing wall. Men are on the left, women on the right.	This is the place where people put their wish lists.

This Holocaust sculpture at Yad Vashem made quite an impression on me.	I patiently stood in line for over an hour to reach this star under the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.