19 May 2024

Today we flew from Cairo, Egypt to Amman, Jordan and then onto Aqaba.

As has become usual at airports, the security people wanted to check my cameras. They also asked to see an artwork I had bought as was in my checked in baggage (in bubble wrap within cardboard outer casings). So I had to unwrap it to show them what is was. They were happy once they got to touch it. Thankfully one of the TripaDeal people was able to help me put it back together and get onto the bus.

After checking into the hotel, Peter and I went looking for a place for dinner. We wandered the streets for about 45mins checking out the shops (went past at least 8 minimarts, 12 cafe restaurants, 4 mobile phone stores and 5 bottle shops in a 2 block radius). Everyone was very friendly, welcoming us to Aqaba as we walked past.

None of the cafe / restaurants would sell alcohol or allow BYO so we ended up at a steak house called Captain’s Restaurant around the corner from our hotel.

Delicious meal! Steak was thick and well cooked (medium rare), tasty with creamy thyme sauce, a range of salad, mashed potato and steamed vegetables. A nice lemon and mint juice and a bottle of mineral water – Totalled about $44 AuD for my serve.

The restaurant had a photographer with a professional setup taking photos of the staff, seating, etc for their Facebook page, and the manager asked if we would mind having photos taken of us as customers, having the food served at our table. We were definitely happy to help so they took a few shots.  Will check their site out in a few weeks to see if any of us were selected.

Then we headed back to the hotel for the night.