3 Countries in 7 Days

If you're looking for a holiday destination of a lifetime, you can't go wrong with a trip to Egypt. Some of the greatest wonders of the world are here at a price that's hard to believe.

Our Marriott Taba Heights Hotel Resort suite overlooked the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba.

When we awoke at 6am in the morning we could see the twinkling lights of the Saudi Arabian coast across the gulf. As with any international travel, safety is a major concern but in all fairness I felt safer in Egypt than here at my new home in Las Vegas NV. USA!

Egypt had long been at the top of my bucket list . But not in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I would have the opportunity to visit Cairo, The Pyramids, The Lost city of Petra in Jordon, and the amazing Monastery at St. Catherin's in the heart of the Sinai Desert and all in 7 days!

Our 5 hour flight from London was uneventful and we arrived to a hearty welcome provided in part by the Egyptian Tourist Security Police who did everything possible to make our welcome both smooth and comforting. A short coach trip accompanied by our tour company guide brought us to the resort area of Taba Heights and our superb Marriott Taba Heights Resort.

Our first excursion was to Cairo and the Pyramids. This is a rather tiring 5 hour drive from Taba. We left at 5 am and arrived at the Pyramids by 10 am - plenty of time to see all there is to see at this wonder of the world and still spend a few hours at the Cairo Museum - a must on any visit. For a small fee you can enter the Pyramids and visit the amazing Cheops Solar Barge discovered at the base of the Pyramid of Cheops and which has taken 14 years to reconstruct!

Our second excursion was to the country of Jordon, about a 2 hour cruise from our Taba location. If you saw Indiana Jones "Last Crusade" you would immediately recognize the 'Lost City of Petra'. Little is known about the Nabataean people or their Capital which looks so much like a mysterious stage set in the middle of this multicolored sandstone mountain range and dating back to 1500 BC. It all came to an amazing end when on the 19th of May, 363 AD an Earthquake razed part of the city and brought about the eventual de-population of Petra.

Without question, for your author at least, the final day's visit to the amazing Monastery of St. Catherine was the highlight of the 7 day trip.

The Monastery is a walled fortress accessible through a tiny doorway leading to the square where Moses' burning bush is still continuing to bloom to this day!

The Greek Monks, who have inhabited this site since the 9th century, are keepers of the world's largest collection of religious icons and precious manuscripts. For me at least this was a never to be forgotten experience as I was able to view many of the Icons we use in the investigative study of the Shroud of Turin and to which I refer in my recent book "In the Image of His God - the curse of the Shroud" (ISBN 978-1-4327-2878-6)