Forty-one days, 5,857 photos, five climate zones in one trip
3 March - 12 April 2022
Read from 5,857 photo timestamps across 7 countries, 11 logged hikes (41.0 km / 2,163 m ascent) and 9 La Digue bike rides (~30 km / 192 m). Petra is the loudest day; the La Digue cycling triad is the trip's quiet centrepiece.
The argument
We flew Bucharest to Tel Aviv and spent ten days in Israel and Palestine from a Tel Aviv base, with day-trips to Jerusalem, Bethlehem, the Qumran caves and the Dead Sea, and a northern run through Nazareth, Haifa and the Sea of Galilee up to the Golan. We crossed by land at the King Hussein bridge into Jordan for Amman, Jerash, Madaba and Mount Nebo, then Petra (Treasury, Monastery, Al-Khubtha), the red sands of Wadi Rum and the Jordan-side Dead Sea, exiting through Aqaba. A flight to Dubai for a week with the Palm, the Marina and Deira’s old town, then the long jump to the Seychelles - Praslin’s Vallée de Mai and Anse Lazio; La Digue ridden end to end on rented bikes, including Anse Source d’Argent and the slow island interior; Mahé’s Morne Seychellois trails plus the south-coast beaches at Baie Lazare and Anse Intendance - before the return through Frankfurt. The loudest day is Petra. The 41 km across eleven logged hikes is the strongest 2022 hike total.
~6,000 km Levant + Arabian Peninsula + Indian Ocean
Path shape
home → IL → JO land border → AE flight → SC flight → FRA → home
Hike signal
11 logged hikes · 41.0 km · 2,163 m ascent (Masada · Petra · Seychelles)
Cycling
9 La Digue rides · ~30 km · 192 m ascent (Mar 31 - Apr 2)
Photos
5,857 (1,687 IL · 247 PS · 1,607 JO · 492 AE · 1,965 SC · 95 DE · 4 OM flyover)
Photo density
143 / day · 517 peak (Petra · 16 March)
The six legs
01
Israel + Palestine
3 - 12 March · 10 days
Photos
1,934
Hikes
1 logged hike (Mar 10 · Masada Snake Path · 2.1 km / 315 m)
Shape
Tel Aviv base · radial day-trips · north loop
Anchor
Tel Aviv
Pace
city + Holy Land + Galilee
Inside Israel the loudest day was Mar 7 in Jerusalem (256 photos): the Old City, the Western Wall, the Holy Sepulchre. The Mar 8 crossing into Bethlehem (188 photos in Palestine) followed: Church of the Nativity, the separation wall and Banksy’s stencils, the Shepherds’ Fields at Beit Sahur.
4 Mar · ★ Tel Aviv city day (269 photos) along the seafront and Old Jaffa
7 Mar · ★ Jerusalem Old City (256 photos) - the densest Israel day
8 Mar · the Bethlehem crossing into Palestine
10 Mar · the southern descent - Qumran caves, the Dead Sea shore at Ein Bokek, then the Masada Snake Path climb (315 m of ascent, the only IL hike)
11 Mar · the northern loop - the Sea of Galilee lakeside, Katzrin in the Golan, the long drive home
12 Mar · the Galilee-coast day - Nazareth at sunrise, Haifa, the Mount Carmel coast at Hof HaCarmel, and a quiet last Tel Aviv evening
02
Jordan
13 - 21 March · 9 days
Photos
1,607
Hikes
2 logged Petra hikes on Mar 16 (Monastery 5.4 km / 304 m · Treasury-from-above via Al-Khubtha 4.7 km / 296 m)
Shape
land entry · Amman → Petra → Wadi Rum → Aqaba
Anchor
Amman + Petra
Pace
★ trip centerpiece
Mar 16 · 517 photos at Petra — the trip’s overall peak. The Treasury (Al-Khazneh), the Monastery (Ad-Deir) and the high overlook on Al-Khubtha, back-to-back, on a single day with ~10 km of canyon walking and ~600 m of ascent across two logged hikes.
13 - 14 Mar · the King Hussein land crossing, then Amman and the Jerash Roman city in the north
15 Mar · the Madaba and Mount Nebo day - the Byzantine mosaic map and the Promised-Land overlook - plus a descent through Ma’in towards Petra (291 photos)
16 Mar · ★★ Petra - the trip’s peak. Treasury at sunrise from Umm Sayhoun, Monastery climb, Al-Khubtha to the Treasury overlook
17 Mar · second Petra day, then the descent into Wadi Rum (358 photos) - the Royal Tombs and colonnaded street, then the red sands
18 - 19 Mar · Wadi Rum and the return north - jeep day, desert overnight, then the Dead Sea drive back up to Amman
20 Mar · a quieter day around Amman with the Dabouq suburbs in the morning
21 Mar · the flight from Amman on to Dubai (a short cross-over day - 3 ground photos)
03
UAE
21 - 27 March · 7 days
Photos
492
Hikes
0 logged (city week)
Shape
Dubai base · Business Bay + Palm + Marina + Deira
Anchor
Dubai
Pace
lower density
Mar 24 · 151 photos — the densest UAE day. Most of the week stayed inside Dubai itself: Business Bay around the Burj Khalifa, the Palm Jumeirah day at the Atlantis tip on Mar 23, the Marina + JBR walk on Mar 25, and Deira’s gold and spice souks on the older side of the creek.
22 Mar · arrival into Business Bay - the Burj Khalifa, Downtown, Dubai Mall
23 Mar · the Palm Jumeirah day at the Atlantis tip
24 Mar · the densest UAE day - Old Dubai, the creek, the souks of Deira
25 Mar · Dubai Marina + JBR - the towers along the waterway
26 Mar · a quieter Friday inside the city
27 Mar · the departure morning - the Emirates flight DXB → SEZ passed over inland Oman (four window-seat photos near the Ad Dhahirah and Al Wusta governorates), then arrival into Mahé and the transfer ferry to Praslin
04
Seychelles
27 March - 9 April · 14 days
Photos
1,965
Hikes
8 logged hikes (Praslin Fond Ferdinand + Glacis Noir + Vallée de Mai · La Digue Anse Cocos + L'Union to Source d'Argent · Mahé Port Launay coast walk + Morne Blanc + Copolia + Anse Major)
Shape
3-island circuit · Praslin → La Digue → Mahé
Anchor
Praslin (Baie Sainte Anne) · La Digue (La Passe) · Mahé (Sans Souci + Bel Ombre)
Pace
tropical beach base, a lot of trail work, and three days lived entirely on bikes
La Digue ridden end to end on bikes — 9 logged rides over three days (Mar 31, Apr 1, Apr 2), about 30 km and 192 m of climbing across the L’Union / La Passe / La Réunion triangle. La Digue is the island where everyone rents a bike at the jetty and never gets back into a car; the dataset reflects that exactly. The Anse Source d’Argent boulders, the Anse Cocos walk from Grand Anse (Apr 1), and the slow palm-and-takamaka interior were all reached on two wheels.
27 - 30 Mar · Praslin from a Baie Sainte Anne base - the primeval coco-de-mer forest of Vallée de Mai, the Fond Ferdinand and Glacis Noir hikes, and Anse Lazio on the NW corner
31 Mar - 4 Apr · ★ La Digue, the trip’s tropical heart. Three bike days back to back (Mar 31: 3 rides at La Passe; Apr 1: 3 rides around L’Union; Apr 2: 3 rides between La Passe and La Réunion), with the L’Union Estate to Anse Source d’Argent walk and the Anse Cocos hike from Grand Anse threaded between
4 - 7 Apr · Mahé from a north-coast base near Bel Ombre and Sans Souci ridge above Victoria - the Port Launay west-coast beach, the Morne Blanc trail through the national park (Apr 5), and the Copolia Trail climb (Apr 7)
6 Apr · the south-coast beach day - Baie Lazare and Anse Intendance (Quatre Bornes) on the same arc
9 Apr · the Anse Major coast hike from Bel Ombre to the cove and back - the last Seychelles trail. The capital at Victoria anchored the civic side; Beau Vallon was deliberately skipped.
05
Return via Germany
10 - 12 April · 3 days
Photos
95
Hikes
0 logged
Shape
transit chain
Anchor
Frankfurt overnight
Pace
exit
The long way home - the Seychelles behind, a refuelling stop through Dubai, and a Frankfurt-area overnight before the last leg back to Bucharest.
Cross-leg memory
Facts visible only at trip scale.
Climate zones
5 (Mediterranean · Dead Sea · desert · Persian Gulf · tropical Indian Ocean)
Continents touched
Europe origin · Asia + Africa via Middle East · Indian Ocean islands
Hike total
11 logged hikes · 41.0 km · 2,163 m ascent — the strongest 2022 hike total
Cycling total
9 La Digue rides · ~30 km · 192 m ascent — three days lived on bikes
Land border crossing
Allenby/King Hussein · IL → JO
Anchor count
4 distinct major bases · each held 7-14 days
Country pickups
Oman 4 photos · all from the DXB → SEZ flight window over inland Oman (no on-ground visit)
Off-path · per zone
Israel + Jerusalem + Bethlehem~0%top-decile global
Qumran + Dead Sea Scrolls site~15%off-path Levant
Golan Heights (Katzrin)~25%less-visited north
Petra + Wadi Rum~0%top-decile global
Little Petra (Siq al-Barid)~10%adjacent to Petra, less-trafficked
Bethany Beyond the Jordan~15%lower-volume baptism site
Dubai (Palm · Marina · Deira)~5%top-decile global
Seychelles (La Digue + Morne ridge)~10%core circuit, but the Morne Seychellois trails and Anse Major bring depth beyond the beach loop
The trip’s path is mostly canonical — Petra, Dubai, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem are all top-decile. The off-path richness comes from structural diversity (5 climate zones, 4 anchors) and from the secondary picks inside each anchor — Qumran and the Golan inside Israel, Little Petra and Bethany Beyond the Jordan inside Jordan, the Morne Seychellois ridge hikes inside Mahé.
absentEgypt revisitGeographically adjacent (the February 2022 Egypt trip ended just weeks before) but no Egypt overlap. A Sinai → Jordan southern crossing would have been a natural extension; not done this time.
absentSharm el-SheikhGeographically logical from Eilat / Aqaba; not visited.
absentRed Sea EgyptGeographically logical from Eilat / Aqaba; not visited.
absentAbu DhabiOften paired with Dubai but the photo geometry stays north of latitude 24.95° for the whole UAE leg - inside the Dubai metro (Business Bay · Palm Jumeirah · Marina · Deira). Sheikh Zayed Mosque, the Corniche and Yas Island were not visited.
absentOman as a real visitThe four OM photos are all timestamped within 27 minutes on the DXB → SEZ flight morning of Mar 27, over inland Al Wusta / Ad Dhahirah governorates roughly 400 km apart - window-seat shots at cruise. Not a Musandam day-trip or a land border touch. Counted by the geocoder, not seen on the ground.
absentBeau Vallon (Mahé)The famous Mahé north-coast beach was deliberately skipped. The Mahé leg ran from a north-coast base near Bel Ombre and a Sans Souci ridge base across the Morne Seychellois trails and out to the west and south coasts (Port Launay, Baie Lazare, Anse Intendance) - the small late-afternoon clusters at Mare Anglaise are the lodging area on the south side of Beau Vallon bay, not the beach itself.
absentMadagascarA natural Indian-Ocean extension from the Seychelles; no extension day appears.
absentRéunionA natural Indian-Ocean extension from the Seychelles; no extension day appears.
absentMauritiusA natural Indian-Ocean extension from the Seychelles; no extension day appears.
absentIL geocoder admin labels (folded into named destinations)Israeli geocoder labels for administrative regions, not destinations. Tamar Regional Council (134 photos) covers Masada and Ein Bokek - folded into Masada / Dead Sea (Ein Bokek). Hof HaCarmel Regional Council (51 photos) covers the Carmel coast south of Haifa - folded into Mount Carmel / Haifa. Emek HaYarden Regional Council (104 photos) covers the Sea of Galilee lakeside - folded into Sea of Galilee.
absentPS geocoder admin labels (folded into named destinations)Palestinian geocoder labels for administrative regions, not destinations. Megilot Yam HaMelakh Regional Council (40 photos) covers the Qumran area - folded into Qumran. Area C (15 photos) is a generic West Bank administrative zone - folded into Qumran. Beit Sahur (26 photos) is the Shepherds’ Fields village adjacent to Bethlehem - folded into Bethlehem.
absentJO village halo around the named destinationsJordanian geocoder labels for villages adjacent to the named destinations. Ar Rāshidīyah (352 photos) and Aş Şāliḩīyah sit on the rim of Wadi Rum - folded into Wadi Rum. Al-Muthallith (213 photos), Umm Sayhoun and Al Bayḑā are the Bedouin villages and ridge around Petra and Little Petra - folded in. المعراض (108 photos), الجبارات and Deir ell Leyat ring Jerash - folded into Jerash. Al Quweijiya (73 photos) is the Mount Nebo / Madaba ridge - folded into Mount Nebo. Dabouq (74 photos) is a NW Amman residential suburb - folded into Amman. Shoonah Janoobiyah (51 photos) is the Jordan-side Dead Sea at South Shuna - folded into Dead Sea (Jordan). Al Kafrayn (20 photos) sits at Bethany Beyond the Jordan - folded in there. Ma’in (20 photos) is the Ma’in Hot Springs village - already its own destination. Potash City (15 photos) is the southern-Dead-Sea evaporation works - folded into Dead Sea (Jordan).
absentAE geocoder admin labels (folded into named destinations)Business Bay (190 photos across coord clusters) is the Burj-Khalifa Dubai neighbourhood - folded into Dubai.
absentSC geocoder admin labels (folded into named destinations)On Mahé, Sans Souci (27 photos), Bel Ombre (35 photos), Mare Anglaise (36 photos) and Vista do Mar (16 photos) are the ridge and north-coast lodging villages between the Morne Seychellois and the coast - folded into Morne Seychellois (Sans Souci) and Bel Ombre. Baie Sainte Anne Praslin (495 photos) is the Praslin ferry-port base - folded into Praslin. La Réunion (56 photos) on La Digue is the village just south of La Passe - folded into La Passe. Quatre Bornes (157 photos) is the administrative locality covering Anse Intendance - kept under the Anse Intendance destination.
Five climate zones in 41 days says yes-to-everything. The skips are mostly adjacent extensions deliberately not bolted on - Egypt (just done), Madagascar / Réunion / Mauritius (next time), Sharm (different trip’s geography). Inside the chosen anchors the only real corrections to the older read of this trip are Abu Dhabi - the geometry shows the UAE leg never crossed south of Dubai - and Oman, which was a window-seat flyover, not a Musandam border touch. Beau Vallon on Mahé was a coord choice, not a leg choice.
Numbers
Photo peak day
517 · 16 March · Petra
Photo runners-up
358 · 17 Mar Petra · 291 · 15 Mar Madaba/Nebo · 278 · 3 Apr La Digue · 269 · 4 Mar Tel Aviv · 261 · 29 Mar Praslin
Hike total
11 logged hikes · 41.0 km · 2,163 m ascent
Cycling total
9 La Digue rides · ~30 km · 192 m ascent (Mar 31 - Apr 2)
Steepest hike
Masada Snake Path · 2.1 km · 315 m (Mar 10)
Average per day
143 photos
Land border crossings
1 (Allenby/King Hussein IL → JO)
Country pickups
0 on-ground · Oman 4 photos are DXB → SEZ flyover only