Petra - all I imagined and more!

Bright and early we were up and ready for our guide, Ali, who was supposed to be the best guide in Petra. Also a chainsmoker as we were to find out - he smoked constantly while we were in Petra. We wanted to go as early as possible as we knew it was going to get hot, so we set off at 7am, when the park opened. Heading past a cacophony of men wanting to provide us with a carriage ride or a horse ride, or a donkey ride, we said no to all and hoofed it down ourselves. Walking through the canyons on the way down was awesome, they are so steep, the colours superb. Ali pointed out several walls built along the way to stem the flash flooding that can occur in winter time - if the place flooded you would have nowhere to go and be drowned. That last happened in the late 60's.  It's also interesting to think about Petra, abandoned for all those centuries, left to the ravages of sand and water - a lot of the damage done to it is man made, but there is also a lot of water damage caused by flooding waters.  As we walked, people clattered through the canyons in horse and cart - missing all the interesting bits on the way down!

Finally after about half an hour we turned around a bend and saw the Treasury through the gap in the rocks. Stopping to take some photos, I had my Indiana Jones moment, with the theme running through my head! Then through the gap in the rocks and there it was, the Petra Treasury.

Petra is a vast, unique city, carved into the sheer rock face by the Nabataeans, an industrious Arab people who settled here more than 2000 years ago, turning it into an important junction for the silk, spice and other trade routes that linked China, India and southern Arabia with Egypt, Syria, Greece and Rome. The Treasury, Al-Khazneh soars 45m high above the sandy floor, carved into the rock face so long ago. Unfortunately, unlike in the movies, there is nothing inside - you can't go in.  We sat and looked - just absorbing the beauty of the place, thinking about it's history.

... and then Ali moved us on to the REST of the site. Ye Gods I never thought about there being anything much other than the Treasury, but how wrong I was!  There's a huge site there with a great many other buildings, although none as spectacular as this one.  
Ali soon decided that walking along the main road through the sand wasn't enough of a challenge for us, so we went off overland - along a part that did say 'Do not climb here". Apparently that was just for newbs, not for us... Anyway whoever it was for, it was damn hard work.  We climbed up and saw things from a different angle - the theatre, some rock caves, some more attempts they'd made of carving something like the Treasury but facing north so not protected from the wind and sand storms. An old Bedouin who just happened to be there (OK I got a nice photo with him in it...) tried to sell us some ancient coins, which Ali, in his expertise, assured us were real... of course they would be cheap for us and why he would sell to us rather than a museum is beyond anyone's guess.... One thing we did get to see was the spectacular caves - see below.

Ali left us right at the end of the Petra site - barring the 800 step climb to the Monastery, which he did not recommend, and given the heat and general tiredness, we gave in and decided not to climb. Apparently you can hire a donkey to take you up but I couldn't do that to a poor donkey!! they are not particularly well treated here, it's common to see the boys whacking them with electrical wire. We went through the archeological museum (5 minutes - it was cool - temperature wise) then we set off back through the Roman ruins to our first drink stop!  There we came across Sheik Abdullah Brogden... and took him with us.. :)

Many hours later (at least it felt like it) we made it back to the Treasury then staggered back towards the hotel. The last kilometre I confess - it was too hot, too dusty, too much uphill and I was totally knackered, so we paid 5JD for a horse and cart back up to the entrance. Then back to the hotel, pool and afternoon nap!!  A splendid day!

Internet woes

How strange is it that we can get easy, fast Internet at almost any cafe or restaurant we stop at in Turkey, but rubbish at all of the hotels?

These are our dinner companions!

Jordan continues after a short intermission

I am a vry slack blogger. I think it's because I don't think anyone bothers to read this - they might look at photos but not read this. Surprise me... if you read this leave a comment  ;)

Well we're a couple of weeks in now I believe.... what the hell's been going on?

Last post we had been to Jerash.  Freaking hot, lots of Roman ruins, good stuff.

Had fresh felafel and hot bread (Turkish bread...?) in the car while we headed off to the next ruins... which were at Ajloun, which is a 12th century Islamic castle built by Saladdin. Then off for a few hours drive to Umm Qais, which is another Roman city - actually one of the famous Decapolis - a union of 10 cities founded by Alexander the Great. This took us up near the Syrian border, so we went through a number of police checks on the way.  We got there to see another lot of colonnaded streets, and actually a much bigger site than we had thought it would be, but probably the most outstanding thing about it was the view - across the Sea of Galilee, the North Jordan Valley and the Golan Heights. Fabulous scenery.

Back to Amman and a lazy dinner at the hotel.

Next day, up at sparrow's again and off to see around Amman first.  We went to the Citadel, which had the obligatory Roman ruins through to more recent Islamic period, such as the Umayyad Palace.  A little drive through the 'souqs' which in this case were pretty much just shops, to the Roman Theatre, which was pretty cool (not literally, it was already 38 degrees) and well preserved.  Off then to see the Desert Castles in Eastern Jordan. the first one we went to, Qasr Kharanah, was pretty much in ruins, it had been used as a caravanserai in later times.  Still we could climb up to the second floor and get an idea of what it must have been like.

The second 'Castle' was Amra Castle, which although it looked pretty small, was actually lovely. The dome used to represent all the zodiac signs - there are bits of it left, and bits of other frescoes being preserved on the walls.  We chatted to a bloke fixing the remaining mosaics on the floor, of course he had relatives in Australia... 

So off we went to the last castle for the day, which was a black basalt fort at Azraq. In two days we had been near so many borders- Palestine, Israel, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

Day 3 saw us up early and out of the hotel at 7am.  We drove to the Dead Sea - the lowest point on earth, which is getting lower every year as they take salt out of it. Apparently there are plans to put water in there from the Red Sea, which will change things substantially. We got to the Dead Sea at about 9am and set off down to the water's edge.   It was already hot, and I entertained a hope that the water would be cool.  HAH! I had no idea of what swimming in the Dead Sea would be like, despite having read about it. To start off with, it IS incredibly salty! so salty that it stings your eyes and leaves a great taste in your mouth.Not having been warned, we hadn't taken any fresh water down with us, so basically just sucked it up and waited until it stopped stinging.  The buoyancy is just amazing. You really have to work hard to do anything other than bob up and down like a cork!!  We followed the lead of some more experienced swimmers and found the mud - the Dead Sea mud that is supposed to be so good for you - and liberally smeared it wherever we could - although Michael resisted putting it down the front of his bathers like all the other men were doing! Oh and the water was not cool - more like a tepid bath, and so not refreshing at all. After the mud had set a bit we got out and showered it all off, then trudged back up the hill to the airconditioned hotel and a couple of cold drinks.

Heading off, we drove to a town called Madaba, where we visited a church with a partially intact 6th century mosaic map of  Palestine. pretty awesome.  Then after a short break for lunch, where I discovered I really like the local drink of fresh lemon juice and mint, to Mt Nebo. Historically, this is where Moses gazed over the Promised Land before his death, and supposedly the site of his burial. Who knows. Nice site though.

Then onwards towards Petra, riding along the King's Way and stopping for a couple of fabulous views along the way. Late afternoon brought us into Petra, all ready for the next exciting day!