Then we were off.
Aqaba itself was another lovely surprise, no grey port, but a busy and vibrant
little town fast becoming a popular seaside resort for Jordanians as well as
international travellers. The sea front
was lined with palm trees and had both the look and feel of a resort welcoming
everyone. Like in Abu Dhabi and Dubai,
all signs were not only in Arabic but translated into English, helping us lazy
English folk.
Our tour guide gave us a lot of history using words like:
Edomites, Phonoecians, Nabateans, Romans Crusaders, First World War, Lawrence
of Arabia, Turks - so much to learn. He pointed out Bedouin camps, mountain ranges,
the site of Harun’s tomb (Aaron) and more.
We had a short shopping and tilet stop at a souvenir shop called Talina,
where the toilets had doors missing, but nobody cared when needs must! And the
views from this mountain top stop were also spectacular. All day Khachik has been saying that the
terrain is just like the Iran of his childhood, rocky, sandy and arid. The roads are generally good, especially the
main highways. One noticeable difference is the speed bumps that come up just
before a slip road or junction making the main traffic slow right down to avoid
accidents. there were random checks by the police at intervals too. Nothing scary though.
In brief, Petra was a provincial capital about 2000 years
ago, but had a history dating back 600 years earlier. It was conquered by the
Romans in 106AD, who cut off the water supply to capture it. It was destroyed by an earthquake in 363 AD, and
later rediscovered in 1812 by a young Swiss explorer.
It is an international heritage centre now, with ticketed
entry. There’s a mile long chasm to walk through called the Siq. I have already posted some pictures of the
Siq and our first view of the Treasury building on Facebook, but if you haven’t
been able to see them the cliffs are pink, cream, blue veined and very high,
with tombs and steps still visible in places.
At the end of the Siq the bright light shines in and the massive red
building known as the Treasury just stands there, taking your breath away. Tombs are still evident below the Treasury.
Further along the main road there are many more buildings – a theatre, a colonnade,
many tombs hewn out of the rocks on either side, the Temenos Gate, the Temple
of winged lions and the Castle of Pharoah’s Daughter. Too far for us with our tight schedule are
also a monastery (up 800 steps - another time!) a Garden Temple, Triclinium and Roman Soldier
Tomb.
Needless to say the surrounding area has become a tourist
attraction too with several international hotels, cafes and souvenir shops. It
was in one of these hotels, a Movenpick hotel, that we enjoyed a huge lunch,
with loads of choices and a magnificent selection of tastes, and coffee. The walk from there to Petra was downhill,
windy and cold, and we were glad of the advice to wrap up. The walk back was uphill and we picked up our
pace to keep warm. At the end of the
walk back we found the free wifi that allowed us to share the photos straight
away. Smiles all round. Another gorgeous treat was a Turkish coffee flavoured
with cardamom. I will be making this at
home. The whole day was stunning,
beautiful and really emotional. As
momentous as Christ the Redeemer in Rio or transiting Panama and Suez Canals, and just as hard to believe we’ve been lucky
enough to visit, and are both fit and enough to take part in the more energetic
of the tours.
The temperature continued to drop until our departure, just
before 7 p.m. and as we left Petra it was 4C outside the coach. It started to
rain, sleet and then snow as we crossed the mountains again. Our tour guide
continued to inform and entertain us, he was a very shy humble young man. My main concern was the driver’s bad habit of
speaking on his mobile, holding it in his left hand on the mountain roads, taking
his right hand off the steering wheel to change gear, or to gesticulate to the
person at the other end of the phone call, whilst doing things like driving too
close to the vehicle in front and overtaking when road signs said “Stay in low
gear”. There was no way I was going to
nap! Reason to be grateful to be here
today number 1025. Ironically we had been
advised by P&O not to take a ride on the horses and carts down the Siq
earlier as they weren’t safe/insurable.
I suspect they were safer than the coach driver we had, considering he
had 38 souls on board.
We arrived back safely just before 9 p.m. but it was fine,
the dining arrangements had also been altered to accommodate the late tours and
we were able to dine at our usual table, and then get back to the cabin at bed
time!
Bye for now. Bright eyed tomorrow on our sea day to Suez. xx
