Petra Etcetra

Now that I'm on a roll...

Have I mentioned how much we enjoyed our visit to Jordan over Christmas? As impressive as Amman and Jerash are, as much as we loved Ahhhhhhhhqaba, as amazing as it was to stand on Mt. Nebo and look out on the promised land (well, it was hazy that day), the highlight of the trip for both Glenn and me was definitely Petra. We were told before we left Doha to spend at least two days exploring the site, and I wish we had taken that advice (those who know me will be nodding right now). The day we spent at Petra was both exhilarating and exhausting, and we saw only a fraction of the area.

Even if you've never been to Petra, you've probably seen it in the movies--Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Mummy Returns. Nothing--nothing--does it justice, though.

There are only two ways into the ancient city (a geographical fact that kept it a bit of an open secret for many years): the one that most people take is through the siq, a winding trail through a mountain gorge in which you feel dwarfed by red sandstone cliffs:



If the natural wonder of the place doesn't catch your breath, the first sight of The Treasury, that well photographed facade, stops you in your tracks.

By the way, the above is Glenn's photograph. My phone died at the exact moment that we turned that corner, and it remained dead until we returned to Doha and a very smart friend fixed it.

The carvings at Petra date back to at least the third century BC and were created by the Nabataeans, Bedouins who developed some pretty sophisticated technology for managing water (flooding is common in Petra--about a month before we went, all tourists were evacuated from the site due to heavy flooding).

We thought we had seen the highlight of Petra when we turned that corner and caught our first glimpse of The Treasury. Well, of course, we were wrong. Although some tourists stop there and never go further (and most of the tourist hustling happens there--camel ride? donkey ride? postcards?), there is so much more to see and explore. We chose to climb up to what's called The Monastery (it's not; and the The Treasury is not a treasury either). But not before encountering Marguerite Van Geldermalsen, whose book about Petra I had just finished the day before. According to Wiki, Marguerite is the only western woman to have ever lived in a cave in Petra. She married a Bedouin (her book is called Married to a Bedouin) in the 1970s and lived with him there and in Little Petra until his death). About fifteen minutes after I asked my guide if he knew of Marguerite, he stopped a tall blonde woman coming towards us and introduced us to her. After having left Petra for her home country, New Zealand, with her children, she has returned to run a gift shop at the site with her son, whom we also met. I bought some earrings from her and we had our picture taken together:


The Monastery is reached by a long, winding, steadily climbing hike up a mountain. You have to dodge terrified-looking tourists going up and down narrow trails on donkeys (as well as the donkey droppings), and it took us about an hour, but, once again, the natural and cultural beauty around us kept us motivated. Glenn stopped quite a bit to take pictures (not because he was tired of climbing, I'm sure). In this picture, you can see some of the Petra cave dwellings.


Not only was the Monastery worth it: so were the views from the top:




We learned that there are other hikes at Petra, one up to what is believed by some to be the tomb of Aaron, Moses' brother, but we were pretty bagged at the end of our day.

So that was Petra. Something to see, for sure. This is the etcetra:

Wadi Rum: amazing red sand desert (The Martian was filmed there).
















Ahhhhhhhqaba (am I getting the number of h's right?):



And, finally, the low point of our trip: the Dead Sea:

View from the third room we were assigned at the hotel from hell:


You really can float in the Dead Sea (but it was damned cold!)

So cold that Glenn just dipped his toes in:

So, that was Jordan. Not a bad Christmas holiday, all in all.

Happy Easter, everyone!

Comments

  1. WOW...what amazing photos - Nancy & Glenn, Dave and I are really jealous. I would love to visit that part of the world, especially with my lifelong fascination with T.E. Lawrence and his association with Ahhhhhhhqaba

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    Replies
    1. Is this Sue Edwards? Name is coming up as unknown. Yes, a major assault was launched from Ahhhhhhhhqaba (I think I added an extra h for emphasis). Have you heard also of Gertrude Bell, a contemporary of Lawrence who worked with him and was also a spy and an "Orientalist." She helped to draw the map of the modern Middle East.

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    2. Hi Nancy, yes it is me...this is my google email. Yes, I have heard of Gertrude Bell and others that he was friends with i.e. George Bernard Shaw and his wife and E.M Forster. I am currently reading a book about him - The Mint - about his stint in the RAF, after leaving the army - went from Colonel to Aircraftman. :-)

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  2. Ah, just saw this. I read a book about Gertrude Bell. Extraordinary woman. Amazing how those Europeans traveled throughout the region. Of course, they were rich, but conditions were difficult and they seemed to make the best of it. We are a much diminished species, I fear.

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