A trip to Jordan was never on our radar but once we were in Eilat, “a lot” of people were venturing to Petra for day trips. Described as "one of the most precious cultural properties of man's cultural heritage” and ranked as one of "the 40 places you have to see before you die” how could we pass it up? We passed through the Israel border under the usual scrutiny and were met by our guide Amin-a great guy who soon became a friend. As we drove through Aquaba, people waved and smiled from the side of the road. Everyone wanted to talk to us. We were invited into a grungy bakery where they insisted we come downstairs- personally I feared ending up in a Bundt cake but they were so nice they let us watch the pita process and help make some. I guess OSCHA doesn’t exist in Jordan as five foreigners rolled their hands in dough and made pitas…
We spent the next hours driving out to Wadi Rum-a Bedouin desert camp in the middle of the desert where we could’ve/should’ve stayed the night but instead settled for an amazing jeep ride through the most amazing desert with its tall dunes, steep cliffs and multi-colored sand. The amazing part was we were the only ones there and we had this spectacular area (where Indiana Jones and Laurence of Arabia were filmed) all to ourselves.
Next was a night at our hotel followed by a whole day in Petra. Petra is known for its rock cut architecture and water conduits system. Established sometime around the 6th century BCE as the capital city of the Nabataeans- it is a symbol of Jordan and remained unknown to Westerners until 1812. It is truly spectacular to see an ornate city carved out of rock.
We spent the night on a “Petra by night” tour where we walked back into Petra by candlelight. Very beautiful but very cold at night in the desert air.
Comments