Our guide Riad and driver
Mohamed were right on time and off we went! We were joined today by Rick &
Janie, Ken & Tom, Julie & Jeff, Hal & Gail and Jim. Marianne was
scheduled to come with us, but due to possible heat intolerance to not being up
to the approx. 5 miles of walking, she decided to skip this tour. We missed
her, but I think she made the right call for her.
The day actually was quite
nice out (80’s) and some breeze for Petra and in the afternoon when we did Wadi
Rum it had cleared up so visibility was good and the winds had died down and
just as we were driving away we were seeing huge dust storms around us. So,
weather wise we really lucked out.
Indiana Jones’ Last Crusade (the
one where Sean Connery played Harrison Ford’s father) was set in Petra.
Petra, the fabled “rose
red city, half as old as time” is a well known ancient Nabataean city in the
south of Jordan. Due to its breathtaking grandeur and fabulous ruins, it was recognized
as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985.
Inhabited since
prehistoric times, this Nabataean caravan-city, situated between the Red Sea
and the Dead Sea, was an important crossroads between Arabia, Egypt and
Syria-Phoenicia. Petra is half-built, half-carved into the rock, and is
surrounded by mountains riddled with passages and gorges. It is one of the
world's most famous archaeological sites, where ancient Eastern traditions
blend with Hellenistic architecture..
We were greeted by our
guide and put on a nice comfortable van. We made a short stop to convert USD to
local currency and we were off on our almost 1.5 hour drive to Petra. The
scenery was beautiful. We saw lots of goats, camels, donkeys, Bedouins, rugged
jagged mountains and it was one beautiful sight after another.
Upon arrival our guide
suggested that we walk in and ride the horses out so he could tell is all about
what we were seeing. They had horse pulled carts (only 10 in all of Petra) for
anyone not able to walk it. One in our party opted to do that on the way in and
the rest of us walked. We met up with him at the bottom and again at the top.
He missed the commentary, but still got to see the breathtaking sites.
We walked through the
narrow gorge called the Siq, which is the entrance to Petra. The beautiful red
sandstone in varying shades had great carvings and natural swirls from the
elements and in some places were only 16 feet wide and had towering rock walls
over 650 feet tall. As we walked through we had to be looking up down and all
around. There was beauty everywhere!
Some of the sites we saw
today were the Obelisk Tomb & Bab As-Siq Triclinium and the most awesome
sight is Al-Khazneh known as the Treasury. It left me breathless. It dwarfs
everything around it. The façade is 30 meters wide by 43 meters high. Our guide
led us to it and told us just where to stand to get our first glimpse. Then you
emerge and see it all. WOW! We spent some free time here amongst the hordes of
people, camels, donkeys, horses and carts. Then we walked on to the Street of
facades and the Theater. Rows of tombs with intricate carvings. The
amphitheater is carved into solid rock and originally it could seat 3,000 but
was later extended to seat about 7,000. Then we saw the Royal Tombs.
We stopped for a restroom
break and got a cold drink and our guide left us to make our own way out. He
was to meet us at the bus at our meeting time. Some took carts out, some walked
and the rest of us walked to where we could pick up the horses and we rode the
last mile out. The horses were included in the cost, but you were to tip the
horseman. Our guide said no more than $5.00 as they will try to badger you for
more. Some had that experience. Greg said his horseman started bargaining how
much all the way to the top. Mine was nicer and talked some politics and then
at the top asked me if I wanted to gallop and I said yes. He galloped me on the
horse back and forth and back and forth. It was fun. Then, he wouldn’t stop.
The horse turned so sharply on one turn I almost fell off. Finally, he got me down
off the horse. I tipped him and he did politely ask me for more, but didn’t
push it.
We rode
about 1.5 hours to the protected area of Wadi Rum, one of the most impressing desert landscapes in the world. Wadi
means valley
and rum is usually considered to
mean "high". It’s an area of rugged mountains and red colored sand dunes and we were
put into 4×4’s to tour the area. Wadi Rum also known as The
Valley of the Moon. It is a valley cut into the sandstone and granite rock in
southern Jordan 60 km to the east of Aqaba; it is the largest wadi in Jordan.
Wadi Rum is probably best known because of its connection with the enigmatic
British officer T.E. Lawrence, who was based here during the Great Arab Revolt
of 1917-18, and as the setting for the film that carried his name
"Lawrence of Arabia". If you
remember the movie Lawrence of Arabia, you will know the scene of riders
thundering out of the desert to capture a Turkish port. The Turkish port was
Aqaba and it’s capture in WWI marked the beginning of the end of the Turkish
empire in Arabia.
We had to climb into the bed of a truck that
had bench seats and off we went. We saw lots of camels, goats and sheep, the
rugged mountains and sand dunes and many Bedouins. We had to shorten our trip
here to make it back to the ship on time so we only had an hour instead of 2.
However, we managed to see quite a lot. There was a mother camel and a baby. So
cute….
We saw the Seven Pillars of Wisdom which is a
famous landmark named after the book by T. S. Lawrence. (Lawrence of Arabia) We
also saw the Alameleh Inscriptions, which are good examples of ancient rock
drawings, showing camels and other wildlife. We saw the site of Lawrence
Springs where he reputedly washed during the Arab Revolt.
After our jeep tour we drove the 40 minutes
back to the ship. What a great day and what a contrast in sights. You could
easily spend a day or 2 in either site.
We got on board and showered
the red dust off and went up to the buffet for dinner and then went to the show
which was Woytec, a Musical Instrumentalist that played clarinet. He was very
good.
Today marks the “only 2
weeks of this cruise left” point. Ugh!
Now for a couple relaxing
sea days before we return to Egypt for our final port in Egypt. Plus we get to set the
clocks back 1 hour to get back on Egypt’s time zone. Yea, more sleep!
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