Letters from Jordan - Tombs, Temples, and Treasury

 

Jordan - Tombs, Temples, and Treasury

Jordan Photo Album

Petra is an absolutely amazing spectacle of landscape, rock, & architecture created by the nomadic Nabataeans over 300 years BC. Though nomadic, the Nabataeans developed incredible skill in sculpting whole cities of sandstone rock & creating highly efficient canals for distributing water. Petra was able to flourish under this tribe.  
The shuttle from my hostel dropped our little group off just as the site was opening so we were the first to enter the deep slot canyon entrance to the tombs, temples, treasury & palaces.  A cold, crisp, totally enchanting walk through this canyon in no way prepares one for the first site - absolutely stunning. It's impossible to describe the incredible workmanship & beauty of the structures carved right out of & into the colorful sandstone cliffs. The site is immense & I was able to wander totally alone to the very end taking in the views as I climbed up & up to a vast vista point over the Wadi Araba. 

At the tip top of one of the last cliffs is a tent shop of sorts - the Bedouin who sits there offers tea but no expectation to buy anything. Of course I had to sit & drink tea, 3 cups of tea, as we shared stories about life & adventure.

Coming back down off the cliff I could see that visitors were now beginning to arrive so I stopped for a cup of Turkish coffee & to chat with a fellow from Pittsburg, California!  This fellow is on a quest to see the 7 "new" manmade wonders of the world & Petra was his latest conquest. Not knowing what these new 7 were - I had to Google to find the list included: Petra-Jordan, Machu Pichu-Peru, Great Wall of China, Chichen Itza-Mexico, Christ the Redeemer-Rio Brazil, Colosseum-Rome Italy, & the Taj Mahal-India. The Great Pyramid of Giza holds an honorary 8th spot - it is the only one of the original 7 wonders still standing.  Turns out, with Petra, I have now seen all 8! The first, Machu Pichu, I saw in 1973 when I was 20 years old. It has only taken me 44 years to see them all!

From Petra I traveled on to Amman, the capital of Jordan from where I had planned to just hop over the border to visit Jerusalem. Silly me, it was not so easy for a variety of reasons but I was able to jump over lots of hoops and made my way into Jerusalem for a short visit. It was cold & damp!! 

After my short visit to Israel, it was a little relief to come back to Amman after a crazy return trip. The downtown area where I stayed is small but fun. Lots of shops, people on the streets, cafes, & restaurants. At night, people come out to stroll. It seemed to be a favorite activity to buy some of the delicious Jordanian sweets & walk around while eating from paper plates. The food is really delicious and eating out in local restaurants - even with trying to figure local dishes - was a great experience.

Though I probably had one too many falafels during my stay in Egypt, Jordan, & Israel - all in all I had a wonderful experience in these Arab countries & I can highly recommend travel here. The people are kind & friendly to foreigners & I was never made to feel anything but welcome. Sometimes people would express their disfavor of the US government but I never heard anything but respect for the people of the USA. Well I should say, most people who talked about politics expressed disbelief & dismay that Trump won the election & that's still hard to explain!

But now it's time to leave this cold weather and so I turn my sights eastward. Hmmm, where shall I go? Ahhh… Sri Lanka looks interesting!