Aqaba - Wadi Rum and a Desert Lunch

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April 1st

Aqaba

After 3 sea days its nice to get feet back on terra firma.

We came to Jordan and in particular Petra in 2014 (you’ll have to go back and read the blog) and it is still the main tourist attraction when you come to Jordan.

As you arrive at the berth, you have four countries visible from the ship. Egypt is on your port side (left), Israel to the front, Jordan on the starboard (right) and behind you is Saudi Arabia.



Aqaba is the only coastal city in Jordan and the largest and most populous city on the Gulf of Aqaba.

Aqaba plays a major role in the development of the Jordanian economy , through the vibrant trade and tourism sectors.

It is Jordans winter resort on the Red Sea and as we drove around the number of new hotels on along the sandy coast reflects the impact of tourism.

Aqaba's strategic location at the northeastern tip of the Red Sea between the continents of Asia and Africa, has made its port important over the course of thousands of years.

Aqaba's location next to Wadi Rum and Petra has placed it in Jordan's golden triangle of tourism, which strengthened the city's location on the world map and made it one of the major tourist attractions in Jordan. Aqaba is a low-tax, duty-free city, attracting several mega projects and expansion of the Port of Aqaba.

It is expected the city will turn into a major tourism hub in the region. There are a number of residential developments just outside the port area which are part of initiatives by the Jordanians to increase tourism and bring more of the population to the area.



All the talk was about the red rose city of Petra as far as tours were concerned and I think we wanted to preserve our first memories when we visited in 2014.

Interesting that the predicted temperatures at Petra were forecast at 5 C with showers, when we visited in was 35 C with a very hot sun.

Walking 6 k in that heat was not much fun!!!

They have had a substantial amount of rain, which they need as to them its liquid gold.



So we opted for a more sedate tour of Aqaba city and out to Wadi Rum.



I think I’ll gloss over the Aqaba city bit, there is little antiquity save for an old fort by the waterfront which unless you were told otherwise looked like a pile of rubble.

There are some ancient ruins at Ayla, the medieval site of the city of Aqaba, some city walls and a museum.

Enough said!!!



On to Wadi Rum, translating either as Valley of Sand or Roman Valley is also known as the Valley of the Moon is a valley cut into the sandstone and granite rock in southern Jordan 37 miles to the east of Aqaba, it is the largest wadi in Jordan.

Wadi Rum has been inhabited by many human cultures since prehistoric times, cultures–including Nabateans.



Wadi Rum is a natural desert stronghold which rise to some 6000 ft from the red/pink tinged sand desert.



To us, Wadi Rum is best known for its connection with British officer T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), who passed through several times during the Arab Revolt of 1917–18.

The area was used by Lawrence for his base of Bedouin tribes sabotaging the Turkish supply lines during the war, a spring in the mountain is still known as Lawrence’s Well.



In the 1980s one of the rock formations in Wadi Rum, originally known as Jabal al-Mazmar (The Mountain of (the) Plague), was named "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom" after Lawrence’s book penned in the aftermath of the war.



Shots of Wadi Rum in Lawrence of Arabia from 1962 kick-started Jordan's tourism industry.



Wadi Rum is home to the Zalabia Bedouin who, working with climbers and trekkers, have made a success of developing eco-adventure tourism as their main source of income. The area is one of Jordan's important tourist destinations, and attracts an increasing number of foreign tourists.



We duly arrived at the Wadi Rum Visitor Centre, along with all the other visitors which were coming and going.

Unfortunately we were given only 25 minutes to take the area in.



So in someways it was disappointing not to be able to take in the vastness of the region.

To try to put it all into perspective was difficult, the outcrop known as the Seven Pillars of Wisdom was huge and our guide was not very informative.



So a little underwhelmed to be honest as apart from Lawrence of Arabia being filmed here, the more recently filmed The Martian was too.

If you take all the people out of the picture and imagine the red planet Mars as the backdrop you could be transported into that world.



So to lunch ‘a tented Desert Camp’ where all the tours ended up, on a staggered timescale.



We arrived at a bit of a lull so it wasn’t too bad.

Good selection of local foods including breads (freshly cooked) and hummus, BBQ meats etc.



It was well done and most people enjoyed it, although a couple of passengers sat down next to me with 3 bananas each. I asked if they were enjoying the food on offer and one turned to me and said ‘not eating any of that foreign rubbish’ and carried on with her banana (which was grown locally).

I didn’t have the heart to tell her!!!



So a mixed bag today, glad to have seen the vastness of the desert and the red sand and equally glad for the people that went to Petra, to the lost city.



That memory for us will last forever!!!

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