Part 2: Petra

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Our day trip from Amman didn’t have the early start that had been threatened. In fact, the rest of the group were so late rolling down to breakfast I began to think they’d gone without me! But no, we met at 9:30 and hit the road to Jerash. Just like every other country with some decent Roman ruins, they claim it’s the biggest, best preserved, most complete set of ruins, but in my view, none of them can match Leptis Magna. Nonetheless it’s impressive and we passed a couple of hours wandering round, soaking up the atmosphere.

Back on the bus again, to the Dead Sea. I’m sure many more eloquent scribes have written about this experience but it is truly bizarre. The water is both incredibly salty and slightly oily and you can sense the flotation effect even as you wade out. But then you just sit down on the water. That;s it; you don’t have to paddle or try to stay afloat – you just sit there and drift around. It breaks your preconceptions about swimming in the sea – it’s so buoyant that you can’t force yourself under the water, or even push your foot down to the seabed. If you’re so inclined, you can cover yourself in (allegedly) invigorating black sulphurous slime but I managed to resist the temptation.

Monday was a long day on the road, travelling from Amman to Petra. A few stops along the way obviously, perhaps the most interesting being Kerac Castle. We spent a happy hour exploring this massive castle dating back to the 11th century, and finally rolled into Petra at about 7 p.m. Tourism is the main focus (perhaps only focus) in the city. We’re told that about 35 new hotels have sprung up in the past few years but quantity certainly doesn’t guarantee quality. We’re at the Edom, possibly named after a misheard Dutch cheese – who can say. It’s politely described as “shoddy” and although I’ve stayed in worse I wouldn’t recommend it!

Petra involves a lot of walking – certainly more than I expected. It’s not the distance that gets you- it’s the heat. The answer is lots of water and lots of stops in the shade wherever possible. We walked all day on Tuesday, down to the Treasury then across to the Monastery site. It’s hard to grasp the scale of these until you see them and stop to realise that they were carved out of the rock by hand, without any modern tools, Microsoft Project or 3D Studio models. What would be the modern equivalent – Westfield shopping mall or an Olympic stadium? Will those still be standing in 2000 years time – I doubt it!

We’ve been back again today to explore some more, taking a “secret” path to the High Places, with a vertigo inducing view of the Treasury. Thanks to Emma and Ross for those pictures; I decided I needed my 30 minute break in the shade!

Tomorrow it’s just a short drive to Wadi Rum and our night in the desert, of which more later. It could be either the high point or low point of the trip – we’ll have to wait and see……….

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