Sunday 14th April – Aqaba (Jordan): visiting Petra

It was difficult to be up early enough for our 8:45 check-in for the tour of Petra, but I managed it! About a thousand people were going on tour to either Petra or Wadi Rum, so there were many buses outside waiting.

We travelled in convoy for security. It was a 2-hour journey, including a rest stop at a shop and rest room, and the opportunity to photograph the mountains and valleys through which Moses had journeyed, as he had not been allowed to use the Kings’ Road. On the way we were also pointed to the mountain where lies the tomb of Aaron, Moses’ brother, and were shown the spring where Moses hit the rock with his staff and water poured out (or close facsimiles of such places)!

The countryside between our port of Aqaba and the city of Petra was bleak and barren, with scattered vegetation. Trees are rare. The mountains dominate the distance with jagged peak after peak. In the distance one can sometimes see flocks of goats, attended by black-clad women or lightly-clad men. Sometimes one sees Bedouin tents. In the towns, the houses are square and built of what appears to be cement blocks, all in a monotone that blends in with the surroundings.

Our guide used 3 new words on the trip. My vocabulary will never be the same again: sunny-cream, sunny-glasses and earthy-quakes.

Petra is an ancient site built in a canyon by the Nabateans as a funeral city, not as somewhere to live. It is approached through a siq (= narrow space between rocks), a cleft with high rock walls on each side, twisting in many directions.

When the Romans conquered the Nabateans, they turned it into a dwelling place, with free-standing buildings, destroying some of the carved tombs in the process. When the city was hit by an earthy-quake it was mainly deserted, though was later used by Bedouin tribes. Because of its hidden location it was forgotten by the West between the 14^th and 19^th century, until a Swiss traveller heard of it and bluffed his way in by pretending to be a native wanting to offer a sacrifice. In recent years it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which meant that the inhabitants had to move out and be rehoused in a modern village.

After running the gauntlet of offered horse rides from the modern town of Petra, it was a relief to enter the siq. It was crowded with tourists and guides from the two ships in port, but still spectacular. We could see the remains of ancient dams and water channels (to prevent the site from flooding), carvings, tombs, etc. Our guide stopped us every few minutes to show us one amazing site after another. We also had to keep stepping to the side as a badly-treated horse and carriage would come racing through, carrying passengers who could not walk the distance.

Petra was the site of some amazing scenes in ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’. The story goes that Queen Noor walked Harrison Ford through the siq and stopped, asking him how much he would donate to her charity if she showed him an amazing building. He offered a million dollars. She told him to take one step to his left, and suddenly the spectacular tomb could be seen. That is now called the million dollar step.

Finally we, too, reached the million dollar step and saw the sight that will remain with me for years. The ‘Treasury’ is so-called because of a belief that one of the kings transferred his treasure by magic into a giant carved urn at the top of the building. Bedouins still shoot their rifles at it in the hope of breaking it and dislodging the treasure. However, x-rays show that the urn is solid stone.

We walked around for some time, marvelling at sight after sight, but sorrowing at the way the Romans had defaced tombs in order to carve more seating to extend the amphitheatre. This is the only amphitheatre that is carved into the rock walls rather than built up.

The guide offered us the choice of continuing for another 20 minutes in order to see the remains of a Byzantine church and mosaics, but Jenny, Judith and I felt we were too tired to do that, and then tackle the 40-minute walk back. Another alternative would have been a visit to the Monastery, with 800 steps up, followed by 800 down, and steep drops on the side in places where the footing was sandy. No way!

It was a pleasure to walk back through the shady, less-crowded siq. However, the walk in the sun back to a hotel for a late lunch (3:30) seemed interminable. I could have ridden a horse, but I did not fancy the smell or the fleas! I persevered on foot.

We finally arrived back at the ship about 7pm, to find that Queen Victoria had put on a special welcome for us. We were handed cold towels and glasses of champagne in a party-like atmosphere before boarding.

Somehow I found the energy to go dancing in the evening. I enjoyed a couple of mystery interpretative dances with Paul, a smouldering tango with Jorge, a lovely waltz with Rock and many more. The disappointment was trying to do the Viennese Waltz with Gary. He used social steps that were very different from those I had learnt from Dan and Olena. I could hardly follow him. (The good news is that as the cruise progressed I became better at following the American version of the Viennese Waltz. It's all a learning process.)