Jordan Adventure Part II

Petra

 

Don’t underestimate Petra. Its size, its ruggedness, its magic. You might remember Indiana Jones approaching the majestic Treasury on a horse through the winding, natural rock fissure known as The Siq. But that’s just the start. Well, one of the starts.

 

Being contrary – and unknowing - we decided to enter Petra from the rear, after a sunrise visit to Little Petra.

 

Our 6am taxi drove us the 20 minutes to Little Petra, which is exactly what it says on the tin – a microcosm of next door’s big attraction. Pretty much one single, open air rock corridor with rooms carved into the sandstone rock on either side by the Nabateans over 2000 years ago: some can be easily reached, some require careful staircase scrambling. We had a good hour exploring as the sun rose, all alone save a handful of Bedouin prepping their coffees and trinkets for the day ahead.

 

Bonus points for it being completely free to explore.

 

From the entrance to Little Petra, you can turn right and undertake the strenuous, uphill hike to the back entrance of Petra proper.

 

Start early though – there’s no shade, and you’ll glimpse Bedouin villages where families go about their lives, rearing animals and weaving scarves.

 

The sweaty traipse proves absolutely worth it when, unexpectedly, the majestic Monastery unfurls its rocky splendour in front of you. It’s massive – the second largest monument in Petra – but a more peaceful (if equally photogenic) rival to the more famous Treasury. There’s a café opposite to slake your post-hike thirst, but don’t tarry too long, for there’s much more to see.

 

It would only be possible to see the main highlights of Petra in a single day. Over two days you can amble between, and up to, all the major sites: the Roman theatre, the Byzantine church, the tombs and the temples. With another day you can really cover less-explored ground.

 

The evocatively-named Place of High Sacrifice (a challenging clamber, with a commanding view of the site). An isolated Crusader castle. An ancient quarry. There’s a LOT. And there’s nothing stopping you clambering over rocks, rooting around (empty) tombs, or trekking over sand to ancient hermitages. Petra is truly a Tomb Raider experience for the curious explorer.

 

Make sure to enter Petra one morning through the front entrance, so you can wind through the multi-layered, enchanting Siq, a wide natural fissure in the rock that kept Petra hidden for centuries. There are carvings, elephant-shaped rocks, and niches to look at as the horses, camels, and e-vehicles manoeuvre around you. And the moment the Treasury comes into focus between the multi-coloured rocks is truly a once-in-a-lifetime thrill.

 

You can even ride a horse, or a camel, the 1km to get to the Treasury, though expect to be pumped for a hefty tip. The earlier you get there, the fewer crowds clamouring to ruin your perfect snap – the gates open at 6am for the insomniacs and over-excited.

 

For those early birds, we particularly recommend an early morning, sweaty hike up the Al-Khubtha trail, to watch the Sun rise over the façade of the Treasury. Take a snack and book (and water!), as we did, and make a morning of it.

 

There are plenty of Bedouin shops scattered around the Petra site, many clustered near the theatre, and on the steep stairs that ascend to the Monastery from the main site. Metal camels, wooden toys, silk scarves. Bargain, bargain, bargain, and move from one to the other to get the best price. There are also a few spots to buy hot food, desserts and drink – mostly in the centre of the site, so don’t worry if you don’t have sandwiches.

 

On leaving, it’s back out through that winding Siq, then another 30 minute walk, and finally you’re back in the bustling tourist hub of Wadi Musa. There are plenty of food options in the town – we recommend Sana’a El Yemen which, shockingly, serves up tasty (if expensive) Yemeni food, and the quiet and charming Elan Restaurant. Another warning – Wadi Musa is hilly. Very hilly. Which can be quite the challenge after a full day exploring the labyrinthine Petra site.

 

Wadi Rum

 

There’s a very clear line in the sand – literally – that marks where you leave tiny, ramshackle Wadi Rum Village and enter the eerie, alien realm of the Wadi Rum desert.

 

You’ll almost certainly be on the back of a 4x4, scooped up in the village, your bones juddering, your teeth rattling, and clinging onto your backpack for dear life. Suddenly the low-rise houses disappear and all you can see ahead is a vast sea of red sand, scarred with looming, implacable rocks.

 

It’s no wonder Ridley Scott chose to shoot The Martian here. And there was nowhere on Earth better for Denis Villeneuve to build the arid spice planet of Arrakis for Dune. You can easily picture the isolated Freman settlements while careering though the rocky landscape: there are small encampments huddled in the shadows of the biggest rocks, pleading for protection from the cutting desert winds.

 

Our own encampment – Wadi Rum Stars – was a twenty minute drive into the austere wilderness. Happily, the welcome, and the facilities, were anything but austere.

 

A large twin hut with bay windows looking out onto miles of dusty rock and crucial amenities - warm water (mostly) and electricity (sometimes) – on tap. On the back deck sat a delightful swing chair, perfect for spacing out in awe at the spectacular Milky Way display overhead.

 

And, like Omar Sharif, you can just walk. Straight out into the desert, in any direction. Climb a mound of rocks. Stroke a camel. Examine a bush. Don’t stay out there too long though, you don’t want to miss your evening meal, a Bedouin “zarb” of meat cooked in underground clay ovens. The triumphal display when the succulent meats are unveiled is almost as exciting as actually getting to scoff it (along with lashings of humus, salad and other desert delights).

 

After a spot of outdoor tea by the flickering fire, and some star-spotting, it’s back to bed ready for an early start. My start was particularly early – I had a date with a delicately-limbed, long-eyelashed young thing who promised to take me places I’d never been.

 

And so at 6am I was clambering chaotically onto the back of Elian - my desert dromedary - to be carried, swaying and juddering (quite the theme), out into the desert to see the day break softly – then with spreading fire - over the dunes. It was peaceful, silent, glorious. It also wasn’t cheap.

 

Back for swift breakfast, then out again into the desert at 8am for a Bedouin-guided, 4x4 daytrip covering some of the myriad thrills Wadi Rum has to offer. There’s the Lawrence’s Spring, where the famed Arabist T E Lawrence purportedly found sustenance. You can traipse up the side of a mountain for 15 minutes in the blazing Sun, or you can drink from the wellhead by the carpark and move on.

 

There are still undulating sand dunes, punishingly fun to scramble up and sandboard down. There are a couple of famed rock arches, on which you can precariously for the obligatory Insta-shot. There’s a mushroom rock, and there are prehistoric petroglyphs etched in ancient chasms.

 

There are hidden and silent spots where your Bedouin guide might make you a delicious vegetable stew from scratch, and there are glorious and isolated promontories to clamber up and watch the sun descend into a fiery infinity on the horizon.

 

All in all, it’s an extraordinary and soul-cleansing experience, even as your soul gets brutally juddered once more on the way back to camp, and then again the next morning on your way back to Wadi Rum Village for the next stage of your Jordanian adventure.

 

Aqaba

 

For us, that was a trip even further south, to Jordan’s only tiny and beloved strip of coastline – Aqaba, on the northern tip of the Red Sea.

 

Aqaba is something of a party city – the Vegas of Jordan maybe - and you can tell by the American junk restaurants and sprawling resort hotels. Happily, it has its own charms and history too. We spent a fascinating day exploring the eerie fort which once protected pilgrims to Mecca, and the Heritage Museum which spins a fascinating tale of Jordan’s struggle for independence.

 

Rumours of a gobsmackingly-giant flagpole was sadly over-egged, but ancient churches and working excavations were worthy alternatives.

 

Warning: even by Jordanian standards, Aqaba gets hot. Nearly 40 degrees when we were there in summer – it’s brutal to walk in. So perfect pool and beach weather, if you can find the shade. Happily, decadent Aqaba has plenty of both – from the thronging, decidedly local Southern Beach to the high-end resort options. We plumed for the Crowne Plaza Hotel for sleeping, but plunged into nearby town for a fine Indian meal at Seven Spices.

 

Aqaba is also a great place to pick up presents for the folks back home. Colourful sand images in glass jars (sadly made in China), wooden camels, lamps, tile magnets – all can be found in a handful of buzzy emporia near the seafront.