Thursday, November 15. In Jordan: A great hotel, Wadi Rum, Camel Ride, Petra, and a long road to Amman.
The previous afternoon we had said goodbye to our guide Joseph and our driver Mo and crossed the border in the south of Israel. The crossover into Jordan was not too difficult, but it all takes time. We are now in the what is officially known as the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. This is, like Israel, a small country. We will go from nearly the southernmost point to one of the northernmost points in our two + days here.
“Hashemite Kingdom” refers to the town of the origin of the dynasty of kings who have ruled here since around 1953. King Hussein is the most remembered, for his long reign until his death in 1999. His son is now the king.
Our Hotel, the Intercontinental, was fabulous. We stayed in Aqaba, a Red Sea port and resort area. The food was great, the service even better, and the rooms very pleasant. In the morning a number of us just gathered along the shore enjoying the beautiful morning.
After breakfast, our baggage was loaded onto the bus and we headed out. Unfortunately, one of our number had taken ill late the previous afternoon and stayed behind with her sister. They found other transport to Amman and met with us there. She is still not well as of the evening.
As we motored to our first stop, our guide, Ace, told us why Jordan can and should be considered part of the Holy Land. The land we visit appear in the Bible in various ways - as the land of Gilead, to the north, where Jacob fled in Genesis 31:17-25. Amman is a continuation of the land of the Amonites. And south of that is where Moab was found. Moab and Amon were sons of Lot, the nephew of Abraham. That sordid story is found in Genesis 19. For most of the Bible they were considered enemies of Israel, but David’s great-grandmother, Ruth, was a Moabite.
Our guide Ace is a Muslim as are most people in Jordan (91%,) 6% are Christians. As such, he has an expanded idea of what a prophet is, but lists these people as prophets who were from or lived in what is now Jordan: Aaron (buried near Petra), Moses, Lot, Jacob (aka Israel), Joshua, Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, Judah, John the Baptist, Jesus (baptized in the area and at times was in Bethany across the Jordan) Esau (Jacob’s twin) and Mohammed - many centuries later.
Our first stop was Wadi Rum. Wadi means valley or gulch; Rum means gigantic, referring to the height of the mountains around it. Or so we were told. Other sources translate it as Valley of Light, in the sense of light soil. It is also known as the Valley of the Moon. It is in the SW corner of Jordan, just an hour or so from Aqaba. This really has no connections with a religious pilgrimage, but we participated in the Christian virtue of joy. We loaded into trucks for a ride through the desert. There are three stops along the way. The first is to climb a dune to a rocky height to give a panoramic view of the valley. The second stop is to see petroglyphs left by the Nabataeans who were traders who traveled by camel through the Silk Road. They eventually developed a small empire which lasted for some centuries around the time of Jesus. They also gave the world the wonder of Petra. The final stop has some charmed images, including that of T. E. Lawrence, “Lawrence of Arabia” who passed through the area several times during the Arab Revolt of 1917-18 against the Ottoman Empire. This stop also includes a small Bedouin gift shop which we visited after being offered tea - which connoisseurs deemed excellent.
What made this visit especially great for some of us is that many of us chose to ride camels between the last two stations. I hope to attach pictures and videos of this extraordinary place when I get home.
From there we drove to Petra, another two hours away. After a lunch we headed down the one mile gorge to the ancient city of Petra. Those who are familiar with Indiana Jones In Search of the Holy Grail know about the treasury building at Petra. On 7/7/2007 the Seven New Wonders of the World were announced. Petra was one of them. You walk through a siq which is a very narrow gorge. At times you can barely see the sky above you. Suddenly you see the city of Petra seeing first what is known as the Treasury Building. It was probably a tomb of some sort. All the buildings in Petra were carved out of sandstone. The city goes on for a mile. It is believed that there are 20 feet of city below what is typically seen. There are also rooms or buildings at higher levels. It includes a theater for several thousand people. Channels were cut into the walls of the gorge to bring water into the city. Other than the doggedly persistent peddlers, it is a wonderful experience.
From there we drove to Amman, the capital of Jordan. The sun had already set when we left Petra, so the three hour ride was used by many for some sleep. Most of us had logged over 18,000 steps for the day. We checked into the hotel around 9:00 for a late supper. We noted that this hotel had been awarded 7 stars! But we just crashed for the night.
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