I found Jordan to be one of the most startling places I have ever been too, it ignited images in my mind I have not had since I was a child, and it has a landscape that set my senses on fire. We arrived in Jordan at the Gulf of Aqaba, my husband relating the entire Lawrence of Arabia story to me; this further built my feeling of walking in a time hallowed land.
Aqaba today has a very cosmopolitan feel to it , very modern, very clean and lots of large expensive yachts’ in the marina, we then set of on our journey across Jordan’s dessert to Petra.
The journey was not what I expected I imagined finding the landscape very boring just lots of sand, but it is wild, romantic ever changing almost like a lunar scene, with scatterings of Bedouin tents and herds of goats, I found myself glued to the window of the coach not wanting to miss one moment of this magical place.
As we approached Petra the town it is not attractive as with many towns in these countries the people are very poor and the houses are very basic, it almost looked like a building site in some places. When we got to the valley of Petra you could see the commercial side of tourism had a strong hold here, you could ride down in a horse pulled carts if you dared, as the young drivers saw it as a race to get to the bottom it looked very scary.
We followed our guide as he told us the brief out line of Petra’s history and how they believe it to be a giant cemetery, it does take your breath away and I will never forget it, the colours of the rock sides ,the sculptures all done without the machines and tools they have today, I just wish I could have been there when it was very quiet and sat and bathed in the history that oozes from every cavity, to have had the time to walk further into that valley and discovered many more of its treasures, it truly is a wonder of the world.
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