Jordan Travelogue

We visited Jordan in a break from our travels to Egypt. It was a long time ago now, and my memory is not what it once was. I do remember that we were seriously tired during our stay in Jordan from all of the walking, but more importantly I have some amazing memories of one of the most interesting countries we have ever visited.

Aqaba

We travelled by ferry from Nuweiba (Egypt) to Aqaba on the fast turbo-catamaran, which took about an hour. We stayed in Aqaba for a couple of nights only, I don't remember the name of the hotel but it was centrally located and nice enough. There was not much of interest in Aqaba, and as it is Jordan's only access to the sea it was mainly about the beaches. I expect that things have changed a great deal since we visited though. There were some rather good restaurants there at the time, in fact one in particular was a bit too good! I mean that the food was very good, but unfortunately at the time our budget meant that we shouldn't have eaten there more than once. But as I said the food was really good so we ate there several times, spending way too much money, which meant we had to change our plans somewhat. It was well worth it though. The restaurant was called The Ali Baba Restaurant, and was the most up market in town. There was a large outside eating area which was very popular and always busy. As it was so long ago I don't remember all of the food but I can remember a particularly yummy selection of Indian dishes! There was a good choice of dishes, meat, fish and lovely salads. The beer we drank was Heineken, which obviously being imported was rather expensive and added to our over spending! We knew we had to move on before we were completely out of funds! So we got a mini bus from Aqaba to Petra.

PETRA

One of the main reasons for visiting Jordan was to see Petra, and we were not disappointed. The facades of the great buildings and tombs carved from towering walls of rock have to be seen to be believed. Petra is a testament to the one time wealth of the ancient capital of the Nabataeans ~ Arabs who dominated the Transjordan area in pre-Roman times. Petra, which means 'rock' in Greek, has had much written about it over the years and is often called the rose red city half as old as time. Petra is not somewhere that can be visited and fully appreciated and enjoyed in a hurry, to really take in everything that it has to offer you need to spend at least a couple of days there. This is exactly what we did, we spent two fulls days of 11 hours walking round taking everything in. First thing every morning it was very busy with lots of organized tour groups but once they had looked round and taken the obligatory photo's and headed off to their next destination the place felt almost deserted. It felt like we had the whole site more or less to ourselves, obviously the sheer size meant that you could walk for hours and not see another soul. The stone is not as red as you might expect, certain pieces are and with the sun shining you could see a rainbow of other colours from dark grey to the lightest yellow and every shade in between. Petra's many caves were home to the local Bedouin until the mid 1980's. The Bedouin were then moved to a new village north of Petra, and were understandably not happy with the move. A small number of families remain living in the caves, they make a living by pitching tents selling drinks, handicrafts, and other artefacts. Petra has had a long and varied history, and was once the sophisticated capital of a flourishing empire that extended well into Syria. Empire may be the wrong word it was more a zone of influence. With the Nabataeans expanding their territory, and more caravan routes under their control, obviously their wealth increased accordingly. They were more interested in the financial gains than territorial acquisition. It was this wealth that allowed the Nabataeans King Aretas III to buy off the Roman forces when the Roman general Pompey, having conquered Syria and Palestine in 63 BC, tried to exert control over their territory. The Nabataeans luck ran out though when they chose to side with the Parthians in the war with the Romans. They found themselves having to pay Rome heavy tribute after their defeat of the Parthians. The Nabataeans fell behind paying this tribute and were invaded by Herod the Great, twice. In 31 BC, the second attack, saw Herod gain control of a large chunk of the territory. Then in 106 AD, the Romans took the city and set about transforming it with their usual plan of colonnaded streets, baths, and everything else conducive to modern Roman life. Petra's importance started to diminish with the rise of Palmyra in the north, and the opening up of the sea trade routes. During the Christian era a Bishopric was created in Petra with some of the Nabataean buildings being altered for Christian use. With the Muslim invasion in the 7th century Petra passed into obscurity, with the only action during the next 500 years occurring when the Crusaders briefly moved in and built a fort in the 12th century. From this time until the early 19th century Petra was a lost city known only to the local Bedouin inhabitants. They were keen to keep the existence of the city quiet as they feared that an interest from foreigners may have interfered with their livelihood. It wasn't until 1812 when a young Swiss explorer, Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, and convert to Islam, was travelling from Damascus to Cairo when he heard some of the local people talking about some amazing ruins hidden amongst the mountains of Wadi Musa. Once he heard this he wanted to travel to Wadi Musa without arousing local suspicion, so he devised a ploy. This he did and he was able to examine a couple of the sites, including the Khazneh (Treasury), and the Urn Tomb, before his guide grew suspicious. He bluffed his way out and reported his findings to the outside world, he said that it seemed very probable that the ruins at Wadi Musa were those of the ancient Petra. Whilst we were visiting Petra most people were happy to explore the site on foot, but there were a few who chose to see it by horse drawn carriage. There were also those who chose to explore Petra on horseback. Obviously there were maps available at Petra showing set routes to explore all of the main sites. We glanced at a map but after that we decided to let our feet decide where to go. I don't think we have ever done so much walking in such a short space of time. We managed to see all of the main sites we had wanted to see over the two days we were there, and obviously as the site is so expansive there was lots we didn't get to see. The sites of interest include, the Obelisk Tomb, Al-Madras, Khazneh (Treasury), Amphitheatre (8000 seat), Royal Tombs, Urn Tomb, Corinthian Tomb, Palace Tomb, Mausoleum of sextius Florentinus, The colonnaded Street, and The Marketplace, where there would have been, the Nymphaeum, Nabataean bath, Temenos Gateway, Southern Temple, Qasr al-Bint Firaun, Temple of the Winged Lions, Byzantine Church, Al-Habis and the museum. Other sites include 'Ain Musa, and if you can cope with a 6/7 hour climb up to the top of Mt Hor and Aaron's Tomb passing the Snake Monument, you will definitely sleep well that night! Other climbs will bring you to the Crusader Fort, the Monastery, Umm al-Biyara. Basically at Petra you will not be bored, and you will get fit! Apart from all of the wonderful ruins we saw at Petra, and all of the great walking we did I don't really remember much else about the area. I can not remember the name of the hotel we stayed at, only that our room was large and clean, and at the end of the first day of walking round Petra we just about had enough energy to stagger back there! We ate dinner, had a shower, and a good nights sleep, before we visited Petra and got hot and dirty all over again! From Petra we wanted to go to Amman. After a little research we decided that the best and most comfortable way for us to make this next stage of our journey was by taxi. As this was quite a long journey we left very early one morning sleeping for most of the journey. The taxi was a very old Mercedes which we shared with a local lady and her young son, they both sat in the front, leaving us to relax in the back. There was a bit of excitement on the journey when the engine stopped. The driver couldn't get it started again, so he decided to help it by doing a reverse rolling start into lots of traffic on the main highway ... it certainly woke us all up!

AMMAN

After our journey we were very happy to finally arrive in the capital. We stayed at the Select Hotel, Baoniya St, on Jebel al-Weibdeh. Our room was large, en-suite and clean. The main attraction at this hotel was the Negresco Bar in the basement. After a quick wash we headed down to the bar for some much needed refreshment. The bar was always busy, mainly with men but I think there were a few ladies of the night there too! We found Jordan to be a very friendly country, with Amman being the most friendly place. Amman is all hills, good exercise for us. The Roman Theatre is the most impressive remnant of Philadelphia. It is about five minutes walk east of downtown, cut into the northern side of a hill that was once a necropolis, and has a seating capacity of 6,000 people. The theatre is thought to have been built in the 2nd century during the reign of Antoninus Pius, ruler from 138 to 161. Other sites include the Nymphaeum, Philadelphia's chief fountain, built some time after the theatre and odeon. The Odeon was used by musical performers, originally it would have been taller and probably enclosed with some kind of roof to protect both the performers and the audience from the elements. There were some interesting museums in Amman, the Folklore Museum, the National Archaeological Museum, which are both found in the wings of the Roman Theatre, and the Traditional Jewels and Costumes Museum. From Aqaba we wanted to visit Jerash, so we took a day trip there by bus.

JERASH

After Petra, Jerash is the major attraction in Jordan, it is 51 km north of Amman. Jerash is in the Gilead Hills on the road to Ramtha which leads to Syria. It is an amazingly well preserved example of a Roman provincial city, probably the best example in the Middle East. Jerash lies on the east bank of a small tributary of the Zarqa River, it is populated by Circassians who were settled there by the Turkish authorities. The main ruins of Jerash are found on the west side of the stream, they were discovered by a German traveller, Ulrich Seetzen. Restoration began in 1925 under the British Mandate, with the first excavations carried out three years later. Before that the city was buried underneath the sand, which explains the good condition of most of the buildings. The excavations found two theatres, temples, churches, a marketplace, baths, and an unusual oval shaped forum. Restoration work continues on various areas of the site, and whilst we were there, there were several man hard at work hoping to unearth more treasures. It was quite busy but not unbearable so, we were able to explore the site and take lots of photo's without any trouble. Jerash has had an interesting past from its heyday with a population of around 15,000, to its prominence at the time of Alexander the Great in 332 BC. After the Roman general Pompey's conquest of the region in 63 BC Jerash became part of the Roman province of Syria and then a city of the Decapolis. The following two centuries saw trade with the Nabataeans flourish and the city became extremely wealthy. The 1st century AD saw a typical colonaded main street, intersected by two side streets. Emperor Trajan's presence in 106 AD saw the annexation of the Nabataean kingdom, with more wealth in Jerash, many of the buildings were replaced by more impressive ones. In 129 AD the Emperor Hadrian came and stayed for a while, to celebrate the presence of his visit the Triumphal Arch at the southern end of the city was constructed. It was at the beginning of the 3rd century when Jerash was bestowed with the rank of Colony that the city reached its peak before its decline. There was a brief respite during the reign of Diocletian circa 300 AD, with a mini building boom. Christianity had become the major religion by the middle of the 5th century and churches were constructed everywhere. Under Justinian 527-565 AD seven churches were built, most of them were constructed using stones taken from earlier pagan shrines and temples, after 611 no more churches were built. The Persian invasion of 614, and then the Muslim conquest of 636, combined with several earthquakes in 747, were too much for Jerash to withstand and its population shrank to less than 25% of its original number. There was a very brief occupation in the 12th century by a Crusader garrison, but apart from that the city was completely deserted until the Circassians arrived in 1878. In 1925 the first steps toward conservation and restoration of the area began and continue to this day.

The ruins at Jerash were among the most impressive we have seen during our many travels. The Triumphal Arch was the first site we saw, its height was amazing, and to think that when it was originally built it would have stood twice as high. The Hippodrome would have originally held roughly 15,000 spectators, with the pitch measuring 244m by 50m hosting athletic competitions and horse races. The South Theatre would have housed 5,000 spectators and was built during the 1st century. The Nymphaeum was the main ornamental fountain in the city, and a temple built to the nymphs in 191 AD, two storey and elaborately decorated with marble slabs on the low level. Water would have cascaded over the facade into a large pool at the front with the overflow from this going out through carved lions heads down to the drains in the streets below. The most impressive building on the site is the Temple of Artemis dedicated to the patron goddess of the city. There was so much to see at Jerash, and the whole site really was in fantastic condition. Apart from the few buildings mentioned we also saw, the Forum, the Temple of Zeus, a 4th century Cathedral, the Church of St Theodore which was built in 496 AD, the Viaduct church, and the remains of the 6th century Church of Bishop Isaiah, and so much more. There was also a Museum exhibiting artefacts from the site including, pottery theatre tickets, glass, Mamluke coins, jewellery, and the main attraction at the museum was the gold jewellery and coins which were found in a family tomb near to the Triumphal Arch. We spent a few hours walking round the site before taking the bus back to Amman. From Amman we headed to Kerak by bus.

KERAK

Kerak is situated on the routes of the ancient caravans that travelled from Egypt to Syria. We stayed for just one night but we did manage to find time to look round the castle. The Citadel Qasr dominates the town and is one in a long line, stretching from Aqaba in the south up to Turkey in the north, by the Crusaders. From Kerak we headed back to Aqaba to get the ferry back Nuweiba Egypt.

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SYRIA ... Not For Us!

Whilst we were in Jordan we had thought we might go to Syria for a while as we were so close. We were told this was not a problem at that time, all we had to do was go to the Syrian embassy in Amman, and get ourselves a visa. Simple. Excellent. We took a taxi to the Syrian embassy, and waited in line with a few other people to get our visa. Not so simple. When it was our turn to speak to the lady behind the glass we were asked where we were from, and once we had told her, the U.K. she said NO! We asked her why, and she just said she wasn't issuing anyone with our passports a visa for Syria. Well that was that cleared up then!

Apart from not getting to visit Syria, our trip to Jordan was amazing. Jordan is such a lovely country, and the people were so friendly, and as for Petra it really does have to be seen to be truly appreciated.