Aqaba is Jordan’s only access to the Red Sea and is known as a year-round resort destination. The country of Jordan has about 5 million people which are predominately Arabs. It was very exciting to be this close to Israel, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Iraq. The locals like to think of themselves as the diamond in the rough of the countries surrounding it, I would agree completely.
Jordan was beautiful with clean streets, colorful buildings, fountains and friendly people. English was spoken by a majority of the people and any form of currency was accepted; Jordanian Dinar, Euros, Pounds and US Dollars which made spending money easy. Luckily for me it is the custom to bargain and so I made some good deals. I felt completely safe and welcome here as opposed to Egypt.
We headed out to the town of Petra for the day, Jordan’s most famous attraction. In Greek, the word Petra means “easy to cut stone” and we saw why. This Nabataean Kingdom’s capital built 2,000 years ago contains more than 800 monuments, buildings, temples and tombs carved out of solid rock from the side of the mountain.
The most famous temple was used in the Indiana Jones Movie, the Last Crusade. It was a downhill hike of about 1.5 miles on ancient roads and through steep canyons; the views and engineering of this city was truly amazing. The inhabitants had created dams and waterways using the natural features of the rocks to catch the rain, store it and distribute it throughout.
After the long, hot, uphill climb we were treated to a Jordanian buffet with the best lamb and hummus I have ever eaten. Many of the salads and fruits I had never seen before but enjoyed tremendously. I polished off a liter and a half of bottled water with lunch and wondered how these desert people survive.
Tomorrow is Safaga, Egypt.
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