Interestingly enough, when you exit Israel, you aren’t immediately in Jordan. Jordan is about 100 meters away. You have to walk through this nether area before being welcomed to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, where they recheck your passports and such. Eli met and spoke with someone he had hired to expedite our entry into Jordan and hire us a driver. We only waited about 10 minutes before all of the procedures on this side were finished, then took our luggage to the van waiting on this side for us.
Thus began the two-hour drive north towards Petra. The scenery was incredible: the desert stretched in every direction, interrupted by large rocks and mountains and random settlements at times. We stopped at an overlook point and for gas, but nowhere else. As we approached the town near Petra, we were able to see the mountain atop which Aaron is supposedly buried and where there is now a shrine for him.
Finally we reached our hotel, the Movenpick, at around 11 am. After going through security with our bags, we checked in, dropped off all of our luggage, stocked up on water, and walked across the street to the entrance to the Petra preserve. Eli warned us not to let any of the numerous people who would be offering us horse or donkey rides to think we wanted to accept their offers, so we ignored these shouts as we started off. The path was wide and lined with smaller rock formations at first, into some of which gates and facades had been carved. Many of these were small shrines, to which the Nabateans would have prayed as they passed through, but the larger ones were probably tombs.
Soon we found ourselves at a canyon, which was much narrower (maybe 3 meters at the widest) and reasonably deep. A tree stood near the entrance, off to the side, which Eli said had beautiful seeds, so we collected a few of the spiky pods from which he extracted gorgeous brown, hard seeds before moving on. Right away two large facades or shrines appeared, located directly across the canyon from one another. There was also a small groove carved waist deep along both sides of the canyon, which was meant to carry water between floods. As we walked farther and farther, other small and large shrines presented themselves, as well as gorgeous stripes and colorations in the canyon walls.
At one point, Eli told us to walk along the right side, close to the canyon wall. I was puzzled at this, but we all obeyed, and then found out why: our first glimpse of the most famous façade in Petra (the one portrayed in Indiana Jones: The Last Crusade) revealed the complete “palace” all at once, facing out into a large open area which you had to cross to re-enter the narrower canyon and continue along.
It was a sight to see. Much larger than I had imagined, the pillars alone dwarfed everyone around them. The features were carved into the rock, and included a large inner room that you could look into and huge steps leading up to it. We spent some time exploring in and around it, including a few minutes examining various swords and knives in a very extensive souvenir tent across from the formation. Soon, though, we moved on, back into the canyon.
Now there were many tombs, or large facades, along the canyon, and after a bit ancient paving made the walk easier. After about a half an hour, the canyon opened up again, this time to reveal caves to the left at our level and all the way up the mountain, and huge tombs all along the right, above our level. Camels and tents were everywhere. We stopped for a few photos, then made our way up to one of the largest facades, meeting many donkeys and Bedouins along they way, offering to sell us everything from necklaces to rocks, always for one dinar. One vendor, a four-year old boy, followed us along our path on the way up and told me not to take pictures. He caught us on the way down, later, and was just as persistant. The façade we had chosen had a large interior, where we stood and admired the purple, white, and orange ripples in the sandstone.
As we headed back down, we had great views of all of the large tombs, one of which we had just visited, behind us, as well as the mountain full of caves we had passed earlier, between which lay the path that had led us here. Ahead, pillars of various sizes and heights lined a Roman road, which had been a marketplace in a previous age, leading us to where we would stop for lunch. Along the way we were accosted by many offering us goods or camel rides, but we resisted and eventually reached a modern building housing an enormous buffet where we had reserved five meals.
Hungry, thirsty, and ready for a break (by this time it was 2 pm), we sat and took turns grabbing food. Salads, hummus, pita, pastas, rice, barbecued meat, and falafel all tasted delicious, whether due to their own merit or our half-day hike. We took our time and rehydrated, and I think I fell asleep for a few minutes as we discussed the rest of our journey.
When I was awakened, I was informed we’d be hiking up to the “monastery.” The way was steep at times but also had been retrofitted with steps, and we took frequent stops to sip water, take pictures, and discuss exactly how far along we were with regards to the destination. I recall many separate, but consecutive, stops where Eli told Dad we were halfway, or three quarters of the way, and where he asked people heading down how much farther it was, to which they gave answers not consistent with his.
Nonetheless, on we went. At one stop, a seven or eight-year-old girl was very insistent that I should buy a necklace for one dinar. I was firm, but noticed that I was ahead of our pack, so sat to wait. She sat next to me, and at one point switched sides to sit on the other side. I thought this was fine until I felt a spray of something on my leg. I jumped up, my first thought being that she was peeing on me. Luckily, she had only spat pink Fanta on me. When the others caught up and I told Eli about this, he approached the girl, had a momentary discussion with her, then caught back up to us with the news that she had an extensive vocabulary of curse words.
We climbed and climbed. Eventually my lead over the others was large, but once Eli told me I was close by, I shouted down that I would see them there, and set off in earnest. All of a sudden I rounded a corner to see a carved façade that was at least twice as large as the most famous one Eli had surprised us with. I walked away from it to get the full effect, then got closer and climbed up the six or so feet of rocks conveniently piled in front of it serving as impromptu stairs. Finally, I went to sit at a large refreshment and souvenir tent to wait for my family and our guide in the shade.
Within a few minutes they rounded the bend into my view. We took pictures together and Eli explained that while the structure was almost surely a tomb like the others, it had been used centuries later as a monastery by the Byzantines, and thereby had acquired its nickname. We took some more pictures, then purchased some cold drinks (which was not as easy as it sounds, because half of the drinks in the coolers were as warm as our water) and sat in the tent to enjoy them.
Eli wanted to show us a view of the desert beyond where we were, but Dad was wiped and Andrew decided to stay with him, so Mom and I headed off with Eli. A Bedouin boy in a cave pointed us towards a rock-lined dirt path which had hand-painted signs indicating two overlooks: one labeled “spring” and one “sacrificial.” We chose the former, and within five minutes found ourselves on an outcropping of rock from which we could gaze down among the mountains, out to the one where Aaron’s shrine glinted white in the sun, or over in the distance, past another mountain range and a rift back into Israel.
After getting our fill of the view, we turned back and walked to the monastery area, where we met the boys and sat a few minutes before starting back. Since we had seen the surroundings already, and down was slightly easier, we all were able to chat much more readily on the way. Eli asked me what the heck nanotechnology was all about, a question which I happily, and hopefully helpfully, answered (whew, what a tongue-twister!).
In a few hours we were back at the entrance to the reserve, and only had to cross the street to reach the hotel. Tired and dusty, we headed up to change and rinse off, then went down to the pool. The air was already much cooler than it had been during the day, so after a quick dip, I was grateful for the large, thick towels, and wrapped myself in one to lie on a chair. I have to say, it’s surreal to be at a luxurious swimming pool in a Swiss hotel with North African decoration hearing the Muslim call to prayer reverberating through the surrounding mountains.
After real showers, we headed down to dinner in the hotel dining room. We had to weave our way through the lobby and other surrounding rooms, all of which were sumptuously decorated and reminded me intensely of Lawrence of Arabia, to find the dinner buffet, located in a similar room. There was an array of salads, one of which had a name card that amused me, as well as an extensive table of desserts, both generic (truffle cake, etc) and native (a pastry which looked like a bird’s nest and turned out to be the ancestor of baklava). For the main course, there was a delicious lamb stew, but I focused on a native dish called maglouba, consisting of rice, eggplant and some sort of meat.
One we were finished with dinner, we headed up to the fourth floor to the Tea Terrace, an open space where lanterns sat on every corner and carpets covered the floor. We chatted for a bit, and Eli gave Andrew some reflexology on his foot (who knew he was so multi-talented?), but I headed to bed pretty soon due to a slight headache.
Today has a huge number of pictures, so a) be patient! and b) I'm pushing those from the border crossing and hotel to tomorrow.
Some touristy shops by the entrance
The view at the beginning of the trail
Entering the canyon
Mom and a shrine
The dude was selling all those postcards for one dinar,
and wasn't happy that I was taking a picture of him
Me and Andrew
Look closely to find camels!
First glimpse...
...of this!
The whole facade
A large selection of guide books
Mom and a Jordanian guard
Andrew and some dwellings and caves
Police!
Camels, one of which was rude to Andrew
Andrew wielding some swords
As Andrew says, goats really do eat everything. Including rugs.
This kid was selling colorful rocks for one dinar. He didn't
want to let us be, and didn't want me to take his picture.
Along the Roman road
The Fanta-spitting girl giving Eli a piece of her mind
The Monastery, with me in the doorway.
The fam, pooped from the climb.
Andrew and Dad
A helpful sign...
...and the view to which it referred.
