With my ‘Risen with Christ!’ course ending, I had 6 days before the start of ‘The Bible and its Setting’, my next course at St George’s College. I planned to use this time to go back to Jordan to visit Petra, an amazing world heritage site, voted one of the seven wonders of the world in a recent international survey.
In order to get there I had quite an involved journey. I caught a local bus to the Jerusalem central bus station. (A local Arab man kindly made sure that I got the right bus, also sharing some of his breakfast with me). Then I caught a bus to Eilat (I had bought the ticket a few days before). We passed through the Judean desert beside the Dead Sea and then went into the Negev desert. As the bus got closer to Eilat the mountains of Jordan looked more and more impressive.
When I arrived at Eilat, I took a taxi to the border, went through the border crossing, and on the Jordan side I was picked up by a taxi driver I had booked from Jerusalem.
An experience I had at the border crossing into Jordan gives you an insight into what it is like to travel as a tourist in Jordan. When I arrived at the passport both to enter into Jordan, there was a group of Jordanians already there in front of me, having their passports processed. When I arrived, the person leading the group said, ‘let the foreigner go first’. So they stood back while the official put their passports to one side and quickly processed my passport. This is typical of the welcome that tourists are given in Jordan and the genuine friendliness there (and appreciation of the tourist dollar as well, I guess).
The taxi driver, Zakaria (a Muslim) took me all the way to Petra, which was over 2 hours’ trip, for quite a reasonable amount. He stopped for photos several times, including Wadi Rum, where Lawrence of Arabia had led fighters from the local Bedouin tribesmen in the First World War, and on the road overlooking the entrance to Petra.
Zakaria then took me to the hotel I was staying at in Wadi Mousa, the town closest to the Petra site. This was the view from my hotel window just after sunset.
Once I had put my things in my room, I went out to the Visitors’ Centre and bought tickets for an event called ‘Petra by night’. At this event, candles are lit along the path through a canyon (the siq) down to Petra, and in front of the first monument in Petra (the Khazneh or Treasury). Once you arrive at the Treasury (a 25 minute walk) they offer a programme in the candle light. It was quite an atmospheric experience, particularly when traditional Bedouin music was played in the candle light in front of the Treasury.
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