Aqaba, Jordan and Petra

Mr. Toads wild ride and one of the Seven Wonders of the World -- that was our adventure for the day in Aqaba Jordan.

Along with two other couples, we rented a private tour company car with a driver; remember, sometimes you get what you pay for. After waiting for 20 minutes for the car, we found out the he couldn’t get into the port area and had to wait outside the gate. We had to take a taxi to get to our waiting car. This was not a very good way to start our tour. After much discussion, we finally got on our way in a car that was less than we ordered and a driver who spoke poor English. It was a tight squeeze, but we managed. On a positive note, the weather was excellent; beautiful blue sky with the temperature in the 80s.

Our destination was Petra, one of the new Seven Wonders of the World. It was a good two hour ride and did we see sights! We saw camels, goats, donkeys and sheep, all grazing by the road, near the road, on the road and anywhere else they felt like it. There were Bedouin camps dotting the barren desert landscaping. These people are nomads who live in one huge tent and tend the animals.

The desert landscape was breathtaking. Parts of it looked like Arizona, parts like Utah. There were all shades of tans, browns, reds with a few green plants scattered among the rocks. There were mesas, wadis (gullies), hills and mountains, rock formations, valleys and great vistas -- and did I say lots of rocks. There wasn’t much civilization between Aqaba and the nearest city to Petra (Atybat).

Due to a landslide on the main highway, we had to detour and this is where the ride gets interesting. We had no idea that there was a detour and all of a sudden, we were turning off the main highway onto a two lane, winding, curving road up the mountain side. The driver either road on the right shoulder, straddling the center line or in the oncoming traffic lane. For some reason, he did not believe in staying on his side of the road. He would go fast, then go slow. He would stop to chat with friends along the way. We couldn’t say anything about this behavior because we didn’t want to piss him off -- we had no clue where we were. All the road signs were in Arabic. We didn’t even know if we were on the way to Petra. We finally arrived in a town (Atybat) that was quite interesting. The streets were steeper and curvier and the buildings were built into the hillsides. The driver turned off the air conditioning because of the steep roads and would not turn it back on. Actually, it was a very scenic town and one of the other gals started to panic about where we were. We were 3km away from Petra and our driver actually got us there A-OK.

We had heard all kinds of descriptions about Petra, but you never really know what to expect until you actually do it. Petra was a city built by the Nabataeans more than 2,000 years ago and served as a very important cross road in commerce between the Red Sea and Mediterranean Sea. It is also known as the Rose-Red City, a name it gets from the wonderful color of the rock from which many of the city’s structures were carved.

After purchasing entrance tickets for $50 a piece, we entered and saw the horse yard. The walk down from the visitor center to the Siq (the gorge to Petra) is about ¾ of a mile so we decided to ride a horse. Woo hoo, haven’t done that in a million years. The horse walked at a slow pace with a guide holding the reins. Drat, I didn’t get to go giddy up. Walking through the Siq (about one mile long), the color and shape of the rock walls was amazing. The walls looked like polished marble, so smooth and intricately carved by both man and nature, and stood at least 30 stories high. At the very end of the Siq, the narrow opening reveals Petra’s most magnificent façade, the Treasury, which is over 140 feet high. This façade has been carved into the rock and is incredible. There is another two miles of more caves, facades, columns and monuments. There is so much history and symbolism in this place that one could write a thesis on it. It is truly grand.

One of the other ladies and I decided to ride a carriage out of the Siq, but there was so much chaos and not enough carriages that we decided to walk back -- up hill -- three miles. Needless to say, it was quite exhausting. I sure did look cute wearing my floppy white cotton pants, a bright bright raspberry pink shirt, a hat, and carrying a green umbrella. I also carried bottles of water in the side pockets of my pants -- oh did I look cute.

On the ride back to Aqaba, our driver drove his crazy way and we had him drop us off at a restaurant in town in order to get the shuttle bus back to the ship.

We ended the evening up on the top deck of the ship and viewed four countries at one time: Jordan, Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. Incredible!