Our plan for the day was to visit the fabled lost city of Petra...a task not too difficult as the coach driver just followed the signs and found it easily enough. The drive there was about two hours across nothing but desert; we knew it was desert because there were lots of mountains, sand, oases and camels. Joking aside, it's quite stunning countryside in its own way, and for any readers who may have seen the movie "The Martian", well, it was filmed in these parts for obvious reasons as it resembles the vistas of the red planet closely.
I have to admit that I do not harbour a huge enthusiasm for ancient sites, but Petra was definitely impressive, with a capital "I". The city is hidden away from civilisation in a valley between towering sandstone mountains and can only be approached on foot by way of an incredibly narrow natural gorge which has been carved out of the soft rock over eons. After a two mile walk, the gorge opens into a much wider, circular area and visitors are met with a view of the Treasury, a huge and ornate entrance to a cavern which had been carved out of the stone by the city's founders. Stunning indeed, especially when considering when it was built and the tools available at the time. Continuing a little further down the valley are other ancient sites, such as the monastery and the royal palace, as well as an amphitheatre to name just a few. The colours and the patterns in the sandstone swirled like a raspberry ripple icecream which ever way we looked.
As can be expected, there were one or two downsides. Because the walk down (and back) to the site is long and the days are hot, the locals offer horse and trap taxi rides along the path. This looked perilous for all concerned, as the pathway is extremely narrow, uneven and crowded. At the bottom of the path are all kinds of cheap gift stalls and more locals offering camel rides....so it all looked like a bit of a circus, and finally, there are lots of very young children selling wares such as bangles, postcards and pretty coloured rocks. On the positive side, they did not look too poor (within context), and it was the same with the animals, they appeared reasonably well looked after. Furthermore, there was an office to contact should any signs of mistreatment be observed and there was a noticeable police presence.
Claire got a chance to practice her haggling skills when she wanted to buy a headscarf. After negotiating various two for one offers she brought the price down to half the original....although at the very last moment the cost changed from dollars to dirhams, (thus being in the stallholders favour), but she stuck to her guns and was happy with her purchase even if the salesman appeared somewhat miffed.
After our visit we went to a hotel for lunch. The main meat was lamb, accompanied by many local side dishes...some such as humus we recognised, others we did not. But it was all absolutely delicious, as was the dessert which followed....a kind of apple and cinnamon bread pudding. We also found out that Barack Obama had stayed at the hotel during his last visit to Jordan, so we reckoned that whatever was good enough for the President of the United States, was good enough for us.
We made it back to the ship with some 30 minutes to spare before sailaway, and thus ended a long, hot, tiring, but very rewarding day. What struck us, and many of our fellow passengers, was just how open and friendly our Jordanian hosts had been during our all too brief visit to their country.
So we are now at sea once again and heading southwards in the Red Sea and will not step ashore again for several days. We have been advised that we must attend a pirate drill tomorrow morning (which is inevitably leading to a number of pirate related jokes). But these things must be taken seriously and there is a 24 hour presence by the ship's security team who are patrolling, equipped with binoculars and night vision goggles on the open decks.
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