Sometimes it’s good to have one place in a country that you want to see so dearly that you don’t care what else is on the trip. That one thing justifies the trip and the rest is just gravy.
Then, for the remainder of the trip, you are learning about things you never knew about – and would not have traveled overseas to see. But you find that they are valuable experiences that you are happy to have had.
The Giza Plateau that supports the Great Pyramids of Egypt is one of those places. That one, single experience is worth any trip. The three pyramids are so dazzling, so out-of-this-world colossal, that they can make your head spin for days, and give you a sense of wonder that will never entirely leave you. It will give you one incomparable slot in your memory that you will be able to savor for the rest of your life.
There are many others, of course. Machu Picchu was like that for me. Just to see that place once in person was a desire that glowed fervently in me until I was finally able to fulfill my wish. And as magical as the pictures and stories are, when I went there, the actual place exceeded them by orders of magnitude.
Petra is one of those places. Visiting the Lost City of Petra in Jordan is one of those experiences that will stretch the limits of what you thought possible. It’s hard to believe when you are looking upon the amazing temples with Greco-Roman-style Corinthian columns, carved into sandstone cliffs in fastidious detail.
Even as you stand in front of the Great Temple, or the Monastery or the Treasury, it is hard to believe that human beings had managed to create something so monumental, and so perfectly crafted, while casting aside virtually all the norms of building around the world. They built them in the negative. The process was reversed from the way the Greek and Roman temples had been constructed. Instead of placing solid objects in space, they hollowed out spaces in solid rock. The end result appears to be almost a perfect replica of Greco-Roman architecture, but carved out, not built up. It was ingenious in conception and even more impressive in its spectacular execution. It’s practically unimaginable, but they did it, as you can see with your own eyes in Petra.
As with any magnificent sight, photographs don’t do it justice. Films add a third dimension, via motion. But no medium comes close to showing what you experience in this mysterious lost city.
You approach it through a narrow opening between some of the many gigantic sandstone cliffs and rocks in that desert area. The place is so cloistered by the rocks, that it was well hidden from anyone who did not know where it was. It was like a great fortress, sheltered and hidden by natural structures utilized to create a walled city.
The crevice that you enter through is like a narrow, winding walkway into the magical city. After meandering through the labyrinthine passageway, you finally emerge into open space, with one of those magnificent temples towering over you.
Who did this? Petra was built by the Nabateans, an Arab people who lived in northern Arabia and the southern Levant. The Nabatean Kingdom as a political entity is believed to have existed from around the 4th century BCE to year 106 of the Christian era, when Petra was annexed by the Roman Emperor Trajan.
Petra was the Nabatean capital city. It became an important outpost along trade routes through desert areas so harsh it was difficult to even survive a trip through the area. But the Nabateans built a city there, and they did it with style. They had their own running water system 2,000 years ago in the desert.
When trade routes changed, Petra declined. By the end of the seventh century it was pretty much abandoned, though it’s likely that people continued to live in the area. Petra sat unnoticed by the outside world for a thousand years until it was rediscovered in 1812 by a Swiss explorer named Johann Ludwig Burckhardt.
With your trip to Jordan already justified by Petra, there are many other things to enjoy there. With a history of human habitation traceable back 6,500 years, the place stands on many layers of history.
Jordan is a large part of what is known as The Holy Land. It’s only been the country of Jordan since the end of World War II, when the United Nations approved the British request to end its control of the part of Palestine east of the Jordan River. You can keep stepping back to previous periods of history in a nearly endless sequence. It had been part of the Turkish Ottoman Empire. When that empire collapsed in World War I, the League of Nations put it under British control. It was called “Transjordan,” as in “across the Jordan”.
When the modern country of Jordan was established after World War II, the new Jordanian Parliament named a new monarch, an heir to the previous kingdom, King Abdullah I of the Hashemites.
Other experiences that could by themselves justify the trip include the Dead Sea. That place is one of a kind. It’s the lowest place on earth, 1,300 feet below sea level. The mineral-rich water is believed to have great healing powers. And the atmosphere, rich in bromides, is also believed to be fortifying. If you go into the water, you float like a cork. It’s something you might expect to find on another planet.
We went to the top of Mount Nebo, where Moses saw the Promised Land, but died before he could get further. He is buried there. The view of the Jordan River Valley, the Dead Sea, Jericho and Jerusalem, is exhilarating.
Another dimension of Jordan can be experienced in Jerash, which was a Roman city. It’s one of the best-preserved Roman cities in the world now because the ruins were hidden in sand for centuries until about 70 years ago. So, while you’re in Jordan, you are suddenly in Rome, with Hadrian’s Arch, the Hippodrome, the Temple of Zeus, the colonnaded street, public baths, a cathedral and theaters in the north and south, and the multitude of Roman ghosts chattering about.
Another completely different experience was Wadi Rum, the desert area where much of the movie Lawrence of Arabia was filmed. It’s also known as the Valley of the Moon, and it feels almost like it could be on the moon. The clear atmosphere and lack of artificial light makes the night sky unbelievably spectacular.
We enjoyed a feast done in Bedouin style, and it was another way of experiencing day-to-day life in a very different context from what we’re used to back in the States.
There was much more. The Jordanian cuisine was delicious and fascinating. And as always, the ultimate attraction is the people themselves. The Jordanians are wonderful and it’s a great experience to meet them and be exposed to their culture.
So, on that note, I will leave you with the knowledge that Jordan is really worth your time to visit.
Your humble reporter,
Colin Treadwell
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