This has been my favorite restaurant Ever since we arrived in this country, But the last time I visited, I can’t Remember when. There was too much to see, Such as those ruins of Roman design, Or the Treasury carved into the cliff, Both of which are a sight that’s so divine That to see them, it is truly a gift. I am glad to have seen them one last time Before I shake off the dust of this land For a place with a more tropical clime, And other attractions that are so grand. To not see them again will choke my craw, So I’m the tour of the last hurrah.
I have known for quite some time now that this would be my last year in Jordan, and though I have taken some of the necessary steps to move on to my next adventure, it really has not hit me yet that I will be moving on. It was not until a couple of friends came into town that I started to realize that my time in the country was starting to become limited, and as I showed them around to some of my favorite spots, I started to realize that this was the beginning of my last hurrah tour of the country I have lived in for the last four years.
Of course, some of this last tour took me to the major sights of the country. I had to take them to the Roman ruins in Jerash, and the marvels of the buildings carved into the sides of mountains in Petra. I have been to both of these places on numerous occassions, but it felt a little different this time around because I knew that it would be the last time I would be seeing them. It wasn’t like the wonder I had felt during the first time I had witnessed these places, but a meloncholy kind of sadness that went along with the fact that I could no longer take these places for granted just because they would soon no longer be right in my backyard.
When I do visit them now, I see them with a fresh set of eyes, looking for those details that I missed the other times I have been here. It helps that I am going to these places with people who have not been before because they spend their time marveling at all of the things that I have already witnessed. They point and gawk and tell me about how fascinating it all is. I have to play tour guide a bit, telling the little nuggets of information that I can glean from what I have heard the previous times I have been here.
And then there are the new things that I missed the first time around, or the way that life will make some unpredictable changes to add a new flavor to something old. It is the donkey standing in the perfect place so I can take the perfect picture. It is the kids placing their stuffed animals in the carved alcoves of the cliffs so they can take pictures of them as if they are a part of the landscape. It is the people dotting the cracked earth on their way to the salt flats of the Dead Sea. These are the things that I didn’t notice the other times I had visited these place, but they seemed more important now.
I am noticing the country again just like I had when I first arrived, but it is different this time around. I am not looking on the sights with awe and wonder because I already know the stories behind them. Now, I look upon them like an enjoyable book whose pages are running out, and already know how it is going to end. I am still enjoying the experience, but soon I am going to have to close that book and place it on my shelf to remember the story I once enjoyed.
But as every reader knows, there are many great books out there. All you have to do is to look over the horizon to find that next great story. I may be leaving Jordan behind, but I do have that next great adventure just around the corner. I have really enjoyed my time out here, and I am glad that I am getting the opportunity to have my last hurrah before I go, but I am also excited for the next stop in my life.
I want to thank those people that made me go and take this last tour of Jordan before I left, but I also want to thank Jordan for four great years with the ability to experience a part of the world that not many people get to see. I will miss you when I am gone, but I will still enjoy those last pages before I leave.
Petra is the reason that people come out to Jordan in the first place. It is easily the biggest draw of the country, and during the months of April and May, when the weather is not too warm, tourists can be seen packing the paths of the narrow canyon that leads to the great sights that can be seen along the way. Except lately, the tourists are not making their way to Jordan, and the places that used to be packed are now empty.
Though Jordan resides in the Middle East and is situated in a place surrounded by conflict, it is not greatly affected by these conflicts. In fact, it is getting a little bit of a bad rap at the moment because of its location. Many people do not wish to travel out to this location and see the impressive sights. This is bad for the tourism industry in Jordan, but it is a great time to come out here as a tourist. Locations like Petra are almost empty, and it makes you feel like you have the place to yourself.
Petra is not only a must-do location if you make your way out to if you are in Jordan, it is also a place that should be placed on everybody’s bucket list. There is not another place like Petra in the world. It is a city carved into the cliffs and wadis found in the mountains outside of Wadi Musa. The first time that I visited this sight, I took a guide book with me to help me discover the mysteries of the place. It was a fine way of doing it, but I did not feel like I got everything I could out of the experience. This is why the second time we went with a guide to tell us a little bit more about the place.
No matter what time you visit Jordan, with or without crowds, I highly recommend going with the guide option. Some of the locations that did not impress me much the first time around came to life when it was explained to me by someone who had more knowledge about it rather than your typical guide book. I could start to distinguish between a tomb, and home, and what purpose some of the rooms held in some of these buildings. It helped me gain an even greater appreciation for Petra than I had in the past.
Many might associate Petra with the Indiana Jones franchise, and it is part of the reason that many know about this location today, but there is a lot more to it than a movie set that was used for a few minutes in a movies from the 90s. It is a great location to visit, and with the crowds at an all time low, now is the time to take advantage of what this place has to offer. I have been twice, and enjoyed it both time, but I know there is a lot more to it than I have seen. I will be back again to see what else it has to show me. I hope to see you there.
Many people are surprised when I tell them that Jordan is a great tourist destination. They do not always think about this small country in the Middle East as offering much more than a desert landscape, and Arabic cuisine, but this is not the case. It boasts of history dating all the way back to Biblical times, landscape so starkly beautiful and distinct that movie companies come out all the time to shoot their movies out here, and a culture so rich that you can’t but help to want to learn more about it. For these reason, many people that find themselves working out in Jordan can often convince their families to come out and take in the beauty that is Jordan. There are three locations that become must sees for those that travel out here that we like to call the Jordan Loop.
Just to be clear, it is not really a loop. It is more an out and back, but that does not have the same kind of appeal. Still, they are the three must sees when coming out to Jordan.
The first is a short forty-five minute drive from Amman, the Dead Sea. The lowest place on Earth has many resorts dotting the salty shore. From here, you can take quick drives down to see the Salt Flats, or up to see the Panorama to learn more about the area and take in the incredible views.
The second stop is a quick three and half hour drive from the Dead Sea to the town of Wadi Musa. This town holds Jordan’s biggest attraction, and the one that brings people from all over the world to this part of the world, Petra. It has been highlighted in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and ever since then, it has held the imagination of many. There are many more amazing buildings carved into the walls of the cliff, and it is a great place to come back to again and again.
The last stop comes on the heels of the most recent blockbuster filmed there, Dune Part Two. It is Wadi Rum, the expansive desert landscape with spectacular hikes, beautiful sunsets, and the closest you can come to the Bedouin experience without becoming a Bedouin.
The trip gets made by some of my colleagues on numerous occasions, every time one of their relatives come out to visit. For me, it is the first time that I get to make this trip as a tour guide, and show people around. I have been to a lot of these places already, and though I am excited to go back to them, I also can’t wait to see what other new experiences I can find while out in Jordan. I will get to learn more about the Jordan Loop, and I hope to share what I learn with the rest of you. So over the next few days, join me as I explore more of this country that is worth coming out and seeing.
People travel from all over the world to enjoy the marvel that is Petra, and there is a lot that is written about this site. However there is more to the UNESCO World Heritage Site than just the city that lies behind the canyon. There is a whole city on the edge of it that is a wonderful location to set up camp before exploring all that Petra has to offer. It is called Wadi Musa and for a gateway town it does a good job inviting people in and preparing them for the adventure they will have in the park.
Of course, there are plenty of gift shops, and a few Turkish bathhouses, but one of the best places to unwind after hiking around the park is the Cave Bar. It is a short walk away from the entrance of Petra, and the prices on the drinks are a little higher than other places you will find in Jordan, but the atmosphere makes up for these small problems. It was built in an ancient tomb that used to be a part of Petra, and it claims to be the oldest bar in the world. There are plenty of cozy little corners in the bar to find a place to relax, but if you would rather sit and enjoy the company of a larger crowd, they do have an outdoor patio, and a larger room where you can watch a game or talk with other travelers.
Right up the hill from the bar, and the bigger tourist shops is the Petra Museum. This is a good place to visit before heading into the park to see all of the sites. It will take you through the history of the ancient city, and how it developed over the centuries. There is also a large collection of artwork that once graced the outside of many of its buildings, but were taken down when iconoclasts, or Christians who did not believe in icon and worked to destroy as many as they could. It is amazing that many of the statues survived because it depicts a civilization that was influenced by both the Greeks and Egyptians.
There are also many comfortable and affordable hotels nearby. We stayed at the Petra Boutique Hotel. It was a five minute walk from the entrance to the park, and served a nice breakfast in the morning. The only problem was that it sat right next to the main road of the town. At night the traffic disappears completely, but this allows for the packs of wild dogs to take over the street, and they are not very quiet. They did keep me up during my first night’s stay there, but I was so worn out from the long hike on the second night that they did not bother me anymore.
Also make sure that you have at least one of your meals at Mom’s Secret Recipe. It is a local restaurant that has really good food, and great atmosphere. It looks like the inside of a bedouin’s tent inside, and you can tell that the recipe comes from a mom who has spent many years perfecting her food.
Overall, the main attraction is Petra, but the town is a lovely place to stay as well. It is well worth staying there for a night or two because it makes the trip to Petra a little more relaxing. You will still find yourself on long hikes to amazing spots, but at least at night, you won’t have to worry about driving back to Amman or Aqaba because you will have a comfortable place to rest your head.
I know that I have a lot of readers screaming at me right now. They are all looking at this photo and they know that this image comes from the third movie, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Yet, I titled this post, the SECOND Indiana Jones. You are wondering if I know the difference, and by the mere fact that I acknowledged the difference in this post, I obviously must know that Petra is part of the better installment in the series, and I should not have referenced one of the lesser adventures as the title of my post.
To those people, I must acknowledge your movie brilliance, and at the same time, hope that you have stuck with me so far, so that I may defend my choice of title for this post. For those of you who follow my blog on a regular basis, you will know that this is the second time that one of my adventures has made me feel like I am a part of an Indiana Jones adventure. The first one took place out side of Hua Hin, Thailand as I hiked to the Phraya Nakhon Cave. My visit to the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Petra, in Jordan, would be the second time that I have had this feeling. This is where the title of this blog post comes from. I hope that clears up any confusion you may have experienced from reading the title, and I also hope that you continue to read to learn more about this exciting place.
Though there are many exciting places to visit in Jordan, Petra is the one that the country promotes the most, and the one that tourists make sure that they see while out here. It had remained hidden for many centuries and it wasn’t until 1812 when Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt let the rest of the world know about it. He claims that he discovered it, but considering many people still lived in the buildings hollowed out from the mountainside, and he was shown where it was from a Bedouin, it is hard to say that it really needed discovering. Soon afterwards, people would come to see the site, and eventually those people were removed so it could become the tourist destination it is today.
The site itself sprawls all over the hills in the southern part of Jordan. There are some trails that have been created from the visitor center that allows for easy access to some of the more impressive locations, and most people who visit stick to these trails. For people that struggle with hiking, donkeys and camels can be rented and there are even options for select people that they can take a golf cart, but that will only take people to the Treasury, the location that was used for the Indiana Jones movie.
There are many other smaller hikes that will take people to the lesser visited locations, but it is recommended that you hire a guide to take you to these place. The mountains out there can be deceiving and it is easy to get lost. Plus, there are so many places where things are hidden, so it is helpful to have that person that knows what to look for so you can find those hidden little gems.
The two major sites at Petra are the Treasury and the Monastery. The Treasury is pretty crowded because it is the easiest to get to. It is about a kilometer hike all down hill from the visitor center through an idyllic canyon called the Siq. I would recommend going early in the morning because it got really crowded in the afternoon, and it made it hard to navigate through the people. The Monastery is not as crowded but takes a little more effort to get to. It is an uphill hike on a series of stairs that have sometimes been worn away by heavy rains. It is hard to tell how many steps you have to take to get there because they are not always organized, but the rule of thumb is somewhere between 850 and 900. Both locations are awe-inspiring, and are worth the trip, but it can get cold up at the Monastery, especially in the months of fall and spring, so I would recommend taking layers of clothes.
There are many other places to view along the way including the Royal Tombs and the Great Temple. Some of these locations had been lost to the desert and are only being uncovered at this time. Archeologists from Brown University were at the site and discovered the Great Temple buried underneath the sand. They have been spending the couple of decades slowly digging it out and restoring it to its original glory. There are a couple of amazing corridors that you can walk down, and there is a small theatre placed right in the middle, but the most impressive part of this location is the rows of columns that are on either side of what would have been the huge foyer.
There is also the large amphitheater in what would have been the center of this hidden city. It made me wonder what the bustling atmosphere of this place would have once been like as people made their way up and down its various streets. They would have been covered with merchants selling their wares, and to an extent they still are, except now they are different variations of the same collection of souvenirs. The amphitheater is also quiet now, as in the past, I am sure that it would be filled with great speeches, and amazing performances that would be overheard by everybody that happened to pass by.
To travel to Petra is to travel back in time to a place and a culture that could have easily been swept under the stiff wind of the Jordanian desert. It truly feels like you are an archeologist that has come to find s great treasure among its many buildings. It is an adventure, and I can see why George Lucas, and Steven Spielberg chose it for their third installment of the storied franchise. If the theme song isn’t playing in your head as soon as you step foot on the dusty paths, it will soon play because there are always people singing it or humming it, so everybody else can join in. It makes you feel like you are a part of the movie, but in the end you marvel that there is so much more to it than what little they showed in that full length feature.
Petra should be on the top of everybody’s bucket list. It is an amazing place to visit, but not enough people know about it to add it to the many places that they need to travel to before they die. I am glad that I have added it to the places I have been, and I doubt that I will quickly forget its grandeur. Considering I am also currently living in Jordan, it is a place that I will go back to. I covered the more touristy part of the site, and I want to go back to travel the less explored areas. It makes it one of those places that you will always be happy to go back to, and I hope you have the opportunity to make it out there at least once.
John Collings 