In September 2021, after more than two several years without the need of traveling, my girlfriend and I resolved to just take a vacation to Jordan — predominantly to see the ancient town of Petra.
For 10 times we traveled via the place from north to south in a rental motor vehicle, tallying all around 760 miles. Our itinerary took us alongside nearly the total duration of Highway 35, also called the King’s Highway, which stretches from the northern metropolis of Irbid to a level some 25 miles north of Wadi Rum, the famed desert valley to the south.
Together the way, we visited numerous of Jordan’s most treasured tourist places: the city of Jerash, with its spectacular Greco-Roman ruins Amman, the capital, with its cosmopolitan rhythms the marketplace city of Madaba, with its renowned Byzantine-period mosaics the Dana Biosphere Reserve, with its wealthy range of plant lifetime.
Our road vacation started out in the vicinity of the Useless Sea, although our remain there was comparatively brief. The environment in close proximity to the area — which sits much more than 1,400 toes beneath sea degree — is arid and suffocating. The h2o itself is so salty as to come to feel caustic a solitary fall around our eyes or lips despatched us speeding to the shore to rinse our faces.
But it was Petra — breathtaking in its scale, stunning in its grandeur — that captured our imaginations. Tucked absent in the mountains involving the Lifeless Sea and Aqaba, and just miles from Highway 35, the ancient metropolis defies all anticipations.
Its lots of temples, tombs and altars — like its greatest-recognised framework, the Treasury, or Al Khazneh — still left us breathless. No issue how many pictures you may have found, practically nothing can at any time get ready you for the emotion of standing in entrance of all those amazing constructions.
Carved into the wall of a slender canyon and reaching some 130 toes higher, the Treasury is thought to have been created as a mausoleum some 2,000 several years ago. Although certainly Petra’s most well-known framework, the Treasury is not its greatest. Ad Deir, a monastery that reaches some 154 ft, promises that title.
Petra, which lay together significant trade routes amongst the Center East and northern Africa, was built by the Nabataeans, a Bedouin tribe who lived in the region among the seventh century B.C. and the second century A.D. It remained totally unfamiliar to Westerners until 1812, when Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, a Swiss traveler and geographer who had disguised himself as an Arab pilgrim, was led to the town by a community information.
During our trip, and specially whilst at Petra, we had been reminded of how devastating the pandemic has been for people who work in the tourism sector.
According to facts from the Petra Progress and Tourism Area Authority, the historic city obtained some 1.1 million guests in 2019 — an average of much more than 3,000 men and women per working day. All through our pay a visit to, there had been no additional than 40 tourists in the metropolis. As pleasurable as it was to share the website with so couple of fellow readers, we felt fantastic worry for the locals whose company has evaporated: tour operators, camel and donkey homeowners, artisans, souvenir sellers.
From Petra we traveled farther south, inevitably making our way to the desert landscape of Wadi Rum, also acknowledged as the Valley of the Moon, whose impressive surroundings features towering sand dunes, huge mesas and slender canyons, all coated in rich shades of orange and pink.
We chose to take a look at the area in a pickup truck whose mattress had been outfitted with bench seats — a handy way of coping with temperatures in surplus of 100 levels Fahrenheit.
We lingered in the desert until eventually nicely previous the sunset, when a vivid coloration palette emerged throughout the dunes.
And following a mythical journey together Freeway 35, we drove farther south to check out the Gulf of Aqaba, the northeastern arm of the Pink Sea. There, we took in the refreshing, briny air and donned snorkel masks to discover the crystal clear waters.
Possibly our most astonishing experience was at Aqaba’s underwater armed service museum, in which a wide variety of war equipment — tanks, troop carriers, a helicopter — have been scuttled close to a coral reef, giving habitats for maritime lifetime and a fascinating stage of exploration for divers.
Through the day, it felt like there was very little motion within just the city of Aqaba. But at night every thing came alive: The city’s streets had been complete of seems and pleasure, with crowds of persons accumulating to participate in games, chat and smoke hookah by the sea.
Though returning to the airport in Amman, wending our way north on Freeway 35, we had a probability to reflect on our trip. Jordan experienced available us a fantastic chance — immediately after yrs of stasis — to find a new area with a abundant history and lifestyle. I also felt authentic satisfaction in photographing again: the men and women, the colors, the aromas, the landscapes. All of it had influenced my creativeness.
