Jordan is a country reminiscent of eternity
“All the most beautiful here is ascetic, dry and
reminiscent of eternity. If the sea is the Dead,
if the city, then extinct "
About the country and its people
The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is a country with a constitutional monarchy that gained independence from Great Britain on May 25.1946. Currently, the country is ruled by King Abdullah II. The population of Jordan is 6.3 million people, 95% of the population are Arabs. Jordanian Arabs make up 35% of the population, 55% are from Palestine, who moved to Transjordan and received citizenship after the Arab-Israeli wars in 1948 and 1967. Other nationalities: Circassians ("Circassians"), Chechens, Armenians and Kurds. There are also many Jordanians of European origin. Average life expectancy: 66 years - men, 70 years - women.
The population is small, there is no industry at all, so the country has not been spoiled by factories, garages and chimneys. This is a clean and ascetic state - a desert, which occupies about 90% of the country's area of .92, 300 km² .
It is worth going here if only to look at the legendary Petra - a cave city carved into the rocks and protected by them from external enemies. Very close - the seaside city of Aqaba, where you can dive into the warmest Red Sea with its huge fish and coral reefs. Here behind the hills - the Martian landscapes of the Wadi Rum valley.
This is a country that today can be seen almost the same as it was centuries ago - with its king, sheikhs and Bedouins. Jordan is more serious, more traditional and more conservative than its neighbors - Syria, Egypt or Lebanon. Jordan is the Middle East in its original, uncomplicated form. By some miracle, it was spared wars, revolutions and social cataclysms that have been shaking these lands in the last century. One of the most attractive features of tourist Jordan is the exotic atmosphere of the eastern country (without the negative and intrusive moments inherent in some other Middle Eastern countries) and the infrastructure of leisure and travel organized at the European level. Situated in the ancient land of legends and legends, the kingdom attracts guests with amazing historical and architectural monuments, beautiful beaches of the Red Sea and health resorts of the Dead Sea. There are more than 15.000 historical monuments in Jordan. The legends surrounding these ancient lands turn into a tangible reality before the eyes of the traveler. Jesus Christ was baptized in the waters of the Jordan River, Moses was buried in the local land, once, on the site of the modern capital of the country - Amman - ancient Philadelphia flourished. Many castles and fortresses of this country stand in the desert, far from people, and nothing has changed around them over the past fifteen hundred years. Once upon a time, the prophets went to the Jordanian desert - they realized back in those days that this was an ideal place to take a break from civilization. And now this country attracts those who lack primeval space, absolute silence and detachment.
Sea voyage to Jordan
Resting at the Egyptian resort of Taba, she took the opportunity to make a one-day excursion to neighboring Jordan and to the most famous stone "flower" of this country - Petra - a cave city carved into the rocks and protected by them from external enemies. Early in the morning we were taken by bus to the pier, where the border and customs control is located. A couple of hundred tourists had already gathered there and we began to go through border control, although our boat was not there yet. We were told that he was delayed in Aqaba due to a breakdown. Finally, the boat moored, loading began and we settled on board in anticipation of the start of the tour. But our floating craft seemed to have rooted to the Egyptian pier - the engines barely worked and, despite all the efforts of the Jordanian team, the ship could not set sail in any way. Our “sea journey” ended with the fact that we were landed on the pier and we again went through lengthy border procedures, and then for another two hours we waited on the shore for a bus that took us to our hotels. Half a day of rest was gone and no apologies, as if nothing had happened. Only after our appeal to the guide, we were offered either to return the money for the tour, or to make this trip the next day, adding that we were still lucky, because on that day there was an accident with tourists who were going on an excursion from Sharm El -Sheikh in Cairo. I was surprised by the negligent attitude of the Arabs to their work: despite the breakdown back in Aqaba, somehow repairing the boat, which barely sailed to Taba without passengers, and could not sail with passengers (in our case) and the driver’s negligence in case of an excursion to Cairo.
There were few people who wanted to make a voyage to Jordan for the second time, but my desire to see Petra got the better of my emotions and the next morning, having gone through all the border and customs procedures, I safely set off on a sea voyage along the Gulf of Aqaba already on another boat.
The Gulf of Aqaba is a gulf in the north of the Red Sea that separates the Sinai Peninsula from the Arabian Peninsula. It has an elongated shape: a length of 175 km and a width of up to 29 km. Geographically, it is part of the Great Rift Valley Fault. The bay is connected to the Red Sea by the Strait of Tiran, which contains a number of small islands. The western coast of the Gulf (Sinai Peninsula) belongs to Egypt, the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia (Arabian Peninsula). At the northern end of the bay is the Israeli port of Eilat (in Israel, therefore, the name of the Gulf of Eilat is common) and the Jordanian port of Aqaba, whose name the bay bears. For Jordan, this is the only outlet to the sea. In recent years, the Aqaba-Eilat area has acquired the importance of a resort area. It is adjacent to the resort of Taba in Egyptian territory. Tourists are attracted by the clear sea water and the rich underwater fauna of the bay.
We sail past the coast of Saudi Arabia, located opposite the Egyptian resort of Taba. Saudi Arabia is a closed country for us, but it accepts Muslim pilgrims making the Hajj to Mecca. And here we are sailing to the Jordanian city of Aqaba.
Aqaba - resort and port on the Red Sea
The city welcomes us with a giant national flag located on the coast. The height of the flagpole is 136 meters, and the size of the flag is 60 by 30 meters. The flag is clearly visible from neighboring countries (Eilat in Israel and Taba in Egypt) and entered the Guinness Book of Records as the largest flag in the world.
Briefly get acquainted with the city. Aqaba is Jordan's most popular resort and the country's only port on the Red Sea. The length of the coast of Aqaba is 27 km. In the city, the beaches are paid, so many tourists relax outside the city. The temperature here does not fall below 22 ° C (in winter), the summer is hot. Popular water activities here are windsurfing, water skiing, diving, and fishing. The resort has two diving centers that offer 24 dive sites. Diving in Aqaba is an incomparable pleasure. The coral reefs are home to blennies, clown fish, parrot fish, pipefish, gobies and many other interesting species. Here you can see the world's largest fish - the whale shark. There is a large Aquarium in Aqaba, where even those who are not fond of diving can look at the variety of local inhabitants of the sea.
Delightful coral reefs, beautiful sandy beaches, emerald green palm trees, the ruins of old fortresses, a pleasant refreshing sea breeze - all this is magical Aqaba.
There is an entertainment industry: the resort is more free from religious Islamic influence than other cities in Jordan - women allow themselves to dress more simply. In addition, Aqaba, like Eilat (an Israeli city that literally merged with Aqaba), has been declared a duty-free zone, which contributes to the development of shopping, for which Aqaba is nicknamed "the economic lungs of Jordan. " The city has many hotels and restaurants of both national and European cuisine. Nightlife in Aqaba is practically non-existent. Of the sights, the Mamluk Fort, built by Sultan Kansuh Al-Gauri at the beginning of the 16th century, the archaeological excavations on the Tell al-Khalifa hill, the Aqaba Scientific Station Aquarium, the Museum of Antiquities adjacent to the fort, and the museum in the house of Hussein Ben-Ali, great-grandfather King Hussein.
A brief history of Aqaba is as follows: the first settlements existed here already 5500 years ago. In ancient times, the city was called Elat and it was inhabited by the Edomites, then the Nabateans, and was a major commercial center. Then, under the name of Aelana or Aila, he entered the Roman Empire. Later belonged to the Byzantines, the Crusaders, was part of the Arab Caliphate, the Ottoman Empire. It was an important center on the way of pilgrims making the Hajj to Mecca. During the spread of Islam, to facilitate the path of pilgrims to Mecca, a passage was cut through the rocks, which was called "Ayla Akabat". Later, a new city appeared here. In the 30s and 40s of the 19th century, the Egyptians built a road through the Sinai Peninsula that passed through Aqaba. Since 1841 the city became the possession of Egypt. Then it belonged to the Turks, then the Bedouins. After the First World War, it was part of the Arab kingdom of Hijaz, then to Saudi Arabia. In 1925, it was ceded to the British protectorate of Transjordan (the predecessor of modern Jordan). After the formation of the new state of Israel in 1948, Aqaba began to develop as an independent seaport.
We leave Aqaba and our further path runs through the Martian landscapes of the Wadi Rum valley. Only occasionally there are small, and sometimes solitary dwellings, as well as Bedouins on their "ships of the desert" camels. If it were not for the modern excellent highway and the cars rushing along it, then everything here would remind of eternity.
Walk around the legendary Petra
We drive up to Petra - a cave city carved into the rocks and protected by them from external enemies.
Petra - the capital of Edom, or Idumea, later the capital of the Nabatean kingdom, the main city of the sons of Esau. The city is located on the territory of modern Jordan, at an altitude of more than 900 meters above sea level and 660 meters above the surrounding area, the Arava Valley, in the narrow Siq Canyon.
To see the legendary Petra, the buildings of which testify to its glorious past, we pass into the valley through a narrow gorge, as the cliffs sheer from the east and west, forming natural walls up to 60 meters in height.
The Nabataean kingdom lasted for many centuries, during which its capital, Petra, became widely known as a center of highly developed culture, an architectural masterpiece and an ingenious engineering structure with its widely branched and calculated system of canals and dams designed for elevation changes.
Petra was located at the crossroads of two major trade routes: one through the Red Sea connected with Damascus, the other through the Persian Gulf - with Gaza and the Mediterranean coast. Spice caravans from the Persian Gulf had to endure the harsh conditions of the Arabian desert for weeks until they reached the coolness of the narrow canyon of the Siq, leading to the long-awaited Petra. Here travelers found food, shelter and cool life-giving water.
Annual rainfall in Petra is only about 15 centimeters. To get water, the locals cut down canals and reservoirs right in the rocks. Over time, almost every drop of rain in and around Petra was collected and preserved. Thanks to the water, which the people of Petra skillfully conserved, they were able to grow crops and breed camels. In addition, they were able to build a city - a center of trade. Until now, all along the Siq canyon, water flows through winding stone channels.
However, after every, and the most magnificent, prosperity, decline inevitably follows. This fate did not pass and the kingdom of the Nabataeans, which was eventually conquered by the Roman emperor Trajan. After some time, the Roman Empire collapsed, in turn, and a few more centuries later, after the XIV century, the lands of the former Nabataean kingdom and Petra were "lost" and completely disappeared from the field of view of the Western world, therefore Petra is sometimes called the "Lost City". The treasure of the East lay dormant in the chest of the desert for almost three hundred years, when it was rediscovered in 1812. A Swiss traveler named Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, who found himself in the vicinity of Petra, was not afraid of the seemingly hopeless infinity of the local sands and convinced his guide to take him to the mysterious city lost in these sands, about which there were so many legends. At the same time, in his secret diary, he wrote: “It is likely that the ruins of Wadi Musa are nothing more than the remains of ancient Petra. ” At the end of the 20th century, Petra became the most popular attraction in Jordan and is visited annually by about half a million tourists. In 2007, she was chosen as one of the new seven wonders of the world.
We pass through the cool canyon of the Siq, a kilometer long, around the corner suddenly opens the Treasury - a majestic building with a facade carved from a huge rock.
The inhabitants of Petra mastered the art of working with stone. The very name "Petra" (translated as "rock") is associated with a stone. The Nabataeans, who built the city, carved houses, crypts and temples from stone blocks. The famous rock temple-mausoleum of El-Khazneh, the "Treasury of the Pharaoh", as the Arabs call it, was created in the II century. The building is crowned with a huge stone urn, which supposedly contained gold and precious stones.
The canyon gradually expands, and we find ourselves in a natural amphitheater, in the sandstone walls of which there are many caves. The main thing that catches your eye is the crypts carved into the rocks.
The colonnade and the amphitheater testify to the presence of the Romans in the city in the 1st and 2nd centuries.
The territory of Petra occupies a large area. From the center, where the ruins of numerous buildings, no longer rocky, but built in the traditional way, from stone, are well preserved, it stretches for several kilometers. The main street, stretching from east to west across the city, was laid during the Roman rule. On both sides of it stretches a majestic colonnade. The western end of the street rested on a large temple, and the eastern end ended in a three-span triumphal arch. Ed-Deir, a monastery carved into the rock at the top of a cliff, is a huge building about 50 m wide and over 45 m high. Judging by the crosses carved on the walls, the temple served as a Christian church for some time.
Many buildings of Petra were erected in different eras and under different owners of the city, including the Edomites (XVIII - II centuries BC), Nabataeans (2 -106 BC), Romans (106-395 BC), Byzantines and Arabs. In XII it was owned by the crusaders. Near the ancient theater here you can see the building of the Idumean or Nabatean era. There are practically no monuments built after the 6th century AD, because in that era the city had already lost its significance.
On the way back, the Bedouins, for a fee, offer tired tourists to ride a camel, horse, donkey or horse-drawn carriage, which we gladly took advantage of. Near the bus stop there are many stalls selling souvenirs. The shops offer products made of gold and silver, which are quite cheap in this country.
The way back through the desert, Aqaba and the bay took place at night (after all, it gets dark so quickly in the south) and was not remembered for anything special. Upon returning to the pier of Taba, which had already become almost native, I and my companions were struck by the following fact: the time of evening prayer began among Muslims and therefore we were not landed on the pier - they were waiting for the end of prayer. We watched from the boat how strict-looking Egyptian border guards and customs officers, putting aside all their affairs, as well as weapons, sat on their knees on the rugs spread before our eyes and performed their religious rite, only at the end of which, removing the rugs and taking up arms have taken up their duties. This once again reminded us of the eternal - the centuries-old tradition is observed no matter what - such is the East.
