Saturday 23rd August saw a group of fifteen of us leave Henbury and the soggy British summer to head for Heathrow and our flight to Amman in the Hashimite Kingdom of Jordan. There was a definite buzz of excitement from the whole group but especially from a few novice travellers for whom the chance to experience a completely different culture was something dreams were made of.
We started well by having a hotel upgrade to five star for our first night. Not much time to rest though as the tour started with a visit to the Roman city of Jerash. Amazingly well preserved, it did not take much imagination to picture life during the Roman period. We even witnessed some chariot racing and had a demonstration of gladiator warfare inside the original amphitheatre.
We were then granted some time to chill out and get over our flight and acclimatise to 34o degree heat by soaking up the rays overlooking the Dead Sea by our hotel pool. This is the lowest point on earth and the salt content in the sea means you cannot sink, so even the non-swimmers ventured out for a paddle and a covering of therapeutic mud.
Next up was a visit to Petra. We arrived at the siq by horse, all feeling somewhat like Indiana Jones. The three quarter mile long siq is a steep gorge that takes you into the Red Rock City. You can spend a few days here exploring the tombs, caves, monasteries, treasures, altars etc all carved into the natural sandstone rock some 2000 years ago.
Keeping the desert theme, next stop was Wadi Rum, an area of outstanding natural beauty near the borders of Saudi Arabia and Egypt, made famous by Lawrence of Arabia as he helped fight the Turks in 1917. Here we took 4x4 jeeps into the desert to a Bedouin tent for some tea and just to experience the desert air in our hair. This prepared us for our next adventure which was a two-hour camel ride into the sunset. Stunning. That night we actually slept in tents, or under the stars as some chose to do and awoke in time to see the sun rise.
Jordan is also the place where many famous biblical events like the Exodus took place and many of the Old Testament characters like Samuel, David, Moses and Elijah lived so for some in the group added an extra dimension to the holiday as it brought the Bible alive. We then had to negotiate one of the most disorganised border crossings in the world as we crossed the Allenby Bridge into Israel for two days of exploring Jerusalem. Visiting the old city and seeing many of the places Jesus lived, and indeed His place of execution and resurrection was thought provoking whatever faith, or none you held.
Next trip we are leaving for Dubai. See events page for details.
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