Petra, the jewel in Jordan's crown.

The Treasury from the Siq.

There is a song ‘I’ve Been Everywhere Man’, well Eman and I have been to most places in Jordan. From Al Himma on the Yarmouk River to Aqaba on the Gulf of Aqaba, and from the Jordan River to the town of Azraq. Jordan is a beautiful country. So which place was our favourite? I think that would be Petra, which we have visited five times. With a residency card, entry was only 1 JOD, fantastic.

Making sand vase in Wadi Musa.

Our first trip was with Steve and Joy. We left Aqaba on a clear day in December, but the trip became a bitterly cold one, almost zero degrees or so it felt. That evening we visited some shops in Wadi Musa, the town from which you enter the World Heritage site. We had a whale of a time playing musical instruments, watching coloured sand vases being made and dressing up in Bedouin clothes. Eman was fully dressed in Bedouin clothes and jewelry.




Eman dressed as a Bedouin bride.

The next day we entered Petra. The Siq, a canyon that leads into the Nabatean ancient city of Petra took us such a long time to walk as the cameras went click click. The Siq itself surprises so many visitors; it is an attraction in itself. We were just gob-stopped. I’ve not seen anything like the Siq. Then coming upon The Treasury was again mind blowing. I took so many photos just within the Siq of the Treasury, but always people are in the photo. I wanted photos with nobody in it but as this was nigh impossible. To obtain some photos of the Treasury with nobody present, I decided I would be the first person to enter next morning I ran through the Siq to get photos before anyone arrived then quickly walked out again as we were leaving that day.

 The biggest highlight of any trip is meeting people. We meet three interesting lots of people that day. The first group we met was because I liked the look of what one guy was wearing and asked if I could have a photo with him, two other fellows with him immediately jumped into our photo opportunity. After an exchange of names and phone numbers we continued our walk and gave no more thought to the people in the photo, but one of the three did some months later establish contact with us. We were to become friends with Dr. Zyad and with his extended family in Qadsiyya, a small town on the edge of the Wadi Dana Nature Reserve. I had heard of the book ‘I Married a Bedouin’ by Marguerite van Geldermalsen. The second person we were to meet was her son. So, we bought the book from his store. Later Eman I and were to meet a beautiful Bedouin woman. We were offered tea and sat drinking and talking for quite some time. It was such a delightful day.

 Entry to Petra for visitors to Jordan is 50 JOD.

Transport can be arranged in Amman or Aqaba. Aqaba is much closer to Wadi Musa and at the time of writing a seat in a minibus cost 5 JOD.