A trip to the magnificent Jordan, a nation rich in history

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Arrived in Jordan with a day trip from Taba (Egypt) where I was for a stay of one week. I was with a friend and the trip took part in other people. Reach the town by crossing the Red Sea Gulf of Aqaba, here very narrow (ten kilometers) from Taba to harbor a large tourist village located on the Jordanian side. The marina is located south of Aqaba and is lovely, surrounded by tourist infrastructure of the new generation as lodging, hospitality center and luxury shops. Here we are greeted by a local guide and climb on a bus left for Petra. The road passes through Aqaba, Jordan's only port located opposite the Israeli town of Eilat which is separated from the Arava plain short. Aqaba and Eilat from a distance seem only one urban center and get closer you realize that there is a gap between them, a no man's land that separates them relentlessly. To see the windows of the bus Aqaba does not seem particularly interesting, the guide informs us that the rest of the buildings are all recent. Take the desert highway we meet near the city. And 'the desert of Wadi Rum, rugged mountains entirely devoid of vegetation but rich in polychrome shades of prevailing pink horizon. These mountains hold their slopes the sand that the wind pushes far from the Arabian desert. Wadi Rum is a desert where Lawrence of Arabia but worked to find the angles suggested by the spectacular movie with Omar Sharif should also within, but we touched him to head north. Our goal is Petra, before we stop to admire reach the Valley of Moses, with its rugged mountains of stone is inaccessible and inhospitable. On a mountain in the shape of camel humps stands a tiny white building is the tomb of Aaron. The remains of the brother of Moses from Mount Sinai were moved up here from a local sultan. Petra is located near a small town in the valley where the vegetation emerges, we stop at a souvenir shop where we are offered a cup of tea. We come then to the archaeological site of Petra, the ancient capital of the Nabataeans, a pre-Roman people who came here from Saudi Arabia. The Nabataeans built their city in a readily accessible place protected by rugged mountains and separated from the rest of the world from a very narrow canyon, the Siq. The city had a substantial urban development, architectural styles imported from Egypt and Greece the bottom of their Arab traditions and techniques used for water supply technology. The peculiarity of Petra is that buildings were not built from scratch starting from the ground but were created directly in the rocks surrounding the canyons and valleys. In practice, were nothing but cave dwellings which were provided, however beautiful and imposing facades sculpted the rocks of the mountains with fine decorations, columns and capitals. Precisely because these buildings and these temples were derived directly from the mountains many of them have survived to this day. The Nabataeans were also excellent engineers and managed to solve the problem of water impermeability advantage of these mountains. They surrounded the city of so many tanks that retain water of the rare but heavy rains in the city center and then distribute it through a system of pipes really cutting edge. We walk the long, narrow canyon that winds between the pink cliffs streaked by numerous concretions as a multicolored palette of a painter. The sun rarely fails to make inroads into the canyon, but when he does enhances the colors of these stones that change colors depending on the light they receive. The canyon is continually traversed by horse-drawn carriages and camels carrying tourists led by Bedouins enveloped by their distinctive headgear. At the end of the canyon opens our eyes to the spectacular view of the Treasury of the Pharaohs, the most famous and best preserved monument of Petra. Seeing him it seems that the canyon walls are opened to promote the view as a curtain in a theater. Then when you reach the clearing that overlooks the Treasury is so beautiful as to seem unreal because in fact everything is carved in the rock scene is there for thousands dianne. Columns should not support anything and even the ears, among other things interrupted by a newsstand where the tradition was kept darling, do not support any roof. The inside is rather disappointing, practically a cave like other civil construction was first tomb then home. From here the city stretches for miles and miles, we choose one path leads us into a valley where the mountains are visible the remains of several buildings that have not, however, the definition and perfection of the Treasury of the Pharaohs. There is also the Roman part of Petra with the remains of the Temple and a small amphitheater. Lunch in this area in a restaurant buffet and then resume the way back to the bus staging area. The path is quite long, almost 8 km round trip, but really nice in every corner Petra has something to offer. The guide explains that these cave dwellings inhabited by Bedouins were until a few years ago and that the Jordanian government has had many difficulties to move people in a nearby village built for them. Boarded the bus back to the port of Aqaba in the south where we board the ferry in less than an hour leads to Taba in Egypt.
Some notes: Petra is very beautiful, alone worth the trip to Jordan. The tour includes four hour walk but if you do not feel she can take the whole or part of this is with horse, camel and donkey. The first section on horseback from the entrance to the top of the canyon is included in the ticket price but prompted a mandatory gratuity of three euros. The subsequent sections are not included and are not cheap even if you can handle. Jordanians in stores is essential to treat and the price offered by the merchant is usually more than double what we can get.