The crowning glory of Petra
Despite all the hyperbole you come across on the websites of various tourism authorities or in glossy travel magazines, the unadulterated ‘wow’ moments that you get when you actually travel the world are, in reality, fairly few and far between. Of course there are places that you think are incredible and that make you want to return and then, of course, there are also the disappointments – the places that are not nearly as impressive as you had imagined. I’ve highlighted a few of those here in the past – the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Dead Sea being among my own personal let-downs. But having one of those sharp-intake-of-breath experiences when you gaze upon something for the first time – that’s rare enough.
But I was reminded at the weekend of one place that, for me, remains a stand-out and did genuinely did live up to its reputation. A place on the planet that made me gasp in awe. And what’s surprising about this is that it is one of the so-called ‘new’ Seven Wonders of the World. Quite often it’s those kind of places – sights that make it on to some kind of list or other – that leave me cold.
So there I was last Sunday afternoon, plugged into Netflix, watching a film that I’d never heard of before, called Queen Of
The Desert. Starring Nicole Kidman, it’s the true story of the English scientist/ traveller/archaeologist/cartographer/ mountaineer Gertrude Bell, and it followed her travels throughout Arabia and among the Bedouin tribesmen at the beginning of the 20th Century. As a film, it’s a two/three-star job but some of the cinematography is spectacular.
One particular scene triggered my ‘wow’ memory. With so many desert scenes looking alike, suddenly, there was the bould Gertrude, astride her camel and accompanied by her faithful companion, Fatou, and a few other Arab guides, making her way through a narrow pass, the red-coloured rock on either side dwarfing her and her fellow travellers. Could it be, I wondered? Could it be where I thought it was?
As the next scene appeared on the screen I had my answer. Yes, it was Petra – or certainly somewhere that was supposed to represent Petra, the red-rose Nabatean city, dating from the 4th century BC and located in what is now Jordan. For the purposes of the film’s storyline, this was used as a place that Gertrude Bell came upon while major excavations were going on, although, to be honest, the timeline didn’t quite work. Petra was first discovered back in 1812 and the major excavations didn’t happen until 1929 – by which time Gertrude Bell had been three years dead.
However, just to catch a glimpse of Petra (a great deal of Queen Of The
Desert was filmed in Morocco, but the Petra you see is actually the real Petra) brought it all back to me. Particularly that sharp-intake-of-breath moment that I experienced there when, after riding on horseback through the Siq – the gorge that leads from the outside world into the ancient city – I finally emerged to find the famous Treasury building straight in front of me, the early morning sunlight glinting off the red sandstone and contributing to the beauty of the sight before me.
September and October are good times to visit Jordan. Yes, it is a country that borders Syria and Iraq, so obviously travelling close to those borders should be avoided. The Department of Foreign Affairs currently advises visitors to exercise a high degree of caution, while also pointing out that it has been several years since the country came under any major terrorist attack. (Petra actually lies south, much closer to Israel than to Syria or Iraq.)
If you get to Petra, make sure you make that journey through the Siq either in the early morning (between about 9am and 10.30am) or late afternoon (5pm). Those are the times the sunlight illuminates the Treasury building when you emerge from the gorge.
There’s much more to Petra than one building, of course, although to stare at its workmanship, with the building literally carved out of the sandstone all those centuries before Jesus of Nazareth ever walked the earth, is both mind-boggling and strangely humbling. You’ll also want to see the theatre, the great temple and the monastery but bear in mind that Petra was once a city, so distances are an issue. I did it on the back of a camel, for very little money, and it took the pressure off.
It’s only fair to point out that there are aspects of Petra that are a bit too theme-park touristy for my liking – such as youngsters hassling to sell you pieces of sandstone and camel/horse-owners all loudly competing for custom. All of which means that it’s better to visit early in the day before the crowds and the hawkers swamp the place.
Overall, though, it’s well worth it. Just for that first ‘wow’ moment as you exit the Siq. Once seen, never forgotten.