WHERE IN THE WORLD: PETRA, JORDAN

Travel notes from the tour zone with George Fontana

“May you live in interesting times” states the ancient Chinese curse. And so we do. Upon entering the Straits of Hormuz, the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden, we received a written memo from the ship’s Master articulating the official “Piracy” policy.

To wit: “Razor wire has been rigged on the freeboard deck; charged water hoses are at the ready; Long Range Acoustic Devices (LRAD) are rigged and manned; extra security guards will rotate on a 24 hour anti-piracy watch and the ship’s bridge is in constant contact with the Coalition anti-piracy warships in the area.” Interesting times, indeed. Two weeks before we entered the area, Somali pirates boarded and seized control of a freighter, hijacking it to a southern Somali port. Fate unknown. Having transited troubled waters without incident, we landed in Aqaba, Jordan and set off for Petra, “the red-rose city half as old as time”. One must navigate El Sig (a narrow canyon passage) to reach Petra. Multi-hued, striated canyons walls up to 250 ft in height enclose the Sig. Once inside, the elaborate facades carved into the sandstone by the lost Arab tribe of Nabataeans come into dramatic view. The facades are the entrances to tombs – royal tombs face west, tombs of the nobility face east. Once an important stop on the trade routes crisscrossing Arabia, Petra was forgotten when trade took to the sea. Earthquakes and floods also contributed to its demise. Today, only 15% of the ancient city has been uncovered. One of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World, Petra’s pastel colors still evoke the “blush of dawn”.

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