Times Online: Jordan, easy and magnificent
admin July 6th, 2007
Gareth Scurlock made the trip to Jordan recently for the Times. You can now read his various adventures in eco-tourism camps, Petra and Wadi Rum on the Times Online website.
His description of the plight of the Dead Sea is interesting; so too his trip to the Dana Nature Reserve. And of course he found Petra particularly moving.
It’s a 90-minute early morning drive to Petra, where the entrance is as affecting as the monuments, tombs and temples themselves. The walk down through the Siq, a narrow gorge that at places is only a couple of metres wide, is nearly a mile long. The vertical cliffs used to be joined, now wrought apart by earthquakes and other natural forces. The bright red hues of weathered sandstone hint at the majesty ahead.
For most people, the image that typifies the Red Rose City is that of the Treasury, carved out of the same vertical cliffs as those that line the Siq. Emerging from the gorge, the massive, ornate wall is revealed gradually and is awe-inspiring even if you’ve seen the picture hundreds of times.
- Petra , eco-tourism , wadi rum
