Amman - Petra - Jerusalem

Amman - Petra - Jerusalem

The busses in Jordan arent quite up to the same standard as Turkey. The bus down to Petra from Amman was a minibus, very mini, with a bonus tax on your price if you aren't Jordanian (claims of Jordanian grand parents fell on deaf ears) It sets off when its full, and tears off down the desert highway through the barren dusty landscape, stopping only briefly to let a herd of camels cross! 3hrs later and we are in Wadi Musa, the town that hs built up to fleece tourists around Petra. We've got a great balcony looking down to the PInk City, and spend our afternoon on it soaking up more sunshine.

The next morning we have breakfast with Ismael, a Jordanian who is far too awake at 800am, and keen to practice his French, German, Italian and Spanish, with a bit of English thrown in. Petra itself is absolutely breathtaking both in what you see, and hiking around the site. Its hard to do justice in words to this ancient city from around 1AD, built along a narrow siq to keep it hidden from marauders and the rest of the world. Lying on a fault line, major earthquakes are the main reason that it was abandoned in the 15th Century. At the end of the Siq, you come out to see the Treasury, and the Indiana Joes theme music starts up in your head. We were there for a full day, but could have easily spent two there - there were still some bits that we didnt get to see - particularly another severe 'up' bit to see the high place of sacrifice. Hard to guess how they sacrificed from there... Its pretty mindblowing to see how a community existed and survived 2000 years ago. There's not a lot else to do in Wadi Musa - our hotel showed Indiana Jones almost on repeat, so after a dinner of rice chicken and gallyah - a tomato spicy dish - its off to sleep.

Its a bit of a mission to get from Petra to Jerusalem in one day, but perfectly possible. The 900am bus from Wadi Musa to Amman filled up pretty quickly. The conductor tried to charge us full fare for our luggage also, but we were having none of it, and teamed up with a pair of Germans and an Aussie girl to put him firmly in his place. 3 hours back up the Desert Highway and we are back in Amman bus station with a swarm of taxi drivers trying to get us in their vehicle so that they can take us to the King Hussein Bridge and teh border crossing into Israel. According to most taxi drivers, the fare is 15, but I was having none of it and eventually got one guy to take us for 14. A saving of about 80p, and one that I am very proud of. King Hussein Bridge is near the Dead Sea, so there was a lot of down to get there. There is some great scenery on the descent to the much more fertile plains. We're dropped off about 1km as our driver cant take us all the way, aledgedly. Its a lot hotter this low down. Once at the border point we have to pay to leave the country and then get our luggage x-rayed and get on another bus, and then get off this bus and onto another. It seems to take an age to get going, and an aging Arab woman gets off togive a piece of her mind to some poor unsuspecting police chap. It seems to do the trick whatever she said. I wouldnt have answered her back. The Jordanians are very good at reiieving the last few dinars from our pocket with another charge for this bus. One chap only has Isaeli Shekels or dollars to pay with, and they will only give him change in dinars, which he doesnt want. I gallatly step in and offer my remining dinars to help him out. As they say one good turn deserves another, and this chap just happens to be the World Health Organisation's head officer for Gaza and the West Bank, and has a car waiting to take him to Jerusalem at the other side, and he offers us a lift. Result.

Getting into Israel is a lot easier than expected, and also is free! Just a few questions about where we plan to visit, how we know each other, and we are ushered through for another stamp in our passport. The Israeli stamp means that we can not get into Syria, Lebanon and other Arab nations, but we're not too fussed about that any more. Climbing back up from the lowest point on the planet, we enter Jerusalem and get a great view over the Old City. Its taken about 6 hours to get here, so its a treat to have air-conditioning and a chauffeur driven ride to our hotel. We say goodbye and thanks to Tony, and get to our hotel, whose internet has been down for a couple of days, they havent received our booking, and the hotel is full up. Sorry, we will refund you the deposit - which he makes a botch of, and gives us $40 instead of about $20. We soon discover that its Sukkot, and everywhere is jam packed full. We go back to the original hotel and demand that he finds us another hotel. After I make a huge fuss in reception, he calls a friend, finds us a room and gives us another $10 to cover the cab fare. We decide to walk through the streets, and eventually find a place to rest our travel weary heads in the Armenian hostel. Some Americans are just checking out, so we have a good chat on with them about where to go and how to get there. Once we're in the room and showered, we pop over the Via Dolorosa to the Austrian Hostel for a supper of strudel and schnitzel. These hostels are pretty grand buildings, with interiors like smart University Halls of Residence, but also with a feel of something out of The Sound of Music. As if on cue, an Austrian nun walks by.

After supper we wander down to the Western Wall. We think its the start of Sukkot, and it is very very full with worshipping Jews in full regalia, including big furry hats, which we later find out from Jewish correspondent Tony Quill that the ultra religious wear these hats all year round. Must be baking hot in the summer.

We're soon in bed, in our spacious room that even has a TV. No curtains though, which is a bit odd.