Jordan Travelogue

Have you ever wondered what happens when VOA (Visa-on-Arrival and not Voice-of-America) gets rejected? Do you get thrown in jail or are you to take the next available flight back home? What if there are no available flights for a few days? Who pays for the change of dates? How are you to get to "Departures" now that you are stuck in the "Arrivals"? Do we get consular access? We realised how important these questions are when we were stopped at the HK of J (The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan) immigration. A couple of years ago, India and Jordan signed an agreement for VOA for Indians amid much celebrations on Indian WhatsApp groups. Since the Jordan police is not part of our WhatsApp groups, they were blissfully unaware of this change and were following the old rule of allowing Indians iff they had a White Man's visa. After three hours in No Man's Land, we finally unleashed the questions that this paragraph started with. Totally stumped and realising our cunning plan of turning up on a Thursday evening when the Indian consulate would have shut shop for the weekend (yes, weekend starts on a Friday in Islamic world), Jordan immigration let us in with a stern warning not to repeat this in the future. Well, that's what I thought their parting monologue was about. Aparna thought it was eatery recommendation in Amman as she swears she heard the word "falafel". It was all in Arabic.

Its about time the travelogue started. The history of Levant goes back several millennia. Our trip started somewhere in the middle. 330 BC to be precise. That's when one Alexander of Macedon in his quest to become Great reached Levant and conquered it in a jiffy. His successors built a series of ten cities in the region collectively known as the Decapolis. And the largest of these is Jerash and that is where we overnighted after the long immigration struggle. Rome venerunt-viderunt-vicerunt (3rd person plural of veni-vidi-vici) all of Levant in 106 AD and they Romanised the architecture of Decapolis and that's how Jerash was blessed with the best surviving example of the famed Roman Cardo Maximus. After walking up and down it a few times and hoodwinked into parting with 2 JD by one of the several photographer-boys who specialise in taking pictures of tourists from strange angles, we headed to Ajlun. It is an old Byzantine monastery converted into a fort by one of Saladin's generals. Levant is where most of the crusader battles took place in the 11th and the 12th centuries and it was here that the Christians won the First and Saladin helped the Muslims take back the most in the Second. Ajlun was crucial in holding on to the victory as it lords over the important trade route to Damascus. Next up: Gadara, our second Decapolis and the third destination of the day. It was home to Menippus, a satirist so great that one of the three branches, the Menippean Satire is named after him. There is no trace of him in Gadara, every singe one of his works have been successfully lost by humanity, but at least there is the Western Theatre, a Roman masterpiece that offers a view to die for. Our day finally ended in Pella (well, it ended in our hotel room, but you know what I mean), the third Decapolis which has nothing to show except for nine Corinthian pillars.

If the previous day was about the Decapolis, today was about the Desert Castles. Umayyads of Damascus took over from the Rashidun as the leaders of the nascent Islamic world in the mid 7th century. They built a series of Desert Castles in Jordan to protect against the raids from the myriad tribes that inhabited the Arabian Peninsula. But before we got there we had an off-beat gem to dekko. And the gem, whose original name has been lost to history, is just known as Umm Al Jimal (a nearby modern village). It was an old Nabatean town built around 1st c BC. Nabateans were the dominant people of Levant between the Greeks and the Romans. They had arrived from Arabia and started controlling the important trade routes between the East and the West. Um Al Jimal was an important fort-town that helped in the said controlling. After the Roman takeover this became an important Byzantine city and place is home to the ruins of several Byzantine era churches. The remoteness of the place and our early morning start ensured we had the whole place to ourselves (four stray dogs notwithstanding) and roaming the ruins in solitude was quite a surreal experience.

A two hour drive brought us to Qasr Al Hallabat, our first Desert Castle. Started as a fort during the reign of Emperor Caracalla (198 - 217 AD), the complex was transformed into a monastery during the Byzantine era (6th c AD) and later turned into the largest Desert Castle in the 7th c by the Umayyad Khalif Walid II. Thanks to its Byzantine history, this is the only Desert Castle to port Byzantine mosaics and since we are yet to see Madaba, they could easily take our breath away. Qasr Azraq, the next castle, was a complete contrast. Built using basalt, the edifices were black as opposed to the gleaming yellow sandstone of rest of the castles. The earliest part of the fort dates to about 300 AD (Roman-Byzantine era). The fort was expanded in the 8th c by Umayyad Khalif Walid II and in the 8th c by the Ayyubids. This was once the temporary headquarters of the Arab Revolt lead by Hussein bin Ali and Lawrence of Arabia. Qusayr (little fort) Amra is the only Desert Castle which is also an UNESCO World Heritage Site. The reason are the stunning frescoes inside its Hammam, frescoes that date back to the early days of Islam when the strict rule against depiction of human figures was not yet invented. Qasr Kharana is the most mysterious of all Desert Castles. Looking like a textbook example of a fort from the outside and a caravanserai from the inside, it was definitely neither. It had too little water and too off the trade routes to be of any practical use. We weren't there to solve any mysteries. We were there to ensure other tourists don't photobomb our selfies. Having achieved our goal, we headed to the last Qasr - Al Abad is its name. This one wasn't one of the Desert Castle, but a private residence built in 187 BC by the Tobiads, a powerful Jewish family, the only pre-Roman building to survive the ravages of time. Resembling an Egyptian temple and located in a verdant valley, the first sight of the building from the surrounding hills was simply unforgettable.

The following day we deposited our rental car in the safety of our hotel garage and taxied around in Amman. Headed first to the Citadel, bright and early to beat the crowd. The citadel was the capital of the bronze-age kingdom of Ammon, one of the three kingdoms (Moab and Edom being the other two) that comprised modern day Jordan. Everything that survives from that era is safely ensconced in museums. The earliest structures that can be seen today dates from the Greek era. This was Philadelphia, one of the Decapolis founded by the Greeks and the proof of that is the majestic Temple of Hercules. Not much of it survives except a few pillars and a lintel. But being dwarfed by it and seeing all of Amman from its base is something that cannot be explained in words. Or pictures. The Citadel also houses an exquisite Umayyad era palace. Downhill from here are two of the other must-sees of Amman, the majestic Roman Theatre, carved into a hillside and offering splendid vistas from the top row and the pretty petite Odeon. We wish we had the time to catch a performance in one of the theatres. Next up were a series of we wish we hadn't the time sites - the badly maintained Nymphaeum, the dilapidated Duke's Diwan (or the nation's first post office) and the modern art museum of Darat al Funun and the even more modern King Abdullah I Mosque (added to the itinerary just so that we don't leave an Islamic country without visiting at least one mosque). Thankfully, the disappointments stopped there and we could end our Amman leg with two of its precious treasures. First, the spanking new Jordan Museum housing the famous Ain Ghazal statues (made c. 7200 BC, they are as old to the pyramids as the pyramids are to us) and the more famous Dead Sea Scrolls (the oldest surviving Biblical manuscripts). Second, the one and only Hasheems. If you haven't eaten here, you haven't eaten falafels. As you can see, it was barely lunch by the time we were done with Amman. But this is Middle East. There is always a World Heritage Site that is nearby. In our case it was As Salt, an old Byzantine town which became an important Ottoman era trading post. The whole town is exploding with Ottoman era buildings and was a pleasure to wander and get lost. With so much getting lost and so little time, the only building we managed to visit was the oldest shrine in town, the Al Khadar Greek Orthodox Church dating from 1682.

Another early morning start helped us catch the first tour at the Bethany Beyond the Jordan, the only tour that ensures there aren't other tourists before you at the site. Bethany is where that Jesus of Nazareth was baptised by John the Baptist. And exact spot is marked by the ruins of five 5th and 6th c churches and is also mentioned in the famous Madaba Mosaic Map. Basically, the people as far back as the 5th c AD believed this was the place. The most unbelievable moment of the tour came when we reached the Jordan River, which was nothing more than a shallow 50 ft wide creek and other side were Israeli tourists. People on either side could easily have a conversation without yelling. My mobile was gleefully welcoming me to Israel and Jordan depending on which way I turned my head. And this was an international border, not to mention between Israel and one of its Islamic neighbours.

A short drive from the Baptism Site brought us to the shores of the Dead Sea, a body of water so salty that nothing lives here, nothing can drown, every cut that you ever had from birth burns as soon as it touches its waters and one sip of it reminds you of all pipette accidents that you ever had in your high school chemistry lab. And it is here that the Jordan river flows into as it cannot flow any further. At minus 450 metres, this is the literal lowest point on the earth. A longer drive from here brought us to Mt. Nebo, the location from where Moses had his first glimpse of the Promised Land and where he breathed his last. Ruins of a Byzantine Church dating to 530 AD marks the location. And it was here that we had our first glimpse of the famed Madaba Mosaics. Madaba (on whose outskirts lies Nebo) was an old Ammonite town which reached its zenith during the Byzantine era by becoming the mosaic capital of the region. Ruins of several Byzantine era churches stand as its testimony. The never ending laundry list of must sees goes something like this: the frolicking animals of the Moses Memorial Church, the elegant peacock of the SS Lot and Procopius (557 AD), the dancing rams and tame lions of the Madaba Museum, the Tibetan Mandala like Mosaics of the Church of the Virgin Mary (767 AD), the mosaic depicting Greek gods in the Archaeological Park, the fading beauty of the 6th c Martyr's Church, and the last, but not the least, astonishing depiction of sea creatures at the Church of the Apostles (578 AD). The crowning glory of all is the famed Madaba Mosaic Map in the St George's Church. Made in 560 AD, the map depicts the Holyland sites as of that era. The accidental discovery of it in 1884 sent shock waves in archaeology and helped discover several lost Biblical era sites in Levant. The only break that Madaba has to offer in the incessant mosaic-hopping is an opportunity to climb up 110 narrow steps up the bell-tower of the Church of the Beheading of John the Baptist to enjoy the birds eye view of the town.

One of the oldest trade routes on the planet is the famous King's Highway that ran from Heliopolis in Cairo to Damascus in Syria. The road was used as far back as the bronze-age and our plan for the following day is to negotiate a small portion of it between Madaba and Petra. Obviously, the route has a historically important ruin/structure every centimetre and we could manage to cover only four of these on our slow route to Petra. First up was the wind swept heights of one Castle of Herod, the great. This was a fort built in 100 BC and expanded by Herod in 30 BC. It is believed that the incident where John the Baptist was beheaded at the behest of Salome took place right here. A century later, in 72 AD, Rome attacked and destroyed the fort as a part of the widespread effort to quell the Jewish Rebellion. Thanks to the Romans, there is nothing here but the unforgiving, penetrating winds. You are here for the experience and the goosebumps and not for any actual historical ruins. An hour further down the road is Umm Ar Rasas which houses the Kastron Mefaa, mentioned in the Old Testament. The fort became an important Byzantine town and is littered with the ruins of several 6th century churches. Nothing except the resilient Roman arches survive from that era. The exception being the 785 AD St Stephens Church. That one conceals wonderfully well-preserved mosaics, astonishing enough to be worth visiting after the overload at Madaba, unique enough to warrant a World Heritage Site status. Two more hours brought us to the famed Al Karak in the heart of the Crusader territory. After the rag-tag coalition of Christian knights and princes won the First Crusade, they built a series of fort-castles to protect their new possessions. The biggest of these is the Al Karak built by Baldwin I in 1142 AD. Forts don't get any more dramatic than this and first sight of this behemoth rising 1000 ft from the valley floor (as seen from the Panaroma view point) is spellbinding. It is the most well-preserved of all Crusader castles and ate up the next couple of hours of our day. Most of these castles were captured by Saladin during the Second Crusade. Another two hours on the road brought us to the next Crusader masterpiece - Shobak. Although smaller in scale than Karak, its perch is no less dramatic and the ruins no less evocative. Built by Baldwin in 1115, it was captured by Saladin in 1189 after an epic 18 month long siege.

After five eventful days, we were finally in Petra. Petra need no introduction, especially for someone who has made thus far into a boring travelogue. It was built and inhabited between 3rd c BC and 6th c AD. The first half (till 1st c AD) serving as the capital of the Nabatean Kingdom and the second half as a Byzantine town. Everything about Petra was more dramatic and more awe inspiring than what we had seen in pictures, videos and documentaries. The long walk through the narrow siq, the first sight of the Treasury, the gleaming red theatre chiselled into the sandstone rock cliff, the gigantic Royal Tombs, the sprawling Great Temple and the imposing Monastery reached via a strenuous 40 minute climb were all better than what we had imagined and dreamt of since childhood. Despite the fact that most tombs faced west and we were there only in the forenoon, the place was supremely photogenic. In our delirium of making it to one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World, we clocked 20,000 steps by lunch. Since we had a 6 am start, noon was enough to cover all of Petra. Now we had the time, but not the energy. What can motivate us to stay out in the hot sun and not crawl back into our beds? Well, people don't call this the Middle East for nothing. A 15 min drive away is Little Petra. No, that isn't for the jaded. That is quite underwhelming after the highs of Petra. But near it lies Al Beidha. Quite unknown, off-beat to the level of having to bribe the local goatherd to take you there. Taken out of context is just a rubble of rocks in a dry valley. But context here is everything. That rubble of rocks marks the very dawn of human civilisation, the transition point between hunter-gatherer and settled farmers. The site was occupied since at least 11th millennium BC. But store houses, the first stone buildings, date back to 9000 BC when agriculture was invented. Most buildings (well, stone piles) here date between 8500 BC and 5500 BC. Three full millennia later came the pyramids. If this doesn't give you goosebumps, we don't know what will.

Woke up to stiff neck, back, and muscles the following morning and an uncontrollable urge to punch everyone who had said 40s were the new 30s. What can motivate us now? Well, this is Middle East.... How about a world famous natural wonder? How about Wadi Rum? It is just under couple of hours from Petra and conceals one of the most dramatic desertscapes on the planet. Wide valleys covered with bright red sand, interspersed with gigantic rocky outcrops with unscalable faces, doted with meandering camels and occasional Bedouin camps were simply A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. A photographer's delight. My skills do not do any justice to the place. With my lack of eloquence, I wouldn't even bother describing it. Let me stick to my usual mildly interesting history titbits. During the World War I, this entire region (including the Arabian Peninsula) was under the Ottoman rule. Ottomans and the Brits were on the opposite sides during the war. After the disaster at Gallipoli, the Allies were lacking the manpower to take on the Ottomans. So they decided to egg the Arabs into revolting against the Turks. Lawrence of Arabia was the liaison man. He had the hard job of convincing the Arabs to revolt. He was ably assisted by one of the forgotten heroes of the war, Gertrude Bell. Better known by her moniker, the Queen of the Desert, she had spent most of her life living with the tribes and knew their culture and language better than any other outsider. She helped put together an Arab coalition which Lawrence could guide to victory. What has all this to do with Wadi Rum? Well, it was here in Wadi Rum that the Arabs had set up their camp and harass the Ottomans by repeatedly attacking the railway lines. And it was from here that they lead their impossible attack on the port city of Aqaba. Turks were not expecting to be attacked from the desert side and that is precisely what the Arabs did.

A 5 hour 4X4 jeep tour took us to all the highlights of Wadi Rum which gave us just enough time to close the loop on the short history lesson above. Just enough time to peep into Aqaba and visit the fortress that the Arabs captured. The fort was built by the Mamluks in the early 16th century and briefly occupied by the Ottomans during the World War I. The fort sits bang on the shores of the Red Sea. Wetting our tired legs in its deep blue waters was a wonderful way to end this memorable trip. Between Al Beidha and Wadi Rum we had covered the entire gamut of Middle East history. Between Umm Al Jimal and Aqaba, we have covered the entire length of the country (there isn't much of a breadth). There are not many people more welcoming than the Jordanians. The food was fantastic. Vegetarian choices galore. Despite clocking over 15,000 steps every single day the delicious hummus and moutabels ensured we actually gained weight on the trip. We hope that through this travelogue and the accompanying vlog we could share some of these wonderful experiences. Thanks for reading.