TRAVELS WITH MARYANNEWhat do you do when the place that you were really looking forward to visiting – Ephesus – is a complete wash out? As an independent traveller sometimes you just have to smile and get on with it.
Petra is extraordinary.
A Swiss chap named Burckhardt rediscovered Petra in 1812 and we are so glad he did. The first sighting of The Treasury as you reach the end of the Siq is just breathtaking. The spectacle of the whole site is just wonderful. When you stop to think of the engineering involved in building such a city built into rock faces and that this occurred around the 3rd century BC it is even more amazing.
Amman was originally built on seven hills but has now extended to nineteen. It is hard work getting up and down those hills so, depending where you’re heading, you may want to take a taxi. Taxis in Jordan are expensive. There are no train networks in Jordan only taxis, buses and rental cars. From what I have heard rental cars are reasonably priced but you do take your life into your own hands. The driving is pretty crazy. Nobody sticks to lanes. It’s not unusual to see three cars astride in a two lane highway. I have been white knuckled a few times in the taxi with some of their antics. Having said that their system seems to work.
Today I decided to hang out in the downtown area of Amman. I started at the Citadel which sits on the highest jabal (hill) in Amman called Jabal al-Qal’a. Aside from some great sites such as the Temple of Hercules, the Byzantine Church, the Mosque and the Monumental Gateway/Entrance Hall, there were fabulous views of the city.
Beginning in the dark ages, Clonmacnoise became a place where Christianity and scholarship prospered and grew. A vast monastic settlement thrived here, with a scriptorium of unequalled craftsmanship, where education, teaching and the arts were revered and where the classics were greatly prized and preserved. Knowledge and learning that went on to be taken to Europe as the Gospels were spread abroad by Celtic Christian monks.