King's Highway Amman to Petra
Trip Start
Jun 25, 2011
1
20
24
Trip End
Aug 15, 2012
Kings Highway, Karak, Jordan
Sunday, October 16, 2011
We left Amman with the same couple from the previous day, Gary and Kirsti, to travel the Kings Highway to Petra [Kat: Our budget savers! Private cars are expensive, and this still cost us about $100 after splitting the cost]. After yesterday's marathon trip (13 hours) I was knackered and my butt was still numb. Our driver seemed to live on cigarettes, coffee and no sleep as if driving for 13 hours everyday was perfectly normal. We left Amman after stopping for the local coffee (favoured with cardamom) at a local store. Our car was stopped on the side of the highway leaving town but not far enough over to clear the lane completely. The result was a huge backup of cars and trucks honking their horns and swerving around one another, as they had to go partially into the next lane to get around our car. Our driver quietly drank his coffee, smoked a cigarette and watched the ensuing chaos. Finally, coffees were drunk, cigarettes smoked and gestures exchanged between drivers and we were ready to travel down the Kings Highway en route to Petra.
The Kings Highway is ancient. It is mentioned in the Bible, was traveled by Israelites, Nabataeans, Christians, Crusaders and Muslim pilgrims. It passes through the Wadi Wala valley and the Wadi Dana before reaching Petra. As the road is so ancient, it is lined with many ancient castles, towns and churches and we planned to stop at several of these on our way to Petra; Madaba, Karak, Jaffner, Dana (lookout) and Shobak.
Here is a quick list of the places we visited:
Madaba is best known for its Byzantine and Umayyad mosaics, especially a large Byzantine-era mosaic map of The Holy Land called The Madaba Map- a six century AD map of Jerusalem and the surrounding region, in the Greek Orthodox Basilica of Saint George. Unfortunately there was a service in progress when we arrived, and although we hung around for almost an hour, we never got in. The faded photocopy of a picture of one of the mosaics hanging outside was really nice though.
Karak is a crusader castle. The castle is one of the three largest castles in the region, the other two being in Syria. In 1132 Pagan the Butler made his headquarters at al-Karak were he built a castle on a hill called by the crusaders Petra Deserti - The Stone of the Desert. It was only in crusader hands for 46 years before Saladin’s armies took the castle. The castle was relatively still intact and was fun walking around the dark subterranean corridors that appeared to cover this castle. Some of the rooms were used as latrines by the locals so you had to careful where you stepped. It reminded me of Krak des Chevaliers in Syria as they both have impressive steep, sloping glacis.
[Kat: WTF is a glacis? Karl is getting fancy… showoff!]
The Dana lookout has a spectacular view over a huge natural gorge, Wadi Dana (coincidentally located near the village of Dana). This lookout gives an amazing view of this deep valley and of Wadi Araba behind. The view reminded me of the view from the Ella Gap, Sri Lanka [Kat: This one was a real surprise- from my previous visit to Jordan I assumed the country was mostly flat … this was like a Jordanian Grand Canyon!]. At the lookout you could buy fossils, rugs with camel designs, and archaeological remains such as pottery. Only two of those will get you put in jail if you’re caught with them in your bag at the airport.
Jaffner Mosque. I cannot find any information on this mosque. I must have the wrong name??? But we went to a very important mosque, with a grand history which was totally overshadowed by the fact that 1) at first the attendants refused to let us in, causing a big argument between our driver and the attendants, and making us feel guilty for wanting to go in and 2) they showed us a couple of rooms, muttering in broken English, and then demanded serious money for being "our guides". It really left a bad impression on what should be an important piece of Jordan’s history.
Shobak is an imposing crusader castle that was built in 1115. It was strategically located on a hill on the plain of Edom, along the pilgrimage and caravan routes from Syria to Arabia. Interestingly, the hills around are higher than the castle so you can look into it from the surrounding hills (is this the best defensible position?). The road up to the castle was steep but many people were walking up. We drove up as we were driving by an older lady she yelled out after us “Cars are for the weak!”. Actually cars are for the lazy who have only a day to see everything and still make it to Petra by nightfall.
One notable Shobak character was Raynald of Châtillon who used the castle to attack the rich caravans that had previously been allowed to pass unharmed; he also built ships there, and then transported them overland to the Red Sea, planning to attack Mecca itself. This was a stupid thing to do as it drew the ire Saladin, who invaded the kingdom in 1187. Saladin was unable to use siege engines as the hill was too steep, but after almost two years the castle finally fell in1189. This castle, while imposing from a distance, was a ruin when you got closer. The outside walls still survive intact but the buildings inside are a chaotic jumble- it’s impossible to get a clear idea of what the castle would have looked like. Kat and I were both burned out from looking at castles etc so we only had a quick walk around this castle, then joined our driver who was quietly smoking outside.
Like the previous day, the trip was long and we arrived in Petra after six in the evening. We dropped Gary and Kristi off at their hotel before heading to our hotel. Our driver was a great guy- good fun and knowledgeable but when he found out we were heading to Egypt he asked me to take a package to his father in Cairo. I was a bit uncomfortable about taking packages from strangers to give to other strangers in different counties. I seem to remember this being popular in the 1980s between South America and Miami...
So we made it to Petra – the plan is, no more car and no more ruins. Oops, did I say we’re in Petra??? Hmmm…
