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| Star in the east |
20-May-2010 |
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TRAVEL: From deserts to sea, castles to mosques, Jordan’s history is of biblical proportions. By Belinda Jackson
IF you were a stickler for dress codes while travelling in Jordan, you’d find yourself packing a battered explorer’s hat, a red-and-white chequered scarf and a slick of black mud. All the requirements for exploring ancient ruins and deserts, and immersing yourself in unique spa treatments.
It would be best if your hat was ‘The Poet’ from London luxury outfitters Swaine Adeney Brigg. This was the headgear atop Harrison Ford’s head when he discovered the 2000-year-old Nabataean city of Petra, in the 1989 blockbuster, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
Petra’s glorious ruins are entered through the Siq, a narrow, 1200m-long walkway cleaved through solid rock, secreting the treasures of the city.
Founded by a tribe of spice traders, they erected temples to their gods, monasteries on the hilltops and carved regal tombs high up into the coloured stone cliffs. At night, the walkway is lit by hundreds of tiny candles sending a ghostly glow into the sky, leading to the rose-pink Al-Khazneh, the Treasury — one of Jordan’s most impressive ancient buidlings.
The red-and-white chequered scarf, known as a kefaya, is part of the Jordanian man’s national dress, and is worn clamped onto the head with an agal, a black rope circle that holds it down, or just knotted around the head. You’d be wearing the kefaya when you leap onto a camel to head off into the deserts of Wadi Rum, looking for 2000-year-old signposts carved into the hillsides when this was a thoroughfare of the Silk Road.
Or perhaps when you were digging about for signs of life from Jordan’s favourite adopted son, Lawrence of Arabia, who helped co-ordinate the Great Arab Revolt of 1916, from the shadows of the monoliths he dubbed ‘The Seven Pillars of Wisdom’.
The black mud? Well, you don’t have to pack that one in your suitcase. The shores of the Dead Sea are lined with the mineral-rich muds, which for a few dollars you can DIY, slathering on yourself. After a dip in the ancient sea’s blisteringly salty waters and a top-to-toe mud pack, you’ll have skin as soft as a baby’s behind — or at least some bizarre holiday snaps as a memento.
The chic alternative is to retreat to the serenity of a seaside day spa for total immersion in Jordan’s burgeoning wellness industry. Tried and tested was the Evason Ma’In Hot Springs and Six Senses spa hotel, where olive oil massages and milk and honey masques are on the menu. As well as the black stuff, of course.
In the background to your photo on the shores of the Dead Sea, you might see the shores of Palestine and the ancient cities of Jerusalem and Bethlehem.
Jordan’s history is, literally, of biblical proportions: the countryside is dotted with Crusader castles, Jesus hung out here, Moses died in Jordan, looking across to the Holy Lands, Lot’s wife turned into a pillar of salt as she turned to face Sodom and Gomorrah, and Salome earnt the head of John the Baptist for her sensual dance of the Seven Veils.
Seven veils? Maybe that’s one outfit you don’t have to pack.
FACTFILE
Getting there: From Australia, daily flights by Qatar Airways, Emirates and Etihad connect to Amman.
Staying there: The luxurious Evason Ma’In Hot Springs & Six Senses Spa is a few kilometres from the Dead Sea and 264m below sea level, www.sixsenses.com
Packages: Australian company Intrepid Travel organises small group and private tours through Jordan. The Classic Jordan Short Break costs from $1060 twin share (land only), www.intrepidtravel.com
Currency and visa: Jordan uses the dinar (JD). JD1 = $1.53. Visas for Australian travellers cost JD10 from Amman airport on arrival.
More info: www.visitjordan.com
Belinda Jackson was a guest of Intrepid Travel and Evason Ma’In Hot Springs and Six Senses Spa.
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Posted by Max Kamien 26/05/2010 1:20:38 PM
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