Another exciting day. A trip to Wadi Rum Nature Reserve. Wadi is one of the most spectacular desert landscapes. The red sand, the rolling dunes and sandstone mountains looked incredible in the sun. We travelled in the desert by 4x4 jeeps to the great mountain of Al Khazali. It was fascinating see carvings of figures and hieroglyphics on rocks, evidence of a civilization that existed thousands of years ago.

This was the stomping ground of TE Lawrence (of Arabia) and our guide warned us that other guides will make up stories about Lawrence to make it appealing to tourists. For example, he pointed out to a mountain which seemed to look like a series of pillars and said some guides would say that this was the mountain that inspired the title for Lawrence’s book Seven Pillars of Wisdom, although there is no evidence to that effect.

Our lunch was at the Bedouin Camp in the desert in a tent, in the typical nomadic style of Jordanian Bedouins. The campsite was set up with the customary black goat-hair tents, low tables and seating on mattresses on an uneven ground. Good lunch, but not cooked on campsite, catered by a local restaurant.

Today we went to the ancient city of Petra, situated about two hours by road from Aqaba. It is about 2 km walk from where cars could take you, but well worth the effort. The ruins were interesting and we could see the remains of a sophisticated civilization that existed prior to the birth of Jesus. There was so much to see: the carvings, the remains of buildings, the tall columns, the amphitheatre, the tombs and so much more. It was exciting to be so close to the birth place three major Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

There was also the expected hype about Indiana Jones (with Sean Connery and Harrison Ford) which was filmed here. One can of course ride a camel, buy souvenirs or do any touristy thing if one wanted to.

On our way, we noticed a lot of construction in the City of Aqaba. Did they discover oil, someone wondered. No, the guide said, they discovered America.

Our guide was a Cambridge-educated engineer, doing this as a hobby. He gave us a lecture on Arab-Israeli conflict. He said that Arabs are not anti-Semites, the conflict is not between Muslims and Jews but between the Arabs/Palestinians and the state of Israel which was artificially carved out of the Middle East, for political reasons by the British. Religions are not in conflict in the Middle East. For example, he himself was a Christian. Jews have a right to be in the Middle East for various reasons: they were persecuted all over the world and the land is where they were from and they had as much right to be here as anyone. The problem is establishing a separate state and displacing of Palestinians.