On the Road to Petra / ×ى فاث قخشي فخ حثفقش

.El viaje de Madaba a Petra nos tomo 6 horas aprox. Lo hicimos par el "camino de los Reyes" Dicha carretera va serperteando atravez de las montanas del desierto lo que hace que el viaje de 6 horas valga la pena. Este Camino existe desde hace miles de anos y se supone este fue el camino que Siguio Moises desde el monte Sinai hasta el Monte Nebu que fue en donde vio la tierra prometida asi que como ya se estaran imaginando el camino cuenta con muchas cosas que ver.

Atravez del camino vimos muchisimos campamentos de Beduinos con sus tiendas y camellos... dentro de dos dias vamos a hacer un viaje en el desierto con guia Beduino asi que dentro de poco les platicaremos mas de ellos.

En el camino paramos en diferentes puntos con paisajes increibles donde se podia ver el desierto, el mar muerto y Palestina.....

Tambien paramos en un castillo , Karak, que fue utilizado en las cruzadas tanto por cristianos como por musulmanes. El castillo, por cierto, fue construido por uno de los generales de Alejandro Magno...

The Journey to Petra from Madaba took all day...mostly because we went along the King's Highway. Although from the name you might think this must be a superhighway or something don't be fooled. However, although this is not the fast route, it is absolutely the most scenic route through Jordan

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The King's Highway was an important trade route across the ancient Middle East. It began in Egypt, stretched aross the Sinai Peninsula through Jordan and Syria to the Euphrates River. The highway has been used as an important pilgrimage route for Christians as it passes various important biblial sites including Mt Nebo. Muslims used it as the main Hajj route to Mecca until the 16th century when the Ottoman Turks built the Tariq al Bint. Now, tourists use it to see some of the most important sites in Jordan as they travel north or south.

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The highway winds its way through different ecological zones including forested highlands, farmland plateaus, deep ravines, the edge of the desert, and the warm tropical gulf of Aqaba and so at every turn there is something unique to see. We saw many bedouin encampments across the landscape. More to come on the bedouins in a few days when we actually travel on camels through the desert to visit some bedouin camps...

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We stopped at various beautiful scenic viewpoints over Wadi Wala, Wadi Mujib( Jordan's mini Grand Canyon), and Wadi Hasa. The view across these immense valleys is undescribable. There is nothing like it. It is truly awe-inspiring!

We also stopped at Karak to visit the massive crusader fortress built in 1136. A few km south of Karak, we passed Mu'ta and Mazar, major Islamic shrines at the site of the first battle between the armies of Islam and Byzantium in 632 AD. In a few days we will return to Mu'ta and Mazar to explore these and other shrines in more detail.

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Finally we made it to Petra, the unique rock cut Nabataean capital city, center of the ancient world's spice and incense routes for 400 years. We will explore this tomorrow!