Reminiscence from the Levant: Part Nineteen – Meeting Zoltein.
Upon returning from Petra on the first day, I found that there was another backpack lying on the roof top… Somebody was using the bathroom. The person turned out to be a lad in early 20s… a Romanian called Zoltein.
Earlier in the day, after seeing the treasury I pushed ahead on the road… the road forked out- one in front of me going to the Street of Facades… and the other forking out and climbing up towards the High Place of Sacrifice. I took the road towards the High Place of Sacrifice…
More than 600 steps lead you to the High place of Sacrifice… the place used by the Nabatean priests to do the ceremonial sacrifices. The altar of sacrifice is located on top of a hill. The trek is tedious but worth the effort… because from the High Place of Sacrifice you can see a bird eye view of the entire city of Petra… the Altar consist of the actual place where sacrifices were performed and a water tank. I found the place a tad disappointing, but the views from atop the hill were simply fabulous. At a distance one may see two obelisks… they had some ceremonial value… and then on the other side you can see a rubble of stones that are the ruins of an ancient Crusader Castle.
Along the entire path that leads you to the High Place… you will encounter a lot of Bedouin women and girls trying to sell you ware… it is funny to hear teenage Bedouin girls speaking in American accented English. This cacophony is going to accompany you till the time you leave the ruins of Petra.
Coming down you see a lot of places… though once having seen the Treasury, you don’t feel elated, amazed or intimidated by any of them. There was a point of time- when I asked myself if I have already seen the best in Petra. So while coming down you will see the Garden tomb (which has a garden in front of the tomb, irrigated by a innovative water conservation system), then there was a Three Soldiers Tomb. These tombs are not going to entice or tease you much… what will actually amaze you is the riot of colours that mother nature has endowed to this place… the colour of the walls, the steps… they keep on changing. From yellow to red, from pink to black.
Once you come down… you reach a place where the dirt track again forks out- one going towards the Jebel Haroon… this was the route that was used by the ancient Nabateans to enter the city… however while trying to go down this route, I was stopped by some area officials- who told me that this route is very dangerous and can only be done with an authorized guide… and may take an entire day of hiking. I found out later on, that Jebel Haroon is mentioned in the Jewish and Islamic theology as a place where Prophet Moses' brother Aaron died. There exists a small Muslim shrine over there.
The other route takes you towards the site of Great Temple… it is perhaps one of the most mysterious places in Petra… even though ruined, this place is amazingly well preserved… it was not carved in the rocks like the rest of the Petra, but was constructed by the Nabateans. The name temple is a misnomer… today the archeologists believe that this place was perhaps some kind of administrative nerve centre of the entire city… It makes sense… this place lies almost in the centre of all the ruins. The place is worth a walk… though not even nearly as elegant as the Treasury or even Palmyra that I had seen earlier during my wanderings.
On the side of the Great Temple is the colonnade street that leads you back to the Street of Facades and the Treasury and on the other side is a path leading you to the most amazing place in Petra, the monastery. Nearby are the Temple of Dushares and a small museum… both are worth a skip. Enroute to the Monastery one finds another temple called Temple of Winged Lion, again nothing spectacular. Monastery is located at a height, it takes one to hike more than 900 steps to reach there.
It is one of the largest monuments in Petra and also one of the farthest monuments from the main gate. If Petra has to be considered a wondrous monument, it is because of the Monastery… called Deir, by the locals. It is very hard to imagine its size as itt is too big to be represented accurately in the photographs… the gate of the Deir is so high, that to climb it you need more than a help. And the interior of the Deir is so big that it makes the interior of the Treasury look like small cellar. No description would ever suffice for this wondrous monument… and therefore I leave it at this, teasing you to go and see the monument for yourself.
Further ahead of Deir are two wonderful vantage points for Wadi Arabia…
I returned back from Petra after this… I was dead tired… I passed through the Street of Facades, the Royal Tombs… and did not bother to even look towards them. I said to myself- I will come back tomorrow.
Zoltein was one of the warmest and most down to earth person I had ever met… somehow he reminded me of my Spanish friend Xavier. I became friendly with him almost instantaneously. He was studying in Syria, and after the completion of his studies, he wanted to visit Israel and Jordan… I invited him to visit Egypt too.
The entire evening we roamed on the streets of Wadi Moussa together… ate a sumptuous dinner, spoke about our experiences, our travels and travails. He agreed with me that Syrians are perhaps the nicest people he had ever met in his life.
In the night, there was a movie show going on in the Inn… the movie was "The Syrian Bride". It was one of the most beautiful and sensitive movies I have ever seen. It introduced me to the community of Druzes… a break away group from Islam who primarily live in the troubled regions of Golan Heights.
The story is about a girl who lives in the Golan Heights and is about to get married to a Syrian Druze…. And she knows that once she crosses over to Syria, there is no coming back. She will never be able to meet her near and dear ones… It is a story full of poignance… and meaningfulness. It tells you a universal story of ethnic communities divided by the artificial concept of Nation State… it tells you the story of the Kurds, the Druze, the Palestinians, the Sylheti Hindus, the Pashtuns, the Tibetans and even the Kashmiris.
After seeing the movie, I had a coffee with Zoltein and randomly picked up a book… "Memoirs of a Geisha." First 30 pages and I knew this is a very special book. I will read it very soon.
Earlier in the day, after seeing the treasury I pushed ahead on the road… the road forked out- one in front of me going to the Street of Facades… and the other forking out and climbing up towards the High Place of Sacrifice. I took the road towards the High Place of Sacrifice…
More than 600 steps lead you to the High place of Sacrifice… the place used by the Nabatean priests to do the ceremonial sacrifices. The altar of sacrifice is located on top of a hill. The trek is tedious but worth the effort… because from the High Place of Sacrifice you can see a bird eye view of the entire city of Petra… the Altar consist of the actual place where sacrifices were performed and a water tank. I found the place a tad disappointing, but the views from atop the hill were simply fabulous. At a distance one may see two obelisks… they had some ceremonial value… and then on the other side you can see a rubble of stones that are the ruins of an ancient Crusader Castle.
Along the entire path that leads you to the High Place… you will encounter a lot of Bedouin women and girls trying to sell you ware… it is funny to hear teenage Bedouin girls speaking in American accented English. This cacophony is going to accompany you till the time you leave the ruins of Petra.
Coming down you see a lot of places… though once having seen the Treasury, you don’t feel elated, amazed or intimidated by any of them. There was a point of time- when I asked myself if I have already seen the best in Petra. So while coming down you will see the Garden tomb (which has a garden in front of the tomb, irrigated by a innovative water conservation system), then there was a Three Soldiers Tomb. These tombs are not going to entice or tease you much… what will actually amaze you is the riot of colours that mother nature has endowed to this place… the colour of the walls, the steps… they keep on changing. From yellow to red, from pink to black.
Once you come down… you reach a place where the dirt track again forks out- one going towards the Jebel Haroon… this was the route that was used by the ancient Nabateans to enter the city… however while trying to go down this route, I was stopped by some area officials- who told me that this route is very dangerous and can only be done with an authorized guide… and may take an entire day of hiking. I found out later on, that Jebel Haroon is mentioned in the Jewish and Islamic theology as a place where Prophet Moses' brother Aaron died. There exists a small Muslim shrine over there.
The other route takes you towards the site of Great Temple… it is perhaps one of the most mysterious places in Petra… even though ruined, this place is amazingly well preserved… it was not carved in the rocks like the rest of the Petra, but was constructed by the Nabateans. The name temple is a misnomer… today the archeologists believe that this place was perhaps some kind of administrative nerve centre of the entire city… It makes sense… this place lies almost in the centre of all the ruins. The place is worth a walk… though not even nearly as elegant as the Treasury or even Palmyra that I had seen earlier during my wanderings.
On the side of the Great Temple is the colonnade street that leads you back to the Street of Facades and the Treasury and on the other side is a path leading you to the most amazing place in Petra, the monastery. Nearby are the Temple of Dushares and a small museum… both are worth a skip. Enroute to the Monastery one finds another temple called Temple of Winged Lion, again nothing spectacular. Monastery is located at a height, it takes one to hike more than 900 steps to reach there.
It is one of the largest monuments in Petra and also one of the farthest monuments from the main gate. If Petra has to be considered a wondrous monument, it is because of the Monastery… called Deir, by the locals. It is very hard to imagine its size as itt is too big to be represented accurately in the photographs… the gate of the Deir is so high, that to climb it you need more than a help. And the interior of the Deir is so big that it makes the interior of the Treasury look like small cellar. No description would ever suffice for this wondrous monument… and therefore I leave it at this, teasing you to go and see the monument for yourself.
Further ahead of Deir are two wonderful vantage points for Wadi Arabia…
I returned back from Petra after this… I was dead tired… I passed through the Street of Facades, the Royal Tombs… and did not bother to even look towards them. I said to myself- I will come back tomorrow.
Zoltein was one of the warmest and most down to earth person I had ever met… somehow he reminded me of my Spanish friend Xavier. I became friendly with him almost instantaneously. He was studying in Syria, and after the completion of his studies, he wanted to visit Israel and Jordan… I invited him to visit Egypt too.
The entire evening we roamed on the streets of Wadi Moussa together… ate a sumptuous dinner, spoke about our experiences, our travels and travails. He agreed with me that Syrians are perhaps the nicest people he had ever met in his life.
In the night, there was a movie show going on in the Inn… the movie was "The Syrian Bride". It was one of the most beautiful and sensitive movies I have ever seen. It introduced me to the community of Druzes… a break away group from Islam who primarily live in the troubled regions of Golan Heights.
The story is about a girl who lives in the Golan Heights and is about to get married to a Syrian Druze…. And she knows that once she crosses over to Syria, there is no coming back. She will never be able to meet her near and dear ones… It is a story full of poignance… and meaningfulness. It tells you a universal story of ethnic communities divided by the artificial concept of Nation State… it tells you the story of the Kurds, the Druze, the Palestinians, the Sylheti Hindus, the Pashtuns, the Tibetans and even the Kashmiris.
After seeing the movie, I had a coffee with Zoltein and randomly picked up a book… "Memoirs of a Geisha." First 30 pages and I knew this is a very special book. I will read it very soon.
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