Heading into the desert
There’s nothing like a good night’s sleep to recover the energy lost the day before. The hotel in Al Karak was comfortable, and the fatigue built up on that agonising climb made us sleep like babies. The next morning a good breakfast awaited us, the best way to start a long stage of 86 kilometres.
The scenery was lovely, but the truth is the stage dragged a bit. Road and track alternated to take us to the start of Wadi Musa, the valley where the famous city of Petra lies. But Petra would come the following day.
Today we were going to reach Wadi Musa, the valley where the beautiful city of Petra lies. And welcoming visitors to such a beautiful valley stands Dana. I didn’t know this town existed, and it was one of the best surprises of the trip. This small town, perched above Wadi Musa, is an old settlement more than 500 years old that has been turned into a tourist village. Fortunately, though, care has been taken over the way tourism has come to the village, and it has done so respectfully and in a slightly hippie way. There are several guesthouses dotted around the village, all built in keeping with the traditional style of the place. From the top of our guesthouse we enjoyed a fascinating desert sunset, a sumptuous dinner and a pleasant evening with live traditional music. I missed being able to have a beer, although I have to admit the tea was very good and better suited to where we were. Perhaps we stayed up a little later than we should have, given that we had an early start the next day, but it was turning into a very lively night.