Wanders of the world in the Middle East

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10 April 2012

When I mentioned to friends that I was planning a holiday to the Middle East, their response was instructive. Once they had established that I had not developed a Tony Blair complex about conducting peace negotiations, they were envious and curious. Petra, in Jordan, has been voted by popular acclaim a wonder of the world, while the rest of the region is seen through a prism of foreign news reporting.

I have never had such a fascinating holiday. We started in Amman, Jordan, less than a five-hour flight away, yet wondrously unfamiliar.

Jordan is an admirably successful country, which has managed stability despite all the threatening unrest on its borders. One Jordanian explained to me that the country is blessed by a benign king and an absence of oil.

Jordan also suffers from a lack of water, but an ambitious plan to pipe it from the south to the capital is under way. The main roads are wide and fast. Amman has much wealth — many Jordanians who live abroad keep villas in their capital. We arrived on an evening flight just after midnight and a courteous member of the travel company shepherded us to our car and onto the hotel.

Indeed "welcome" was the word most often addressed to us in this country. The Amman Four Seasons hotel, where we stayed, is grand and luxurious without being vulgar. The beds seemed to be designed for the princess who could not endure a pea. Not that we had much time to sleep. We were up and on our way to the ancient city of Petra by 8am for a six-hour return trip.

All the pictures of Petra cannot prepare you for the real thing. I had not absorbed how hidden it is. A deep gorge formed by an earthquake is exhilarating enough, but the first glimpse of the Treasury, carved into the rock by the Nabataean tribe more than 2,000 years ago, was awe-inspiring. Imagine the British painter David Roberts trying to describe what he had seen in 1839. The height of the place means that it does not feel crowded, however many groups of tourists squeeze down the path.

We spent blissful hours wandering round the city under the gentle instruction of our guide, who spends most of his time as a fixer for ABC television crews. Apart from the obvious wonders, I recommend the perfect Byzantine mosaic floors of Petra church.

So the most strenuous and spectacular part of the trip was achieved in the first 24 hours. Our next stop was Damascus, the capital of Syria. It was a morning's drive via Jerash, a Roman provincial city which is surprisingly empty of tourists considering its astonishingly preserved state.

Perhaps my happiest moment of the entire trip was sitting in the sunshine at the back of the Roman theatre, built for 5,000 spectators, watching members of the Jordanian army band play Scottish ballads.

Then over the border into Syria where posters of the kindly King Abdullah and Queen Rania of Jordan are replaced by the sterner features of President Assad of Syria. My BlackBerry lost its reception. We plunged into the souks of the old city of Damascus and found ourselves within the gaze of the Umayyad Mosque, vast and serene.

The souks, incidentally, are more plentiful and crowded than those of Marrakech but also more relaxing. The Syrians are proud people and will not implore you to visit their stalls. The trip so far had all the ingredients of a contemporary fantasy holiday. It was unfamiliar and interesting. It was a Grand Tour in the space of a short break. It was also conducted with great style and comfort. A day in the souk followed by a caviar facial at the Four Seasons with its impeccable service was a pretty much perfect combination.

Within the old city, we visited the Azem Palace, a private Damascene house, built for the governor of the city. It was designed as a model of domestic tranquility and harmony which is how I would describe the Four Seasons here. In the midst of the gorgeous bustle of Middle East culture and the roar of the traffic, there is order and comfort — if not BlackBerry reception — at the end of the day.

Our final stop was Beirut which we reached via another enchanting Roman city, Baalbek, and across the western range of mountains. There is something about Beirut that makes your spirits soar. It is something to do with its indomitable spirit. Here is a city bombed to bits by civil war from 1975-1990 but which rebuilt itself with flair and hope. The Four Seasons in Beirut is a stunning hotel on the harbour with a view that could almost be Cape Town.

There is also the stylish new Le Gray hotel, opened by Gordon Campbell Gray, who also founded One Aldwych in London. Beirut is an energetic and cool city. Some may regret the passing of the old, pre-civil war Parisian style but I forgive the city everything for its belief in its own future.

So this was the end of the road and the start of the Mediterranean Sea. From Petra to Beirut, exhilarated by the landscape and the history, we could not have packed any more in to this trip, but never felt frazzled. The service in the hotels, the competence and knowledge of the guides and drivers, and above all the friendliness of the people made it as restorative as a week on the beach.

DETAILS:
Original Travel can arrange tailor-made trips such as this from £2,400pp B&B six nights (staying two nights at the Four Seasons Amman, two nights at the Four Seasons Damascus and two nights at the Four Seasons Beirut) including tours of Jerash, Petra, Damascus, Beirut and Bylos, transfers throughout and return flights with Royal Jordanian Airways
originaltravel.co.uk

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