THE FUTURE’S LOOKING ROSÉ FOR TUNISIA

TRAY BIEN: Try Tunisian wines, they're
surprisingly good and very affordable too

The plane was heading for Tunis airport when the turbulence hit. It wasn't too bad, just a bit bumpy for a couple of minutes, nothing to worry about. But the elderly lady sitting next to me clearly thought otherwise. She was as white as a sheet. So was I, but only because I hadn’t seen the sun for a while.

When the senior flight attendant hurried up the aisle to the front and lifted the phone, my nervous neighbour lifted her right hand and blessed herself. She was probably expecting an announcement along the lines of: “Ladies and gentlemen, it’s been nice knowing you.”

Instead, we were advised to “ensure your seatbelts are securely fascinated”, which got a great laugh. It was the best malapropism I’d heard since my primary school pal Vinny Costello told Fr. O’Keeffe the Pope is never wrong because he’s inflammable.

We landed without further hilarity and transferred to the 5-star Hasdrubal Thalassa and Spa Hotel in the seaside resort of Yasmine Hammamet where I bounced on the bed once slept in by Colonel Gaddafi. The late Libyan dictator booked the penthouse suite for a year and stayed just 24 hours. This is no reflection on the hotel (his bagman happily settled the whole bill), which had long been a favourite with Irish and British holidaymakers.

GADD CHOICE: The 5-star Hasdrubal Thalassa and Spa
Hotel in Hammamet where Col Gaddafi stayed one night

Then came the popular revolution in January 2011 that ousted the rotten-to-the-core regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and triggered the Arab Spring. Ben Ali was a thief and a despot, but he wasn’t daft — he didn’t hang around to face the wrath of the people he had for so long terrorised and robbed. Rather, he and his wife Leila stuffed several suitcases with countless millions of dollars and, with their three adult children, hot-footed it to Saudi Arabia. There they live in the lap of luxury while their countrymen and women struggle to pick up the pieces after 20-odd years of oppression.

In the immediate aftermath of the uprising, visitor numbers plummeted as Tunisia descended into don’t-go-there chaos. But that was then. Today, it’s open for business again and holidaymakers are returning to this safe, sunny and cheap Mediterranean destination. Ben Ali won’t be returning any time soon — he’s been sentenced in his absence to 35 years in prison for money laundering and drug trafficking.

There’s a tangible air of can-do everywhere you go from the moment you step off the plane. It’s clear from the warm welcome visitors receive that a great weight has been lifted from the genuinely friendly and instantly likeable Tunisians. Not that they weren’t welcoming or friendly before. It’s just that they were always cautious, what with having to look over their shoulders all the time. That’s what comes from living in a country where the police used to — and I stress used to — routinely top up their salaries by fleecing their fellow citizens. No one ever ended up in court for a minor traffic offence. On-the-spot fines were pocketed by cops who never issued receipts. They were as corrupt as the regime they represented.

Things are different now. A respected government committed to widespread reform is running things, and instead of looking warily behind them, ordinary decent Tunisians are looking forward to a bright new future.

QUAY ATTRACTION: Fabulous Hammamet yachting marina
is one of the biggest and plushest in the Mediterranean

The Hasdrubal is the plushest place to stay in Hammamet, with 211 suites the size of parade grounds, four top-class restaurants, outdoor and indoor pools, a spa, sauna and gym. Better still in these belt-tightening days, its five-star opulence comes at three-star prices, and there’s free wifi throughout. With such a wealth of facilities and the beach just a pebble’s throw away guests could be excused for not wanting to venture far, but Hammamet is worth exploring.

This is where mass tourism began in Tunisia, just as Torremolinos was the first resort in Spain. However, while a risible snootiness often greets the mere mention of the popular Costa del Sol destination, which is a lot larger, no one looks down their nose at Hammamet, which is a lot cheaper.

It’s partly because Hammamet has one of the biggest and poshest marinas in the Mediterranean. Here you’ll see hundreds of multi-million euro ocean-going yachts and their multi-millionaire owners strolling in and out of the umpteen fancy restaurants, exclusive boutiques and piano and cocktail bars. Many of the yachts, some the size of frigates and with helicopter pads, remain moored from one year’s end to the next, but anyone who can afford one can well afford to keep it permanently berthed and pay the occasional visit while paying a permanent crew.

SOFA SO GOOD: Suite in Hasdrubal Hotel

It’s all very glamorous. Talking of which, don’t be surprised if the elegant lady in a big floppy hat and sunglasses sipping a glass of chilled rosé wine at a quayside cafe looks familiar — it’s probably Sophia Loren. The film star regularly stays at her villa just outside of town and, according to a waiter, is very generous when it comes to tipping. The same guy told me — why, I don’t know — that camels are bashful as well as bumpy and never mate in front of other camels.

That’s the sort of fascinating fact that can clinch a pub quiz tiebreaker. And here’s another, based on extensive, exhaustive and exhausting research: Tunisian wines are excellent, especially the rosés which account for 70 per cent of the total production. You can’t go wrong with the Magon label, but if beer’s your tipple the local Celtia lager is every bit as good as Heineken and Carlsberg and costs half the price.

ROCKS STAR: Stroll below the walls of Hammamet's medina

In the old part of Hammamet, a short stroll from the marina, visitors to the imposing 13th century seafront fortress and the 15th century medina within its walls step back in time to the days when the only boats on the water were manned by fishermen. Or, on a bad day, Spaniards intent on filleting something more substantial than a net full of sardines. In 1601, more than 300 Spaniards stormed the fortress and took 700 prisoners, mostly women and children (the male defenders did a runner as soon as the sails appeared on the horizon). Four years later the Spaniards came back, but this time the resident Moors turned the tables and massacred 1,200 of them on the beach.

It was on that same stretch of sand that Field Marshall Erwin Rommel took his daily run before breakfast during his ‘visit’ in World War Two (he couldn’t afford to stroll as the Allies were closing in); Paul McCartney wrote Another Girl for the Beatles’ 1965 album Help between bouts of sunbathing; and German-Swiss expressionist painter Paul Klee (1879-1940), whose paintings fetch millions of dollars at auction, found the inspiration during a 1914 sojourn that made him a major player in the art world. Klee’s watercolour, Hammamet With Its Mosque, hangs in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, and prints of it and his other Tunisian works are among the most popular souvenirs on sale in the narrow streets of the medina.

Wannabe Klees sitting on little stools at their easels abound in and around the souk, but it’s the young women who do face painting for the kids (and henna tattoos for their mums and big sisters) who make the most money. Being a child-friendly resort, Hammamet is a smart choice for family holidays, especially as it’s wallet-friendly too. Among the top fun attractions are Carthage Land theme park and Aqua Land water park, and there’s a replica pirate ship that offers half-day cruises with lunch included. Once out in the bay, dolphins will often provide a free show by shooting out of the water ahead of the ship, and when the anchor’s dropped there’s the chance to walk the plank and go for a swim. Rather than buy your tickets from hotel receptions, get them at the quayside kiosk where they’re cheaper.

˜STAY: 5-star Hasdrubal Thalassa and Spa Hotel Yasmine Hammamet. (www.hasdrubal-thalassa.com). DINNER: Restaurant La Bouillabaisse, La Marina, Yasmine Hammamet (www.labouillabaisse-tn.com).

TAN-TASTIC: Hammamet's seafront fortress provides the
backdrop as holidaymakers soak up the rays on the beach

A visit to the real Carthage, 15 kilometres east of Tunis, and the nearby hillside village of Sidi Bou Said is well worth the two-hour round trip from Hammamet.

An address in modern Carthage is the most coveted status symbol in Tunisia. This is where the super-rich live, as was the case 2,000-odd years ago when the city was one of the most prosperous in the Roman empire. But day-trippers don’t come to admire the magnificent mansions of the wealthy, who no doubt own some of the biggest yachts in Hammamet. The ancient ruins are the principal attraction.

Carthage was founded in 814BC by the seafaring Phoenicians who ruled the Mediterranean for hundreds of years from this strategically located port. In 146BC, following the Punic Wars, the Romans sent the Phoenicians packing and demolished everything in sight. They then rubbed salt in the wound in more ways than one by flooding the fertile land with seawater so that for decades no crops could be grown. A century later, in 44BC, Julius Caesar displayed his recycling credentials by telling his lads to get busy with their trowels among the ruins and put all that old rubble their predecessors had created to good use. The city he established became second in importance to Rome itself, and by the early third century AD had a population of 300,000.

REMAINS OF THE DAYS: Ruins of ancient Carthage and,
below, the colourful nearby hillside village of Sidi Bou Said 

The Vandals conquered Carthage in the fifth century, but despite their name they developed rather than defaced and it continued to flourish. However, by 650 the harbour had lost most of its trade to other Mediterranean ports, and by the time the Arabs took up residence in 698 the city’s glory days were long gone.

Today, Carthage — the place which down the centuries was so fiercely fought over — is again in ruins and a fraction of its previous size, but this sprawling World Heritage Site retains enough architectural gems of days gone by to merit the bus journey. Among the highlights are the imposing remains of the massive Antonine baths which were the biggest the Romans ever built anywhere. You can walk among the underground chambers of the baths where slaves sweated in temperatures of 50C-plus keeping the furnaces stoked while the Roman bigwigs upstairs sweated over their selections for the day’s chariot races.

Sidi Bou Said with its whitewashed houses and vivid blue doors and balconies — even the bouganvillaea clinging to the buildings is blue-ish — is by far, and then some, the most beautiful village I’ve ever set foot in anywhere in the world, which is probably why ambassadors have their residences here. Step inside the lovingly-preserved Family House for a taste of life as it was lived by the well-to-do lawyer who built it in the 18th century — it’s still owned by his descendants, who serve cold drinks, mint tea and snacks to visitors. From the rooftop patio there’s a fabulous vista of the Bay of Tunis far below, but the very best views are from the terraces of Aux Bon Vieuz Temps restaurant and the Cafe Delices.

I didn’t come across the hardware store that sells all that blue and white paint that’s in constant demand, but I’ll bet that if the owner’s car was parked outside it was the flashiest set of wheels in town. He must be the richest guy around.

BLUE-TIFUL: Balcony and orange trees in Sidi Bou Said

Tunis’s main boulevard, the Avenue Habib Bourguiba, bears the name of the respected first president of the Republic of Tunisia who served for 30 years from 1957 until he was declared medically unfit and removed by Ben Ali in a bloodless coup.

There was nothing bloodless about Ben Ali’s response to the popular and peaceful uprising that reached its peak in January last year and which at one point saw half-a-million people pack the capital’s principal thoroughfare, which is 60 metres wide and 1,600 metres long. More than 300 civilians died at the hands of the despised police and security forces in the four-week revolution that was triggered by the self-immolation of 26-year-old Mohamed Bouazizi. The young street vendor’s wares and vegetable-weighing scales had been confiscated by police after weeks of harassment and he was allegedly humiliated by a female officer, Faida Hamdi. An investigation that saw Hamdi arrested twice ultimately cleared her when Bouazizi’s heartbroken mother withdrew her complaint.

ARMOURED CAR-THEDRAL: The Roman Catholic
Cathedral of St. Vincent de Paul in central Tunis

Stroll along the Avenue Habib Bourguiba today and cops will salute and step out of the way when you pause to take pictures. They might even pose, whereas 18 months ago they’d have insisted on seeing ID and tried to extract a fee for a “photo permit”.

There are still signs that the revolution wasn’t all that long ago. It was odd to see razor-wire barriers, heavily-armed soldiers and armoured cars in front of the splendid Roman Catholic cathedral of Saint Vincent de Paul (1882) until I realised they were guarding the Ministry of Defence across the street. It was odder still to see a guy sitting on the steps of this neo-Romanesque church in a judo suit and wellies — either the poor fella wasn’t the full dinar or he was waiting for the launderette to open so he could collect his washing. He had a black belt around his waist, so I wasn’t going to ask.

Tunis isn’t big on must-see sights (the rest of the country more than makes up for it), but the Finance Ministry as viewed from the fountained garden outside the entrance looks as if it was built with photos in mind. A whitewashed wonder with black and white Moorish arches on pillars, it’s topped by a clock tower from which the red national flag adds a splash of vivid colour against the clear blue sky.

WONDER-NEATH THE ARCHES: The splendid Ministry of
Finance and, below, shopping in Tunis's bustling medina

Le Bardo National Museum, in a renovated 13th century palace, contains the world’s biggest collection of Roman mosaics brought from throughout Tunisia and ancient Greece, and is considered one of the two great museums in North Africa along with the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. It’s four kilometres from Avenue Habib Bourguiba, but taxis are cheap and, if you’re feeling adventurous, hop on the metro to Bardo station.

Back in the centre, it’s very easy to lose your bearings in the medina once you enter the souk, but ever-smiling guide Kamal was on hand to lead the way through the warren of alleyways to the Dar Bel Hadj restaurant where lunch awaited. As soon as we stepped inside I felt like hugging him. I’ve been in many a fancy place where the food failed to live up to the decor, but Dar Bel Hadj, occupying the 400-year-old former home of a nobleman who was clearly mosaic-mad, scored top marks all round. From the ferociously hot harissa dip containing piri piri, chili peppers and garlic (plus two sticks of dynamite) to the tasty lamb tagine and the best dessert I’ve ever tasted — a rose water-flavoured cold custard topped with crushed pistachios — it was heavenly.

˜LUNCH: Dar Bel Hadj, 17 Rue des Tamis, La Medina, Tunis (www.darbelhadj.com).

TREE-MENDOUS: Outdoor pool at El Mouradi Palm Marina

Sixty kilometres south of Hammamet is the purpose-built tourist resort of Port El Kantaoui, where I spent a couple of very enjoyable nights at the 4-star all-inclusive El Mouradi Palm Marina Hotel that opens on to the long sandy beach. From the shore, if you dare, you can get strapped into a parachute and go up for a bird’s eye view of the area while being towed behind a speedboat.

The resort, which welcomed its first overseas tourists in 1979 while the paint was still wet, is a buzzing modern suburb of historical Sousse and is packed with great-value restaurants plus several more upmarket ones in the marina for a swankier evening out. The Hannibal theme park and the water park provide day-long fun, and for golfers there are two PGA-approved 18-hole courses (green fees from €40/£33, special five-day rate of €172/£139).

A 20-minute ride on the frequent local bus service takes holidaymakers to Sousse for a few hours of gawping and shopping in the souk (vegetarians and camel-lovers should avert their eyes when passing the butchers’ stalls); but the best excursion in all of Tunisia involves a 70-kilometre coach ride from Port El Kantaoui to the third century Roman amphitheatre at El Djem. Pronounced “gem”, it more than lives up to its name. The Monty Python team thought so, as did director Ridley Scott, as it features in The Life Of Brian and Gladiator. Don’t miss the opportunity to sit high up in the steep terraces from where up to 45,000 spectators watched gladiators knocking — and lions biting — lumps out of their unfortunate opponents.

˜STAY: 4-star El Mouradi Palm Marina Hotel, Port El Kantaoui (www.elmouradi.com). LUNCH: Le Mediterranee (www.lemediterranee.com.tn). DINNER: La Daurade. Both restaurants are in Port El Kantaoui marina.

GRAND CIRCLE: Ancient Roman amphitheatre at El Djem

Tunisia has had its well-documented woes. In the aftermath of the revolution, those who’d been visiting for years understandably gave the place a wide berth, and the consequences were sorely felt. Last year, tourism revenue — the country’s lifeblood — almost halved from 2010’s €1,800 million. Happily, the latest official figures show that the peace and stability that followed Ben Ali’s overthrow have encouraged holidaymakers to return.

Long-time visitors are re-acquainting themselves with Tunisia’s many attractions, and first-timers looking for a cheaper option than already-cheap Portugal and increasingly-expensive Spain have been discovering a destination that doesn’t leave them scrimping.

Optimism has replaced oppression. Charter flights are full, hotels are busy and unemployment is coming down. For a country that produces more pink wine than red or white, the future’s definitely looking rosé.

GETTING THERE

Sunway Holidays offers seven nights all-inclusive at the 4-star El Mouradi Palm Marina in Port El Kantaoui from a bargain basement €619 per person sharing. Seven nights B&B in the 5-star Hasdrubal Thalassa and Spa Hotel, Yasmine Hammamet, costs from €1,099pps. Prices include return flights from Dublin, transfers, free baggage allowance, resort representative service and taxes.

˜See www.sunway.ie, call 01 288 6828 or contact your travel agent.

˜See also www.cometotunisia.co.uk

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PETRA IS A JOR-DROPPING WONDER

GORGE-OUS: That first glimpse of the
fabulous Treasury seen from the siq

Nothing can prepare you for the magical moment when the sun-bathed Treasury at Petra appears just ahead, framed by the towering pink sandstone walls at the end of the narrow, snaking, kilometre-long siq (gorge). Visitors stop in their tracks. Hearts skip a beat. Eyes widen. Jaws drop. There’s a sharp intake of breath followed by a stunned silence that lasts several seconds while the image ricochets around the brain. Then comes the fusillade of clicks and whirrs as cameras capture that first, unforgettable glimpse.

In July 2007 the results of a worldwide online poll that attracted nearly 150 million votes named Petra, in southwest Jordan, as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. Machu Picchu in Peru, Chichen Itza in Mexico, the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, the Taj Mahal in India, the Great Wall of China and the Colosseum in Rome were the others. Petra’s inclusion on the unranked roll of honour was long overdue considering the Treasury, or Al Khazneh, has been a wonder for more than 2,000 years, though it’s been known to the western world only since 1812 when Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt paid a visit.

ROCK STAR: Visitors are tiny specks at the Treasury at 
Petra and, below, erosion leaves colourful layers in stone

Burckhardt, who was fascinated by the world of Islam, mastered the Arabic language, studied the Koran, got himself a tan and grew a long beard before he set off in 1809 on his adventures in what are the modern-day Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia where he travelled around in traditional costume. So thorough were his preparations and so convincing his appearance that he easily passed himself off as an Arab wanderer. His family, however, remained dubious about his professed conversion to the Muslim faith, dismissing it as a turban myth.

Carved out of a 50-metre high sheer rockface some time between 100BC and 200AD by slaves and masons using crude hammers and copper chisels, the Treasury gained international recognition following the release of the 1989 Steven Spielberg movie Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade in which it featured. However, film fans keen on entering the temple where Harrison Ford hopped, skipped and jumped his way towards the Holy Grail will be disappointed to discover there’s no great interior to speak of. It’s all a front — but what a front.

In his 1845 poem, Anglican clergyman John William Burgon described Petra as “a rose red city half as old as time”, which isn’t bad considering he’d never seen the place. I was moved to wax poetical myself, but all that came out was “Waow!”

OFF THE BEATEN TREK: The Monastery high above Petra
and, below, the arduous route up through the mountains

While the Treasury, which is best viewed early when the sunlight is at its photo-friendliest, is the most famous feature of the 2,600-year-old capital city of the cave-dwelling Nabataeans, it’s not the sole attraction.

An hour’s trek into the mountains that involves climbing 800-odd steps sounds a daunting prospect (less-able visitors can hitch a ride on a donkey), but the effort is rewarded with the sight of the Monastery, or Al Deir. Twice the size of the Treasury, it too was carved into a sandstone cliff, and though less intricate in its decoration and ochre rather than pink it’s no less impressive. Completed during the reign of first-century god-king Obodas I, this massive temple built in his honour stands 50 metres high and 45 wide and has a spacious single-room interior (try the echo). Those with a head for heights and the lungs of a marathon runner can tackle the steep path to the left of the facade that leads to the 10-metre ornamental urn on top, but only in the company of a guide.

Back at base camp, I chuckled as a thirsty camel delighted onlookers by tipping its head back and drinking mineral water from the plastic bottle gripped in its front teeth. Nearby, the Bedouin owners of souvenir and snack stalls were attracting customers with a variety of comical come-ons.

“No hurry, no worry, no chicken curry!”

“Lovely-jubbly, Coke is bubbly!”

“Don’t be a mug, buy a jug!”

And, best of all, from a giggling little boy: “Have a break, have a Kat Kit!”

WATER RELIEF: Thirsty camel enjoys drink

New Zealand-born former nurse Marguerite van Geldermalsen was busy at her stall, selling silver jewellery handmade by local women and signing copies of her memoir, Married To A Bedouin (Virago Press paperback, also available for Amazon Kindle), which has been reprinted more than a dozen times and was flying off the shelves.

In 1978, the then 22-year-old Marguerite and a girlfriend were doing that grand tour thing so many young Antipodeans do when, on the steps of the Treasury, they got talking to souvenir seller Mohammad Abdallah Othman. It was a meeting that produced one of the best chat-up lines of all time: “Where are you staying? Why you not stay with me tonight — in my cave?”

Marguerite and Mohammad were wed three months later, they lived in a 2,000-year-old cave, she learned Arabic and converted to Islam and they had two boys and a girl. Mohammad died 10 years ago at the age of 50, but Marguerite stayed put, apart from a four-year spell in Australia where she has family. She and Mohammad’s children now live in Jordan and her elder son, Raami, mans the stall when his mum takes a holiday. If you visit Petra while Marguerite’s there you’ll find her a charming lady with a charming tale to tell. Don’t expect to see her dug-out des-res, though: all the cave and tent-dwelling Bedouin families now live in a settlement of whitewashed apartments on a nearby hillside.

BEDOUIN BRIDE: Marguerite van Geldermalsen

Twelve kilometres from Petra, the village of Taybeh was once a thriving community that fell into decline and was abandoned in the 1960s when the residents gradually upped and left their homes. Today those homes are enjoying a new lease of life as the 105-room, 5-star Taybet Zaman Hotel and Resort that retains all the charms of village life with the bonus of modern facilities and leisure amenities and great restaurants.

It was there, after dinner in a tent beneath a cloudless, starry sky that the Jordan Valley echoed to the sounds of some of Ireland’s best-loved ballads sung in Irish by a couple of my colleagues. Not to be outdone, our guide, Elias, who once played in a successful pop group, then led the waiters in a medley of lively Jordanian folk songs. It was a fun-filled evening, memorable not least for the feast of mezze — dozens of different sharing dishes including kibbeh (lamb meatballs), shanklish (spiced goat’s cheese), makdous (stuffed and pickled eggplant) and falafel — and huge platters of mansaf, a desert-dwellers’ main meal of boiled mutton with rice and yogurt that’s traditionally eaten by scooping it up in the hand, making it more messy than mezze. Having washed down our Bedouin banquet with a few too many bottles of Jordanian wine (it’s really good), the eggplant wasn’t the only thing that was stuffed and pickled as we heaved ourselves on to our coach for the short trip back to the Petra Marriott Hotel and bed.

●STAY: 5-star Petra Marriott Hotel (www.marriott.com). DINNER: International buffet in the Petra Marriott; 5-star Taybet Zaman Hotel and Resort (www.jordantourismresorts.com). LUNCH: The Basin Restaurant in Petra Archaeological Park.

MUST-SEA: Floating in the Dead Sea

It’s impossible to sink in the Dead Sea unless you’re wearing a suit of armour and lead flippers. The 34 per cent salinity, making it nearly nine times saltier than the oceans, is what keeps swimmers bobbing about on the surface like corks. It’s a weird sensation, akin to stretching out on an invisible li-lo. Just make sure cuts and scratches are covered before you take the plunge and avoid getting water in your eyes because it doesn’t half sting, so much so that shaving should be left for later.

Only a handful of other lakes have a higher salt concentration, including the chart-topping Don Juan Pond in Antarctica, but at minus 30C it might be a bit chilly for a paddle. The Dead Sea, however, which is bordered by Jordan to the east and Israel to the west, is warm, especially in August when the water temperature is around 31C.

On the private beach belonging to the Jordan Valley Marriott Hotel where I stayed on my first day and saw Jerusalem in the distance, guests were plastering themselves with Dead Sea mud from a couple of plastic tubs before entering the water for a pre-breakfast dip. While some coated themselves from head to toe, I scooped up a handful of black goo, drew a crude grid on my chest and stomach and challenged myself to a game of noughts and crosses. I lost.

The mud, while messy, is bursting with around three dozen beneficial minerals including magnesium, potassium, natural tar, calcium and silicon compounds that help alleviate skin conditions such as acne, eczema and psoriasis. A hugely-profitable industry has grown up around collecting, packaging, processing and marketing the mud which is in big demand worldwide as the active ingredient in a wide range of beauty products and therapeutic balms. I checked out the prices in Debenhams in Dublin where a 150ml bottle of Dead Sea Magik hair conditioner costs €24, a body mask is €22.50 and a salt brushing scrub is €18.50, proving that where there’s muck there’s brass.

MUCKING ABOUT: Mineral-packed Dead Sea
mud is good for the skin ... and fun photos

Although the Dead Sea region enjoys 330 days of sunshine a year, sunburn is less of a concern than in other hot spots because harmful UVB rays are filtered through an extra atmospheric layer, an evaporation layer and a minimum depletion ozone layer, so you can float without frying. Nevertheless, common sense dictates that visitors should still apply sunscreen, though those who allow their coating of mud to dry and harden, thus ending up Petra-fied, are more likely to bake than blister in the lowest-lying spot on Earth (the surface of the water is 401 metres below sea level and getting lower by about one metre a year because of evaporation).

●STAY: 5-star Jordan Valley Marriott Hotel (www.marriott.com). DINE: El Terrazzo Italian Restaurant in the Jordan Valley Marriott.

The amphitheatre in the ancient Greco-Roman city of Gerasa at Jerash, 50 kilometres north of the capital, Amman, was the last place I expected to see two Arab bagpipers marching around playing Scotland The Brave, but life on the road is full of surprises. The skirl of the pipes is a sound that always made the hairs stand on the back of my neck (until they fell out along with the ones on the top of my head), but it’s not to everyone’s taste — the old joke has it that a gentleman is someone who CAN play the bagpipes but DOESN’T.

PIPE STARS: With bagpipers in the
amphitheatre at ancient Gerasa

These pipers were good, as well they might be — they’re veterans of the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. For three weeks in August 2010 they were among the Royal Jordanian Armed Forces musicians who played for 217,000 spectators and were seen by a global TV audience of 100 million. While they gave their all each evening, they understandably saved the best for August 18 when their monarch King Abdullah and his wife Queen Rania were the guests of honour.

Gerasa, the second most-visited historical site in Jordan after Petra, was founded around 2000BC and enjoyed its golden age following the Roman conquest in 63BC which brought peace and economic development. An extensive network of roads built over the following 170 years connected the city to important trading routes, and the city of around 20,000 people prospered. However, by the middle of the third century its fortunes had waned with the growth of shipping (Jordan’s only port is at Aqaba, 320 kilometres to the south), and Gerasa fell into an irreversible decline. The Persian invasion of 614, the Muslim conquest 22 years later and a series of devastating earthquakes in 749 sealed the city’s fate. The population dwindled, and by the time the Crusaders arrived in the 12th century the place had been abandoned, with not a citizen in sight. Having heard of the Crusaders’ bloodthirsty reputation, they were probably hiding.

OLD AND NEW: The excavated remains of Gerasa and,
in the background, the modern day city of Jerash

Gerasa gradually disappeared under the shifting sands and only partly re-emerged in 1806 when German explorer Ulrich Jasper Seetzen was having a poke around and uncovered the ornate head of a monumental column. He started digging, and his chance discovery led to a series of widespread excavations that are still going on. In the 206 years since Seetzen stumbled across the buried city, millions of tonnes of sand and earth have been removed to reveal one of the best preserved Roman sites outside of Italy. Archaeologists say we haven’t seen even the half of it yet.

Like Burckhardt, who ‘discovered’ Petra, Seetzen immersed himself in the culture of the Near East where he travelled widely, becoming fluent in Arabic, converting to Islam and changing his name to Musa al-Hakim. Among his many early adventures he spent almost a year disguised as a beggar happily and hungrily wandering the shores of the Dead Sea. His big mistake was in later proceeding to Yemen where, in 1811, he got on the wrong side of a local warlord and ended up dead in a ditch.

●LUNCH: Lebanese House Restaurant, Jerash (www.lebanese-house.com).

MAP-NIFICENT: The mosaic Map of Madaba

Madaba, 30 kilometres southwest of Amman, is known as the City Of Mosaics, but it’s for one in particular that it’s especially famed, and it’s special indeed. The Greek Orthodox Basilica of Saint George is home to the sixth century Map Of Madaba showing the towns and topography of the Holy Land from Lebanon in the north down to the Nile Delta and from the Mediterranean to the Eastern Desert. Features include a lion hunting a gazelle in the Moab Desert, several bridges across the River Jordan and, curiously, two fishing boats on the Dead Sea. They’d have more chance of catching that gazelle in their nets — any fish swept into the sea from a feeder stream in spate wouldn’t survive more than a couple of seconds in all that salt.

Made with two million pieces of coloured stone some time between 542 and 570AD, the Map Of Madaba contains the earliest existing depiction of Jerusalem and has been an invaluable reference for Biblical scholars since it was uncovered in 1884 during construction of the present church on the site of its Byzantine predecessor. The 16 by five metres floor mosaic’s significance is lost on visitors who haven’t done their homework and stand staring at a map with big chunks missing. However, despite the ravages of time and the scuffing of countless feet, its accuracy has led archaeologists to long-buried locations, and as a work of art it more than holds its own.

PEAK-A-BLUE: Mount Nebo and, below, Giovanni Fantoni's symbolic Serpentine Cross

Mount Nebo, 10 kilometres northwest of Madaba and 817 metres high, is a hugely important Biblical site. Moses is said to be buried here, and it was from this vantage point that he peered west into the distance and spied the Promised Land. More recently, Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI enjoyed the same views which take in the northern end of the Dead Sea and, on a clear day, Jericho and Bethlehem. If on rare occasions there’s no haze, Jerusalem can be seen too. In the Torah, those of the Jewish faith are told that the Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle were secreted in a cave deep inside Mount Nebo, but scholars remain dubious.

In the mid-third century, pilgrim monks who had travelled from Egypt built a small church on the mountain top, and over the following 300 years it was expanded into a basilica. Several splendid floor mosaics were created, and while only fragments of the original church and basilica survive as part of the present day shrine, the excavated mosaics have been restored to their former glory. Along with the panoramic views from the terraces, they are a major — but not the principal or most-photographed — Mount Nebo attraction. That distinction goes to Italian artist Giovanni Fantoni’s rusty Serpentine Cross, a symbolic representation of Christ’s crucifixion and God’s command to Moses to raise a bronze asp on a rod to save Israelites who’d been bitten by snakes.

●LUNCH: The Mazayen Nebo Restaurant just a couple of minutes’ drive from the Mount Nebo shrine serves a great buffet.

BIRDS' EYE VIEW: Jordanian capital, Amman

I visited Amman, which is home to nearly three million people, four years ago during a stopover when I spent the day sightseeing before catching the mid-evening flight home. This time I was staying overnight and wanted to see how the Jordanians let their hair down when the street lights come up. The plan was to have dinner in the Deir El Qamar Lebanese restaurant then hit the town. I had an ulterior motive — I wanted to sample the pubs and clubs until the wee hours and headline this article “Gimme, gimme, gimme Amman after midnight”.

But it wasn’t to be. Come midnight, after working my way through umpteen delicious cold and hot courses, I was almost comatose. Deir El Qamar is one of those top-notch, top-nosh, don’t-tell-anybody restaurants the locals like to keep a secret in case it gets overrun by tourists, but I’ll risk the wrath of the regulars and tell you it’s fab.

Cosmopolitan Amman, which sprawls over seven hills, is the regional base for many multinational corporations, but away from the impressive skyscrapers of the business and financial districts the old town area, al-Balad, that surrounds the colourful souk and the King Hussein Mosque is the place for wandering and buying souvenirs and spices.

CENTRE STAGE: The Roman theatre in Amman

The 6,000-seat Roman theatre, built into the side of a hill between 138 and 161AD by the Emperor Antonius Pius, is the main historical attraction and houses the Museum of Popular Traditions and the Amman Folklore Museum. Its northern orientation was much appreciated by spectators as it kept the sun off their faces, but it didn’t half make the actors squint. The other disadvantage, for those who were performing badly, was not being able to see the rotten tomatoes thrown by the crowd until it was too late. The theatre is still used for concerts, but patrons are no longer frisked for fruit before they enter.

The Archaeological Museum on Citadel Hill exhibits artifacts from throughout Jordan, including the Ain Ghazal statues which are the stars of the show. Dating from some time between 8,000 and 6,000BC, they’re not exactly pretty but they are the oldest statues ever discovered anywhere. Visitors can also see some of the Dead Sea Scrolls, including the only one inscribed on copper.

The hill, which offers sweeping views, is also home to the ruins of the second century Temple of Hercules, said to have been similar in size and form to the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. While only a single pillar sticking out of a swamp remains of the Turkish version, thereby demanding a supreme effort of imagination, there’s a lot more left of Amman’s.

●STAY: 5-star Amman Marriott Hotel (www.marriott.com). DINE: Lebanese Restaurant Deir El Qamar (www.deirelqamarrestaurant.com).

INDIE SADDLE: Spielberg's Hollywood blockbuster
featured the Treasury  as a major location

Jordan, which prides itself on being the most stable, liberal and progressive nation in the Middle East, is a place where ancient and modern, traditional and trendy sit comfortably side by side. Nowhere is the contrast more evident than at Petra, the jewel in the country’s crown, where the simple-living locals whose forefathers raised their families in caves interact with sophisticated visitors who’ve flown thousands of miles to stand in front of the Treasury, many on the strength of having seen it in Spielberg’s film.

Entry isn’t cheap at 50 dinar (€55) for a one-day pass, but it’s money well spent. Despite the hefty admission charge, keep some change for the cheeky-faced but charming kids who run around all day selling postcards, trinkets, fossilised shells and pebbles split open to reveal their exquisite quartz interiors. A couple of dinar will send them happily on their way. Come to think of it, if the little girl below sold half-a-dozen knick-knacks a day she wouldn’t be too far off earning the average nett monthly salary of €470. Little wonder she’s smiling — good for her!

SCARF FACE: Cute kid sells souvenirs

No one knows what the Bedouin guide said in 1812 when the saddle-sore Burckhardt got off his camel in Petra and asked if there was anything worth seeing at the end of that gorge there.

Maybe it was: “I wouldn’t bother if I was you, there’s nothing but an old Treasury and a Monastery that were carved from solid rock 2,000 years ago.”

But I like to think the guide smiled knowingly, pointed the way and said: “Siq and ye shall find.”

GETTING THERE

Insight Vacations offers 5-day premium escorted tours of Jordan year-round with prices from €899 per person sharing including breakfast and special menu or buffet dinners in 5-star hotels, air-conditioned luxury coaches with business class legroom (40 seats instead of the usual 50), professional tour director, headsets for commentary during guided visits and walking tours, entrance to ancient sites and airport transfers. Return flights from Dublin via London are available from €400. If you want to extend your stay, transfer from Amman instead of flying home and enjoy an additional two nights B&B and dinner at the 5-star Jordan Valley Marriott Hotel from €365pps.

●See www.insightvacations.com, call 01 775 3838 or contact your travel agent.

●See also www.visitjordan.com

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