Time is passing fast, and here we are, another year is coming to the end. It’s time to think about what we experienced and find new aims for the upcoming year. This has been a tough year for me due to many personal reasons. But you need to overcome all the adversities of life and go on, trying to live everyday to the fullest, since life is the most precious gift we have. All the people who really care about me helped me a lot and I can’t thank them enough for this. But let’s go on the photography side! This year I had a chance to experience something new since for the first time in my life I could spend some time in the middle of a desert! I must say that it’s been a great adventure. I visited Jordan with my wife and we had an amazing time visiting the ancient city of Petra, and the majestic Wadi Rum desert, along with many other beautiful places. I could talk a lot about the whole trip and all the places I visited, but I will do it another time. Now I will just make a little introduction to Petra and Wadi Rum.
Petra is simply astonishing! For those of you who don’t know, Petra is a historical and archaeological city in southern Jordan. It is believed to have been settled as early as 9.000 BC, and it was possibly established in the 4th century BC as the capital city of the Nabataean Kingdom. The Nabataeans were nomadic Arabs who invested in Petra’s proximity to the trade routes by establishing it as a major regional trading hub. To reach the ancient city you need to walk through the “Siq”, a 1,2 km long gorge that will amaze you with its beautiful rock walls and will show you the small side canals carved in the rock that the Nabataeans were using to carry the water to the city. The Siq leads directly to the “Al Khazneh” (The Treasury), one of the most elaborate temples in Petra. The structure is believed to have been the mausoleum of the Nabatean King Aretas IV in the 1st century AD. Approaching the Treasury is an amazing experience itself: you’re walking through the Siq surrounded by the rock walls and suddenly you start to catch a glimpse of this fantastic temple that slowly starts to appear with all its majesty in front of your eyes. It literally leaves you speachless!
There are many other things to do and see in Petra, but I will talk about that in other posts. Now let’s talk a bit about the desert! Wadi Rum, also known as the Valley of the Moon, is a valley cut into the sandstone and granite rock in southern Jordan. In the West, Wadi Rum may be best known for its connection with British officer T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), who passed through several times during the Arab Revolt of 1917–18. The landscape here is really amazing and various: rocky mountains, red sand dunes, huge desertic plains, rock bridges, canyons, you can find everything you want. For those of you who like cinema, you saw some of these landscapes if you watched “The Martian” movie, which was shot there. I enjoyed this trip a lot because you can mix the classic desert jeep trip with other activities like hiking and scrambling, and also take a closer look to the real bedouins life. Enjoying a cup of tea in the middle of the desert, trying the delicious bedouins food, and last but not least, sleeping under the stars and having the chance to see the Milky Way clearly and also some shooting stars, all these things made this an unforgettable trip!
I will talk a lot more about this and all my other trips in other posts (I need too much time for all the things I have to write!). I was thinking about making a new section/category for this kind of posts; I will go on with “The Journey” posts (I know I only started, I’m sorry!), but at the same time I can start another series where I can tell you about the places I visited and give you all the information I can, so you might have something useful if you wish to visit the same places. What do you think? Please comment and tell me if this can be a good idea or not! Your opinion is always valuable!
Now, before leaving you, I would like to give you one last thing. If you follow me on my social media accounts, you already saw this posted on my Facebook page, but I think it’s a nice way to salute you and close this photography year! This is an introduction to my world, a presentation of my work, a taste of my biggest passion. I hope I can show you how beautiful our planet is with this video. Enjoy it!
Once again, I have to thank you all for your support which really means a lot to me. Thanks for appreciating my work and thanks for being so nice to me. I wish everybody a great time and a happy new year full of joy!
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