<<The deeper you go into the desert, the closer you come to God>>. It’s an old arab proverb.

Continuing my tour of the desert castles, I decide to visit Qasr Burka. If you try looking on google map you will not find it by name.
It’s located in Badia, the eastern jordan desert, homeland of bedouins. With my little Hyundai, map in hand, I arrive in Safawi, and then reach Ar Ruwayshid, a dusty village on the road 10. There are just 80 km from the Saudi Arabia border. And some white suvs I crossover confirm that.


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There’s no paved road to Qasr Burka, so, according to a boy’s indications, I leave the road and head north.
I’m in the desert, alone.

in the jordanian desert

in the jordanian desert

 

Temperature is good, I think around 20/25 degrees in November. The scenery is impressive, almost unreal, an expanse of dust and pebbles, where the only limit seems the horizon.

lane in the jordanian desert

lane in the jordanian desert

 

It’s late afternoon and the paved road is behind me for the past ten miles, but there are many signs of vehicles tread that have created real lanes: some parallel, others crossing here and there.

desert streets

desert streets

 

Evidently it’s not a place little frequented by people.

signs of life in the eastern jordanian desert

signs of life in the eastern jordanian desert

 

Driving is great, with no obstacles, no traffic signals, no traffic lights … so much so that I exaggerate a little and occasionally I take some “tap” underneath the car, but nothing serious, the motor-engine is safe. The boy, who I asked how far the castle was, (<<Kilo to Qasr Burka? Kilo?>>), made a sign with his fingers, a 1 and a 3. But I’m been driving for 25 kilometers and not even the shadow of the castle. The sun is hiding.

So I decide to stop and visit the castle the next day. I had planned to sleep in the car, one of my desires since the beginning of this trip is to spend a night alone in the desert. Once off the car, the silence is absolute. No animals, no vociferating. Not even the wind, that blows at times, hisses.

The feeling is indescribable. That’s what I was looking for. I, alone.

sunset in the jordanian eastern desert

sunset in the jordanian eastern desert

 

The night before I went shopping in anticipation of the day after: tea, sugar, cold cuts, bread and … meat, and charcoal and a grill.
After settling a little pile of stones for the fire, located in the headlights of the car, I begin to burn leaves and dry grass and then blowing on the coals.
It’s dark now. And the fire has no intention of starting. After half an hour of trying, I realize that the grass in the desert is not really dry, has a yellowish color, but it’s not dry, so it burns with difficulty. And, worse still, jordan coal needs a long, very long time to flare.
I renounce the grilled steaks, let the aluminium tea cup on and I get in the car, where I eat voraciously bread and cold cuts, beef and turkey, of course and canned hummus.
But suddenly, in front of the car, I see a cloud of sparks flying around. The fire is kindled at last! I jump out and put the meat to roast, while the water is already boiling. Tonight, double, satisfactory, large dinner. I really deserved it.

barbecue in the desert

barbecue in the desert

 

The temperature drops a lot, I think it’s around 10 degrees. So I get ready for the night: I lay the seat, put on a sweater and I slip into my sleeping bag, after sipping syrian whiskey. You read that right, sirian whisky: good and also inexpensive. Good night!

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I castelli del deserto

febbraio 8th, 2012 | Posted by dokk in Giordania - (1 Comments)

Desert castles: they call them that way, but actually only a few have been castles.

They are mostly hunting pavilions, old villages, small fortress and caravanserais, palaces where caravans used to stop during their long merchant travels.
Today most of them are only a bunch of ruins.

Umm el-Jimal

Umm el-Jimal

I rent a car in Amman, for visiting some: there’s a big car-renting shops area, that is pretty far from the city center. And Amman is not a hole. Got off the cab, I start to ask in all shops, placed side by side (this is very convenient), for the “cheapest car”. In the end I take a Hyundai in a local agency, for 3 days at a cost of… I don’t remember. :)
My first stop is Umm el-Jimal.

Umm el-Jimal

Umm el-Jimal

It was a village founded by nabateans, in the first century A.D., according to greek and nabatean inscriptions found on site.

Umm el-Jimal, ruins

Umm el-Jimal, ruins

My feeling while walking among thousands of basalt blocks, only remnants of a flourishing center, is lost, mixed with a bit of melancholy.

Umm el-Jimal, basalt blocks

Umm el-Jimal, basalt blocks

Then, some children pass in the distance. I do not know where they are going or where they are coming from.

Umm el-Jimal, children among ruins

Umm el-Jimal, children among ruins

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