In Which We Explore the Eastern Desert

Susan and I celebrated Memorial Day by driving out to see some more of the "Desert Castles".  We started out with a stop at Qasr Mushatta which, it turns out, is right next to the airport.  It was commissioned by Caliph al-Walid in 734 A.D. (side note...how do things even survive that long?).  The palace was never completed and the best parts of the facade were removed by Sultan 'Abd al-Hamid and given as a "gift" to Kaiser Wilhelm and shipped off to Berlin.  Even worse than the facade being removed, the Jordanians are "restoring" aka reconstructing the site, leading to a "some of these bricks are not like the others" look.  Still, we got to climb all over it and Willy found some delicious flies there so good times were had by all.

something old, something new

"Hashim wuz here"

Then we drove all the way East to the Saudi border, to Azraq.  We stopped in first at the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN) lodge, a converted British Field Military Hospital, for a delicious halloumi sandwich break.

  

Then we headed to Qasr Azraq, the 1917-1918 headquarters for Sharif Hussein bin Ali and T. E. Lawrence's aka Lawrence of Arabia during their fight against the Ottomans.  Built of black basalt, it certainly looked very imposing and forbidding, especially the front door which weighed three tons and reportedly shook the whole facade when closed.  We wandered over the whole site, looking at the rooms where Lawrence hunkered down, the oubliette and bas relief carvings of animals. 

"In the evenings everyone would assemble before a great fire in the open courtyard and break bread while swapping stories of war, peace and love." - T.E. Lawrence

three tons!

locking mechanism on the prison door "worn smooth by generations" of visitors

please can I pee on this Roman mile-marker?

  

From there, we drove over to Azraq, located along the border with Saudi Arabia.  It used to be an enormous oasis - in 1967, over 200,000 birds landed there for a break in their long journey from Africa to Europe.  Sadly, Jordan pumped the hell out of the aquifer and by 1993 it had dried up and the birds had moved on to the Galilee.  Since 1994, the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature has been focusing on getting water (and birds) back to the area.  It was so weird to see water in the middle of the desert.  But sad to see signs that said "the area you are standing in used to be neck high in water."  Willy was totally freaked out to walk on the boardwalks that comprised the nature trail, which was hilarious to watch.

"No!"

"You can't make me!"

"I won't walk on it!!"