Lawrence
‘History is but a series of accepted lies’-Lawrence of Arabia.
Lawrence was referring to the broken promises of independence that the Allies made to the Arabs in return for their support during WWI.
Having grown up with a dad who loved history and encouraged me to watch many a historical movie I am very familiar with the story of Lawrence of Arabia( it was my dad’s favourite). Lawrence was a British officer who took part in the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Turks during WWI. The black, ruined, basalt castle of Qasr Al-Azraq has a connection with Lawrence of Arabia. Originally built by the Romans in 300AD, it has been used by the Umayyads, Ayyubids, the Ottoman Turks and Sheriff Hussein and Lawrence of Arabia who made it their desert headquarters in 1917. There are Roman stone doors inside that are 3 tonnes in weight. In fact, the whole castle is built entirely of stone but due to an earthquake in 1927 repairs have been made and some wood can be seen. We visited Lawrence’s room and our enthusiastic guid(whose grandfather had known Lawrence) told me that if my father came to Jordan he could have room and board in Lawrence’s room for free!
UNESCO
Conserved by UNESCO the Qusayr Amra is one of the best preserved desert buildings of the Umayyads. It’s a little castle famous for its hedonistic, crumbling frescoes on the walls.
We drove on towards the Dead Sea, at first through southern Amman where the streets were fascinating. The hustle and bustle of the city, the noisy traffic, the Arabic font on every shop front, the bakeries and tea shops, the tented refugee housing set up in between the apartment blocks, the hills, the green fields and children playing football were a feast for the eyes. Then down to the Dead Sea where we were spoiled with breathtaking views at every turn and even with Jordan’s acute lack of water it looked very green to us having come from Qatar.
No comments:
Post a Comment