After the exciting experience in the desert of Wadi Rum we
are bussed back up the country to Petra.
Most photos always lead you to perceive Petra as only the
place of the famous Treasury. What these photos don’t show you is that Petra is
actually massive complete city and you actually need 2 days to see it properly.
Only 10% of the site is actually uncovered. The rest with its hidden treasures
remains buried awaiting time, money and enthusiasm.
Petra was established as early as 312BC by the Nabataeans as
a hidden holy city. Over time the city fell under the control of the Greeks and
eventually the Romans. After an earthquake in 363AD the city was largely
abandoned and finally in 663AD when the Arabs conquered the region the city was
left completely vacant. It was not rediscovered by the western world until 1812
by a Swiss explorer.
On our first day at Petra Usama takes us on a 4 hour tour
that went a lot longer. At the 5.5 hour mark most of the group departed as it
was just too much to take in when it’s stupid hot outside. The information was
great but attention spans are short when you’re baking in the sun.
The entrance to Petra is a 1.3km stretch that winds through a
deep and narrow canyon. This was about keeping Petra hidden. The canyon is
breath taking, and the immediate temperature difference makes a welcome change.
The cliffs rise up above and around you majestically urging you onward.
There are horses and carts ferrying people up and back from
the Treasury, and a basic horse ride is even included in the cost of ticket –
they all tell us “it’s free, except for the tip”. The horses are mistreated,
skinny and tired, as are the donkeys that people jump on. There is a constant
flow of tourists in and out, and many horses and carts that don’t stop for you
so our guide tells us when you hear them “just get out of the way”.
All along the way down to the Treasury are the tombs of the
Nabataeans, either carved into the cliff faces or into large standalone stones.
The standalone stones are called genie houses because the old civilisations
believed them to be the homes of the magical beings. There are many impressive
carved tombs in the cliff faces themselves showing the importance the Nabataeans
placed on their final resting place.
You get your first glimpse of the Treasury from back in the
canyon and it stops you in your tracks but as you emerge into the opening the
full façade reveals itself as a magnificent towering edifice to one of Petras
greatest kings. It is bigger than you imagine it and how it looks in the pictures.
As one of the wonders of the world Petra is well worth the $80 p.p. AUD entry
fee.
The Treasury is called the Treasury because the Bedouins who
found Petra in the 19th century thought it was where the pharaohs of
Egypt hid their treasure. It is a shame because in the search to find the
‘treasure’ they shot at the Treasury and have damaged a lot of the sandstone
facades.
The mix of native Nabataean, Greek, Roman architecture in
the façade shows the influence of conquering empires.
The city was home to approximately 20,000 people at its peak
size. The city’s arena of Roman design was carved directly from the sandstone
rock.
Returning to our rooms utterly tired we get ready for dinner
at our guides local friend’s house. We arrive at a ‘typical’ Jordanian home,
the guest room is immaculate. It is the culture to always have the guest room
ready for visitors. We had a traditional meal of baked chicken and rice while
we sat on the floor to eat and drank tea.
We rose early the next day and returned to the Treasury early
in the morning with Nicole from our group to beat the hordes, and we had the
whole place nearly to ourselves. The atmosphere is completely different without
the bustle and noise and you can really soak in the magic of the place.
There are super cute donkeys everywhere with men offering
rides to various places around the Petra site. Jump on “Jordan Ferrari” and
we’ll be there no time. We decline as we are really appalled at the conditions
of the animals.
The entire city is carved from the sandstone, and the more you
wander further the more impressive it becomes.
We are not feeling well after breakfast but after checking
out the sights around the corner from the amphitheatre we didn’t see yesterday
we decide to scale the 900 steps to the Monastery, a carved tomb that was
converted to the church by the Byzantines. The view is meant to be spectacular
and the monastery itself is almost as good as the Treasury. On the way we walk along the old market street and through a gate guarded by some 'authentic' soldiers.
We begin out ascent and are constantly overtaken by smug
tourists on donkeys. There is donkey droppings everywhere making the climb that
little bit more adventuresome. The views on the way up are sensational we but
we are feeling increasingly less so. Maybe we should have taken a camel.
We finally get to the top of the stairs and both of us are
promptly ill, first Amy then Simon needed to duck around a corner and have a
subtle chunder, but we keep it together with the help of Nicole to enjoy the
Monastery and even climb inside to an underwhelming empty stone room. The
façade of the Monastery is magnificent and very impressive – yes it does look
like the Treasury.
After a little explore and recuperate at the top we begin
our descent. The walk down the mountain and back to the hotel is some kind of
hellish death march facing an uphill battle against literally hordes of bussed
in tourists wearing stickers and matching hats. Urgh. Somehow we make it back
to the hotel where we promptly collapse onto the bed and hardly move for the
next 16 hours. Simon makes a trip up the road to get drugs from the pharmacy
that help us operate the next day. We would have loved to see the high place of
sacrifice, but our stomachs didn’t really allow for this!
The next day we learn that 6 of the 8 of us have come down
with the sickness to varying degrees of awfulness. We are on the mend but
others are not faring so well, Craig especially is brutally ill still making
the day on the road pretty terrible for him. We take all necessary tablets to
stop any incidents and keep up the electrolytes!
Lessons Learnt
- Don’t trust the breakfast drink that’s made of cordial, where is the water from??? That’s our best guess where we all got sick from.
- Apparently you can sleep for roughly 16 hours and wake feeling like absolute rubbish.
- Don’t come to the Middle East without anti-nausea and anti squirts medicine, and be sure to pack heaps of electrolytes.
- The convenience of transport and organisation of a package tour is becoming clear, we are stress free and happily going place to place to see incredible things without any of the headache of organising logistics.
Parting Thoughts
Our group is getting along really well and everyone is
friendly and good fun, there are some great perks to travelling in an organised
small group and we are loving the company.
Petra is magnificent and deserves to be on the must see list
before you die. We wish we could have explored more but given our circumstances
we were forced to retire early.
It is a shame about the treatment and condition of the
animals there. Apparently there are ongoing efforts to educate the owners and
ensure better care but they seem to have a ways to go.
Simon and Amy xoxo
