Petra

Our first sighting of the Treasury at Petra

Petra was the capital and center of commerce of the Nabataean region in its time with a population varying from 35,000 – 50, 000 people.  So you can just imagine it’s size! The word Petra comes from the Greek word for stone and stone is what you’ll find here, many many buildings carved right into the walls of valleys or mountainsides.

In front of a very empty Treasury at Petra

The city was built in a valley surrounded by rocky mountains, with the main entrance a 2 kilometer long gorge (or Siq in Arabic) that runs down to the city. It was built strategically in this location for security to protect the people and the riches of the city. It’s said Petra was at it’s most glorious and prosperous period between 23BC and 40AD. Shortly after 40AD the commercial trade route which made Petra rich was changed by the Romans when they invaded Jordan. Following the economic slide of Petra and the Nabataeans, Rome was able to successfully invade and conquer around the year 106 AD.

Our group in front of the Treasury

Okay, enough about boring history, time to talk about our visit. Petra is an amazing place, this Wonder of the World is such a vast and spread out ancient city that it’s impossible to do it justice with just a one day visit, but as most people do, we tried.  The park opens pretty early, we rolled in around 8am and found a very empty park. A twenty minute walk had us through the Siq (Valley) and were at the most famous landmark of Petra, the Treasury.  Thankfully we had the place to ourselves and were able to take quite a few pictures, some with camels, before moving on with the rest of our tour.

It was love at first sight, Zasou the Camel and Pamela

Leaving the Treasury we walked down the Street of Facades, past the Royal Tombs and onto the Grand Temple, Winged Lion Temple and finally to the museum where we stopped for a short break. There are several places to eat inside Petra but we would recommend bringing in your own food and drinks as the price of everything inside Petra is very high.

Hanging out in the rocks

Break time over we headed towards the rear of the park and up the 800 stairs to the “Monastery” or Ad-Deir as it’s known locally.  On the way up you’ll pass many people trying to sell you donkey rides and souvenirs. To us it looked the donkeys were horribly mistreated, we even saw one donkey get “jump-kicked” by it’s handler, so we didn’t even think about contributing our money towards their services.  On the way up the hill we walked past two small children sitting on the side of a cliff, the boy was holding a very large knife and wanted his picture taken with it. The girl, who did not want her picture taken, was throwing rocks at any tourist that came by with an aimed camera. It was a pretty interesting sight to see.

Two small children on a cliff, boy holding big knife but wanted his picture taken. Girl didn't want her picture taken. Tourists take a photo, girl throws rock at them, boy hits girl with knife.

At the top of the 800 steps, which are well worth the climb, we found what we were looking for....Ad-Deir, an amazing carving of gargantuan proportions carved into the hillside. In our case we found it empty so we had plenty of time for photos and climbing opportunities. Photos done we had our lunch and did some additional trekking around the place before it was time to head back. While walking down the steps from Ad-Deir we had a funny incident with a Bedouin donkey driver. While walking by he saw Pamela and started this converstation:

Bedouin (Smiling): You are a very lucky man
Bedouin: Amazing Woman
Bedouin: How many camels my friend?
Me: A lot
Bedouin: One Million
Me: More
Bedouin: Wow

If you’re visiting Petra in the fall or winter you should be prepared for some very cold morning and evening temperatures. Much of the park is in the shadows and we found it very cold. We dressed in layers  that we peeled off and slapped back on again throughout the day. The early afternoon was the nicest weather, especially in the sun.

That's as close as I was getting to the edge. #scaredofheights

Staying warm and enjoying the view of the Monastery

Admission price to Petra is steep, 50 Jordanian Dinar ($71 USD) for a one day pass. It’s only 55 and 60 Jordanian Dinar for a two and three day pass respectively so it’s well worth the money to spend a few days at Petra to get the best value for your time and money, exploring it in sections at a time I think would be the best way to take in as many of the spectacular sights it has to offer, and learn about the history and traditions of the people that built and occupied Petra.

In front of Ad Deir, aka the Monastery

Climbing up on the Monastery

We hope you enjoyed our post and photos from Petra. The remainder of the photos from our trip can be found here: https://picasaweb.google.com/117257906652666550268/Petra?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Cheers for Now –

Pamela and Dave