Rain had been forecast for the afternoon so we decided to move our alarm forward by a couple of hours to 5.40 a.m., planning to arrive at the entrance to Petra by around 6. There was no time to sit and enjoy the appetising breakfast laid out in the hotel lobby, but we did at least manage to grab two pieces of pita bread and cheese to keep us going for a few hours.
Unsurprisingly there was no queue at the ticket counter, so once the high entrance fee had been paid (almost
55 for two days) we proceeded to the gate. The light drizzle did not bother us; I put on my waterproof trousers, laughing at John for forgetting his, and we carried on down towards the entrance. There was not another soul in sight. Having Petra to ourselves more than compensated for the cold and wet weather. Even better, the drizzle stopped after only a few minutes and it remained dry for the rest of day.
The first monument to catch our attention was a tomb carved in the rock and decorated with obelisks, a testament to Egyptian influence on Nabatean architecture.
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| The Obelisk Tomb |
We then reached the entrance of As Siq, a long corridor between imposing cliffs reaching up to 80 metres high that made us feel minuscule. John played with the echo while we looked closely around us to find small niches where statues of deities once lived. Along the Siq ran an ingenious water channel, built to collect the water running down the cliffs and nourish the city. Signposts helped us to identify the main points of interest, such as the carved representation of a caravan entering Petra. Indeed, the Nabatean civilisation flourished from their control of trade routes in the region, and in particular by protecting caravans loaded with frankincense (used in pagan rites) and myrrh, spice and silk. The Nabateans settled first in the north-west of Arabia in the 2nd century BC before reaching the southern part of Jordan (and Petra). The Roman Empire finally annexed the region in 106 AD, but the Nabatean civilisation and the city of Petra continued to flourish for many years until the shift in trade routes and the declining demand for products such as frankincense (as Christianity replaced pagan religions) led to their final downfall. The city was later abandoned after several strong earthquakes shook its foundations in the 4th and 6th centuries AD. It was finally rediscovered in the 19th century by a Swiss explorer disguised as an Arab.
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| Entering the Siq |
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| Colours inside the Urn Tomb |
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| View from the Urn Tomb (with the Theatre in the middle of the background) |
Still there was not another tourist in sight. The locals were gradually arriving and organising their stalls, most of them offering us tea which we politely declined as we wanted to keep going. A friendly old man showed us a few pieces of his coin collection assuring us that they were real, whereas the rest of his merchandise (mostly bracelets and silver objects) was imported from China or India.
As we walked past the few standing columns and what was left of the marble pavement of the colonnaded street, Bedouins were offering camel rides around the site. I would have really loved to have another go at camel riding but after our exhilarating adventures of the day before (yalla yalla!) there was no way we would have been able to sit on a camel, or on anything in fact. Our legs, though rather sore, were our only mode of transport for the day.
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| Colonnaded street |
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| Looking back along the colonnaded street at the Royal Tombs |
Intrigued by the signposts indicating ongoing excavations by Brown University, we walked around the grounds of an immense temple (appropriately known as the Great Temple), and were very excited to see that some of the colourful stuccos on the wall at the rear of the temple had been preserved. Nearby was the Qasr-al-Bint, the main Nabatean temple, and the only freestanding building in Petra to have survived the earthquakes.
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| View of the Great Temple from the top (the Holy of Holies) |
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| Painted stucco |
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| Fallen columns of the Great Temple, with the Royal Tombs in the background |
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| Qasr-al-Bint |
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| Another view of Qasr-al-Bint |
We then gathered our energy to walk up to the Monastery (Ad-Deir). Again we were offered a ride on a mule, which looked a lot of fun, but no, thank you. The walk up took us through beautifully colourful cliffs eroded by the rain and the wind, past many stalls where locals offered us their bric-a-brac for "very cheap price, Madam, only 1 dinar". After enough stairs to make us realise that we were out of shape we reached the top, welcomed by a strong gust of wind.
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| Way up to the "Monastery" |
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| John taking risks to peek inside a tomb on the way to the "Monastery" |
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| Meeting of two great minds |
Not quite as detailed in its carving as the Treasury but stunning nevertheless, the huge sandstone facade at the top of the mountain is called the Monastery because Christians converted this former tomb into a church. There were still very few people around us but we eventually managed to find someone to take a photo (actually a few, until he managed to get us with the facade in the background…).
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| Our photographer almost managed to catch the top... |
The wind was getting stronger, tearing the sand from the ground and hurling it in our face. Nevertheless we climbed up further to several view points hoping for a beautiful vista over the valley. Unsurprisingly we could not see very much, thanks to the sand in the air.
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| Looking down on the Monastery from above |
On the way down we saw a lot of people being carried by donkeys or mules. They generally seemed rather embarrassed to be taking the lazy option, but there was no reason to be ashamed; I would have loved to do the same. The only inconvenience for us was that the mules, after depositing their burden, would descend at great speed (their owners trying to squeeze in as much business as possible). After Colca Canyon, however, we had been well-trained and we knew better than staying in their way or close to edges (avoiding rickshaws in the busy streets of India was probably good training as well).
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| Bedouin woman carrying wood for the fire (all too necessary on this cold day) |
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| Racing down the mountain |
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| The path going around the cliffs |
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| Blending into the sandstone cliffs |
By then we had eaten most of our chocolate bars and, despite the refill at one of the snack bars in front of the Monastery, stopping at the Crown Plaza restaurant was very tempting. Thankfully for our wallet, a buffet was the only option and we did not really feel like it, so we pressed on. Nearby we bumped into Romain, a friend from Bruges, who was staying in Aqaba for a week and was visiting Petra for the day. Like us, he was enjoying the strong gusts of dusty wind. We had not seen each other for a while, and it was fun to be meeting there.
As we reached the ruins of the Byzantine Church a mass was being celebrated in French by a group of tourists. We quietly surveyed the mosaics and the baptistry, then left (or rather were chased out by their tuneless singing).
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| Mosaic inside the Church |
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| Close up of an Altar |
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| The Blue complex, part of the Byzantine Church |
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| View of the Great Temple from the Church |
After a quick look around the archaeological museum, we walked back past the Theatre and the Street of Facades. As we did so we spotted a couple of locals dressed up as Nabatean warriors for the tourists; they hadn't been there at 7 a.m., surprisingly enough. Just after the Theatre we turned off the main road, following the path up to the High Place of Sacrifice. We were quite tired by then, after eight hours of trekking around Petra, but the climb was not as steep as that leading up to the Monastery. Near the top we had some trouble finding the High Place of Sacrifice, but just as John was turning to head back down I saw a few tourists further up. This was definitely very high and very windy, not the right place to stick around so after we satisfied our photographic needs we quickly walked back down.
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| A statue of Serapis, a Graeco-Egyptian god, at the entrance to the museum |
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| Nabatean soldier by a huge collapsed archway, ready for the tourists |
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| Way up to the High Place of Sacrifice |
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| Obelisks standing nearby the High Place of Sacrifice |
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| Finally we reached the High Place of Sacrifice |
By then we were exhausted and hungry. We were also looking forward to finding shelter from the gusts of cold wind blowing sand in our faces. The walk back to the entrance seemed very long, probably because in that direction it was uphill. The site was filling up with tourists, which made us realise how privileged we had been to discover the place on our own that morning. Carriages were running up and down the Siq, keeping us entertained.
From the gates of Petra the taxi dropped us at the Shaheed restaurant, where we indulged in hummus and other delicacies. Back at the hotel we planned to work on the blog after a quick nap, which finally lasted… a few hours. Oops! It was then too late to go to a restaurant so we ordered a lunch box from the hotel. Hmm, a greasy kebab with fries and white garlic sauce! Delicious.
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