Petra!!!

Breakfast at Rocky Mountain Hotel

I didn’t sleep well. We must be close to a mosque because every few hours I wake to the call to prayer being broadcast on loudspeakers. …and then there was the cat fight…and lets not forget the roosters.

John says he enjoys listening to the calls to prayers, it’s like the chant of monks but he would prefer that it not happen at 4:30am.

Breakfast at the Rocky Mountain Hotel is good. We eat in a room with a wall of windows overlooking the city and mountains. My usual breakfast foods are here including eggs and yogurt but there is also lots of cheeses, pickled veggies, regular veggies, hummus and a Middle Eastern sweet.

I am a little self conscious when eating in public in Jordan. It is considered bad manners to eat with your left hand because that is the hand people use to wipe their bottoms. Well, I am left handed. I tried to eat with my right but that didn’t go so well. My choice is to show bad manners or create a lot of laundry. Let’s just say that bad manners won out.

Petra

Today we visit Petra which has been one of our bucket list destinations. Petra was named one of the new 7 Wonders of the World.

The Queen of Jordan  and Google hosts an online interactive visit to Petra. John an I watched it at the beginning of Covid and thought it was very well done. Here is the link to be a Petra Virtual Tour.

The weather this morning is cool and cloudy with a chance of showers. It is a 10 minute drive from the hotel to the Petra entrance parking. We haven’t even found our parking space and we are already being approached by people selling guided tours, raincoats, umbrellas and the kitchen sink. However, unlike in Egypt and Jamaica, they do not continue to push too much when we say no.

Our entrance fee is included in the Jordan Pass we purchased before leaving Canada. The pass covers entrances fees for many of the major attractions in Jordan and waives the $70 CAD visa fee that we would have to pay to enter Jordan, so it’s a good deal.

The Siq

Once through the gates there is a bit of a walk heading towards the Siq. The ticket includes a ‘free’ horse ride from the entrance gate to the beginning of the Siq but John’s research found that at the end of the free ride you are expected to give a very large tip. We are happy to walk and avoid hassling over tips.

The Siq is the narrow canyon that leads to the famous view of the Treasury that you will likely have seen in movies (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) and many other pictures and videos. The Siq was not created by water but by tectonic forces splitting the rock apart and water later sculpted the rock walls.

We enter the Siq and the anticipation builds. The Siq itself is a wonderful experience with the path twisting and turning for 1.2 kms with towering walls of smooth rock on each side. I had not realized the canyon walls were so high, some sections soar 600 feet above us. At its narrowest the Siq is 10 feet wide. In  parts you can walk on the paving stones from the old Roman road.

For much of the walk through the Siq we are on our own. The site opens at 6am but we arrived at 7:30am. The early hour and the fewer in tourists due to Covid gives us the chance to feel like we have the place to ourselves.

As we walk I keep expecting to glimpse the Treasury at ever corner… and then we see it peeking through a crack and getting larger and larger with each step. It’s awesome!

The Treasury

As the Siq ends and we walk into the large opening in front of the Treasury. It’s hard to believe we are actually here. We sit down and soak in the view for awhile. Although there are more people around now, it’s not crowded and we get good views for pictures. Here is a link to the video of our entrance.

The Treasury was in fact a tomb but legend says that a Pharoah hid a treasure in the large funerary urn that dominates the second level of the facade, hence the name Treasury.

The Main Trail

Although I mentioned the Roman road, Petra was built by the Nabataeans in the 5th century BC. The Romans added the stone slab road later.

Petra covers a huge area and can take 2-3 days to see the main sites. Today we start with the Main Trail which leads from the Treasury past the Street of Facades (monumental tombs carved in the cliff face), Theatre, Colonnaded Street, Great Temple and Qasr al-Bint (temple dedicated to the god Dashara).

Everywhere you look are carvings or buildings. The ruins are amazing so it  must have been a spectacular place at its height.

Donkey and Camel Rides

As we walk we are bombarded by persons hawking donkey and camel rides to see the sites. They are pleasant enough but with the same repetitive patter.

Do you want a donkey ride!
No thank you
Do you want a donkey ride?
No thank you
How about later?
No thank you
How about later?
No thank you

A few spice up their donkey sales pitch… Hey, looking for a taxi, free air conditioning.

The weather is the coldest on our trip so far with a high of 10C. We are dressed for it but when the sun comes out from the clouds it warms up fast and we spend the day stripping layers on and off.

Donkey Adventures on the Monastery Trail

We finish the Main Trail and decide to do the Monastery Trail. This trail is only 1.2 kms but it’s all uphill as in UPHILL! It takes us 50 minutes and includes 850 stairs plus the uphill pathways. Along the way are some beautiful views.

There is no chance that I’m going to take a donkey up the high, steep path to the Monastery. The drops are dramatic enough and the unfenced pathway way too narrow without being precariously balanced a few feet higher on a donkeys back.

Further up the mountain, I see the terrified looks on some of the tourists faces who succumbed to the donkey ride sales pitch as their donkeys as they race along the uneven cliff edge steps.

As I mentioned, the path is steep with dropoffs and there are no safety rails or barriers anywhere. One donkey with a rider stumbles on the stairs and goes down onto its stomach. No one is hurt. The Bedouins check the donkey out and take him away.

More donkeys with tourists on them pass us. I can’t stop laughing as one donkey is emitting an excessively long, loud and watery sounding fart as he trots… or was it the tourist riding the donkey?

The Monastery…At Last

I’m exhausted when we reach the Monastery. It’s a large and impressive facade carved from the rock face. A cafe sits across from the Monastery. John orders a coffee and we sit down to eat the lunch packs we brought from the hotel. The egg salad sandwiches are delicious but wrapped in many, many feet of saran wrap.

Lion Triclinium

After taking in the view it’s time to descend. We make better time but it’s still tricky. On the way we take a short side trail to the Lion Triclinium, a wine bottle shaped opening carved in the rock with lion carvings at its base.

We’ve been walking for 6 hours now and decide to head back to the entrance. My phone says I’m over 20,000 steps and we still have more walking to get back to the entrance.

Cave Bar

John mentions a Cave Bar we should stop at for drinks as a reward for our exertions today. The bar is in a 2500 year old cave tomb that is now part of a hotel. The cave is comfortable furnished but rather dark so we have our drinks outside. As Jordan is a Muslim country alcohol is not served at most places and when served it’s expensive. John’s mojhito was 7 JOD (Jordanian dinars) or 12.50 CAD plus tax. We finish our drinks and head back to our hotel for some rest.

Supper

For supper we once again walk down the steep main road (once part of the ancient Kings Highway caravan route from Aqaba to Damascus) to another recommended restaurant, Al Wadi. I have a delicious falafel meal and John has an upside down meal (I can’t remember the Jordanian name for the dish). They also bring us a large, freshly baked pita. Yum.

Climbing back up the road is torturous. I feel if it were to stay here longer I will turn into a mountain goat…haha…or at least have buns and calves of steel.