Petra, Jordan - A Jewel in the Desert

Eric and Laura in front of the Treasury.

Petra rocks! Wow! This place was amazing in so many ways. We saw so many neat things here, and had quite a few adventures and stories from this place, as you will see below. For those of you who don’t know, this was a city carved into sandstone mountains of southern Jordan around the 1st century AD, and was the capital of the Nabatean Empire. It was annexed by Rome hundreds of years later. The city lies along the ancient silk and spice caravan trade routes, and thrived on bringing goods through the desert.

We took a small bus from Amman, which was super full. We had to stack our backpacks on top of some backpacks of a group of South Koreans for the sake of leg room. A three hour ride for 5 Dinars ($7) each. Not too bad, but no air conditioning. The ride was interesting , but mostly desert on each side, just like we had seen before.

We stayed up on the hill, in the town of Wadi Musa, which is about one and a half miles from the entrance to Petra. The view from our hotel of the valley below was quite nice, especially at night, when the town was lit up very beautifully. Every morning we had breakfast with coffee, Scrambled Eggs, pita bread, spreadable cheese, butter, and jelly, while we watched Islamic music videos on the TV.

Our first night there, we took it easy and rested up from traveling, from Jerash the day before, and for the two big days ahead. We ate that night at a Turkish restaurant, where, after serving us our food, the waiter got down on a mat, faced Mecca, and prayed. This is when we knew we were far from Europe.

The next two days we explored Petra, the rose red city carved into the desert sandstone mountains. It is hard to describe in words how massive and awe inspiring these monuments are, and how magnificent exploring the entire city spread through the desert can be. Each tomb and temple had a unique design. Some were absolutely huge, standing over 100 ft. tall and as wide! It was really HOT, however. We drank about 6 liters of water each day while we were at the site, plus more at the restaurants and at the hotel.

The entrance to Petra is through a slot canyon in a mountain. Although its not really a canyon, because it was not made by water. Instead, it is actually a tectonic break in the mountain, which has been widened and paved by the Nabeteans, who built the city. There are remains of water channels and cisterns everywhere, so that when it rained, all the water could be gathered in an elaborate system of cisterns and saved, which is a must to establish a city in the middle of some mountains in the Arabian desert. Some of the old terracotta pipes are still in place and we saw some of them.

An interesting thing about Petra is that it is still lived in by the local nomadic Bedouins. They live there and sell camel, horse and donkey rides to tourists, as well as spices, jewelry, and trinkets of all sorts. Each has their own tent or table, which they set up all over the place. Some tents are made with wood, and have electric power, so that they function just like a restaurant, while others are even hundreds of steps up hillsides on trails, with their goods brought up on donkeys. So, the place is a bit of an outdoor shopping mall, and we were constantly harassed by the same “pick-up” lines in broken English. Since coming to the middle east, both of us have gotten much much better at haggling for lower prices. The Bedouins are all very nice, and respectful, but they are very active and adamant businesspeople, and this is how they make their living. It is no surprise for them to walk after you with the item you were considering purchasing, calling out “How much you want to pay?” It is much harder to become frustrated with them, if you keep in mind that these are some of the poorest people on earth.

We met one Bedouin in particular, whom we bargained with for a necklace. He showed us his camels, and then invited us into his tent for tea. We obliged him, and had a very interesting conversation. We found out his name was “Tisher” and that he had been born in a cave in Petra. His English was superb. He explained that “he saw his first tourist before he saw his own mother” and so he spoke many languages and was accustomed to western styles. He did also offer to trade his camels for Laura, but we think he was joking…It was a very interesting time, and nice to get out of the sun for a bit.

Petra is different. It is almost kind of sad, because a lot of the sandstone monuments are slowly eroding in the rain, snow and wind. Whereas most of the ruins we have seen on the trip were destroyed by humans, these are being destroyed by mother nature. It is a sad slow shift to being utterly erased from the face of the earth, and is a fierce reminder of our own mortality.

But onto lighter things, our second dinner in Wadi Musa was something of a crack-up. We went to a nice looking place off the main street of town and found a meal of soup, cheeseburgers, and french fries for a good price. After ordering, we waited for quite a bit of time before the waiter finally brought our soup. We saw him leave the restaurant several times, always returning with small grocery bags. We finally figured out that he had not kept the ingredients for our meal on hand in the restaurant, probably since this was the low tourist season. He was going out and buying everything right then, as he cooked. But we did know that everything was fresh, so that was welcoming. Finally, we were served our food, which was excellent, but we needed napkins and ordered a coke. Our suspicions were confirmed when the waiter once again left the restaurant and ran into the market next door, only to return with a coke and napkins, which he presented to us at our table, directly out of the grocery bag. We didn’t even bother asking for dessert, because we would make the waiter run out again. We laughed for hours about that.

Enjoy the pictures!

Eric, in a Nabatean cave.

Eric entering the Siq.

Laura at the Treasury.

Eric inside the Treasury.

Eric, in front of a wall of tombs.

Some of the royal tombs of Petra.

Laura, on the "Street of Facades"

Laura with some other tombs.

It is HOT here.

Laura with a Bedouin boy who sold her a few trinkets.

Eric and Laura with a Bedouin we bought spices from.

Eric in the desert, on the hike up to the "High Place of Sacrifice."

Eric, on the steps of the trail.

Eric at the "Urn Tomb."

Laura in front of the "Palace Tomb."

Laura with our Bedouin friend, Tisher, who invited us into his tent for tea.

Laura, in front of a huge vista. The desert mountains are truly a beautiful sight.

Laura and Eric in front of yet another tomb.

Laura in front of the "Garden Tomb." There are remains of a cistern here, which fed a garden in front of the tomb.

Laura on the trail, nearing the top.

Laura at the "High Place." There was an alter here, along with some absolutely spectacular views.

Laura having a Donkey Ride.

One of our favorite pics of Petra. We took this one on the hike down.

Laura in the Siq at the end of the first day.

Eric, at the start of the second day, on a camel, with some tombs behind him.

Eric and Laura on their "Jordainian Ferraris."They are fully loaded, even with GPS.

Eric, hiking up a canyon to the Monastery.

Eric in the Lion Tomb. See the lions to his left and right? This is on the hike on the way to the Monastery.

Eric on the edge of a sharp drop, next to a Bedouin tent.

Laura and some Bedouin children. She gives them candy.

Laura and the "Monastery." See her? She is right under the front door.

Laura and Eric at the Monastery.

Eric and the Large temple of Petra, at the end of the second day.

All in all, our visit to Petra, and the rest of Jordan has been spectacular. We are even becoming a bit proficient in the Arabic niceties. There is much more to see in Jordan, and we plan on returning, but for now we are on our way to Egypt! Ma' Salamma!