The reason we’re all here – Petra

Wednesday, September 25

Most days I take notes about what we’re seeing, what the guide is telling us, and what I’m seeing. Today I took very few notes and to be honest, I took very few pictures. The reason – Petra is just so overwhelming and wonderful that it’s hard to put into words and I wanted to experience it without the encumbrances of either taking notes or pictures.

Our guide, Hakam, was determined to be first in line at the ticket booth this morning and so we were in the lobby by 5:45 am ready to head out and none of us minded. After all, today was the reason most of us are in Jordan. The big day, the money shot, the bucket list item. Petra.

Once on site, the road starts out quite wide and open and because we were one of the first into the site we had the advantage of being at the front of the pack and able to experience it without the mobs of people that would come later. After a while the canyon, or Al Seq in Arabic, narrows and it feels like the walls are coming in on you. At times, it’s quiet except for our footsteps. And the click of camera shutters.

 

First of all a little history. Petra was the capital of the Nabatean Kingdom dating to approximately 300 BC. It’s nick name is the Rose City and it’s easy to see why, given the red tint to the rock naturally occurring. We noticed many other colours in the cliffs as we explored the site. Petra thrived because of it’s strategic location along the travel route for those trading in frankincense, myrrh, and spices. The long canyon made it an excellent defensive position. The Romans later took over the site and it grew to about 30,000 inhabitants but much of it was destroyed by earthquakes in the 4th century AD. The Bedouin from the area continued to live there, as a few still do today, but otherwise it was pretty much abandoned.

It was “rediscovered” by a Swiss explorer, Johanne’s Burckhardt in 1812, and there are stories that he dressed up as an Arab to convince his Bedouin guide to take him to explore the city. It became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985, and visits to the area have continued to grow, driving tourism into the spotlight in Jordan. Interestingly we were reading on the BBC Website today that Saudi Arabia has announced it will open the country to tourism including reducing the clothing restrictions for women visitors. I’m sure the booming tourism industries in some of its Middle East and North Africa neighbours has had something to do with that. Not sure I’ll jump at the opportunity for travel there in the near future.

So back to our experience…… as we walked along our guide encouraged us to imagine we were visiting in the time of the Nabateans. I was doing fine trying to take it all in and imaging a former time until I saw an ancient Bedouin woman on her cell phone! Hakam worked at building the suspense for us as we got closer and closer to the moment when the canyon opens up to where the famous Treasury towers over the square at 40 meters in height. I have to admit to having a huge lump in my throat as we rounded the last corner with video rolling. I’m always a bit afraid when visiting these iconic sites that I’ll be disappointed when I finally see it in person, having seen it in pictures so many times. I remember feeling that way when I visiting Machu Picchu last year. But I wasn’t disappointed there and I certainly wasn’t at Petra either. Pictures just don’t do any of the site justice.

The Treasury facade is so well preserved it’s unbelievable. Its Corinthian columns, funeral urn and other features were carved out of the sand stone which erodes quite easily and we later saw the toll the wind and water had taken on some of the other structures. Hakam explained that the carving was done from the top down so as not to harm the work below had it been done the other way around. Amazing workmanship considering it was done in the 1st century. Originally there was some speculation that the Treasury was a calendar of some sort, given some of the structures, and early explorers were hoping to find treasure behind the facade, thus the name, but they were disappointed. Turns out it was a tomb for the VIPs of the time.

We took a multitude of pictures before carrying on, but given the facade was in full shade, the coloration wasn’t great, so we planned to try and be back to take pictures when it was in full sun, between 9 – 11am.

We tore ourselves away from the Treasury (or rather Hakam did with his “yella yella” which means “let’s go” in Arabic) and on to see some of the other structures on the site. We walked along the main walkway to see the Royal Tombs, the theatre (build in classic Roman style), and the Great temple, oh and a bunch of tourist trinket stalls.

To this point, we’d already walked 8 kilometers, but Nanci and I decided to attempt to make the trek to the Monastery, a further 2.5 km, rated as “hard” on the maps because it was all pretty much straight up hill. As time went on, the sun was getting higher in the sky which meant the shadows were disappearing, but we persevered and made it up to the huge Monastery. At 47 meters wide and 48 meters high, it’s clearly one of the largest on the site. Time, wind, sun and rain have take a toll on this one but it still is pretty magnificent.

After a short rest, we started down with the rest of our crew, who had been up at the top checking out some other view points for quite some time before we joined them. They went on ahead on the return trek and we took our time getting down. There are steps for part of the path, (although they appear to have been made for giants) but in some places it’s just the sandstone which, with loose sand on top, tends to be rather slippery. And on top of that we were constantly having to dodge donkey’s making their way up and down the pathway with visitors making the trek that way. They are amazingly sure footed.

We made it back to the Treasury, and what a difference. Hundreds of people were arriving in twos or fours or 50s. We took some more pictures around the mobs of people, camels and horse and donkey carts. We stopped for a local specialty, a Lime Mint drink which I’ve come to love, before the return trek through the canyon. I certainly wasn’t up for trekking up any of the other trails at that point, as all I could think about by then was the hotel pool on the roof top.

It was brilliant to get up so early because not only did we miss the crowds, but we missed the later part of the afternoon heat and were back in our hotel by noon or so. Although some of our crew did many of the other trails Nanci and I spent the afternoon at the pool or napping. Over 100 flights of stairs and 21,500 steps, much of it in the heat, was enough for me. We had a delicious supper in the hotel and after an excellent day we made it an early night.