Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Well, it was the final day of 2013 so it was best to do something spectacular. And I assure you today did not disappoint. The group of us got up before the sun so that we could be one of the first groups to enter the ancient site of Petra. And it was totally worth the early wake up call.
The first thing we noted in the parking lot. Made me smile and pretty much set the tone for the day.
Of course when most people think of Petra they think of the Treasury, made famous in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (hence the Supermarket sign above), but I assure you Petra is so much more. Petra is one of the Seven Wonders of the World and was named a World Heritage site in 1985. It was established as the capital city of the Nabataeans as early as 312 BCE. Carved into the stone over 2,000 years ago the knowledge of the city was lost to the western world for centuries until 1812 when it was rediscovered by a Swiss Explorer, Johann Ludwig Burckhardt. Of course it wasn't lost to the locals for those years and when Johann rediscovered the "Lost City" he did so by disguising himself as a Bedouin and joining the tribe who called the city home at the time.
As you can imagine Petra is a very popular place for tourists to visit in Jordan which is one of the reasons why we decided to get up so early. We wanted to enjoy some of the sites without hundreds of other people around. I can tell you the place was empty when we arrived but that certainly changed by lunchtime. Here are a "few" pictures from a fabulous day.
The long path you must take to enter the city. You can actually do this section by horse (included in your admission fee) but with no one else around, the walk was nice. This stretch is known as Bab as-Siq (Gateway to the Siq).
One of the dwellings you will find outside the main entrance to Petra.
The Siq.....the main entrance into Petra. It is never more than 3 metres (9.8 feet) wide and winds through the rocks for 1.2 kilometres (0.75 miles).
That guy has some terrible climbing form. I don't think he would make it very far up those rocks.
Seriously a cute kitty but this picture demonstrates why Petra is also known as The Rose City. The name comes from the colour of the rocks.
If you look closely, you can still make out the camel that was carved into this wall. Over the years many of the carvings have disappeared due to erosion but many are still visible. Below the camel you can see some of the remains of the drainage system. The whole city had a very good drainage system built in that made sure buildings were not flooded and to collect rain water. Obviously there is a water shortage throughout Jordan and even back then the builders did what they could to save every drop of rain. Unfortunately much of it was damaged in earthquakes.
There are actually 3 sets of legs. All that remains of these statues.
These are the final few metres of the Siq leading to Petra's most famous site.
A sneaky first glimpse.
And a little bit more.
Getting closer.
And there it is.......Al Khazneh (The Treasury). I look pretty small in front of it and for good reason. This building is huge standing over 40 metres (131 feet). The sight as you walk out of the end of the Siq and into this courtyard takes your breath away. The reason why we got up so early was so that we could experience this with the least number of people possible. Totally worth the early wake-up.
Oh look.... I found camels. Naturally I went to say hi. They were very friendly.
A closer look at the entrance. Unfortunately you can no longer go inside. It has been closed to tourists do to vandalism and damage being caused to the building.
Looking straight up from the bottom. Of course this is known as the Treasury but it's exact use is still up for debate. However, most people seem to agree that it was never actually used as a treasury. It was most likely a temple or Royal tomb.
Hmmmm.......nearly postcard perfect.
A little donkey hanging out in one of the old dwellings. Technically he shouldn't be there but wandering through Petra you will find many little donkeys in the old houses. No one lives in Petra anymore but during the day you will find lots of locals with donkeys, horses and camels offering rides to tourists around the site. Many owners leave their animals here at night.
Good question. We had more Petra to see but we would get back to the shops later.
Another one of the large buildings on site. This is the Royal Tomb although which Royal the tomb belongs to is up for some debate. Either way it is a really amazing sight.
This is part of the stairway that leads up to the Royal Tombs.
Climbing above the tombs this the Urn Cathedral. Many tombs were turned into churches when the Christians arrived.
Another one of the large buildings in Petra. Sorry I cannot find the name of it but it's huge.
This is the Dier or Monastery. It is monstrous. You can see the people standing in the door way. By the way to even get into that doorway you have to climb up. I would have needed help. That step is well over my head.
The Jordanian Flag with an amazing view in the background. We did a lot of climbing on this day.
A few of the mosaics that remain at the site.
Ahhhh.....look at the cute little donkey I found. They ferry tourists up and down the ruins....for those who don't want to or can't walk. I chose to walk but had to take a picture with this cute little guy. And yes, at this point of the day it was cold enough for a touque.
A look at the valley we would be making our way up.
It would have been easier on a donkey but I enjoyed the walk. Much easier to check things out. You can see the little market in this picture. There were spots for shopping and tea all the way to the top.
Oh look....another cute little donkey. They get to walk down all on their own. They know the way.
I have no idea how that cat got up there......or how it was getting down.
This is part way up our hike to the top. Pretty beautiful.
We'll they tell you it's the best view but I guess I'll wait to get up there to see.
Looking back at the Monastery from the walk up to the best view.
Full view of the Monastery from our hike up to to the best view. Even from here it looks monstrous.
And we've made it to the best view. It was a little hazy but I think it's pretty good.
The more than the best view.......I guess we'll climb up there too.
During busier season and better weather this tent is a great place to grab some tea or other refreshments. No so much on this day.
A look at the more than the best view.
Totally worth the climb.
That tent looks dangerously close to the edge of that cliff. Maybe it's not the best place to stop for tea.
Oh look......goats. So if you're counting that's camels, donkeys, cats and now goats. There were also horses but I didn't take pictures of them. We found them on our way back down.
This is Sarah, from Scotland. We felt we deserved some tea after our climb to the best view and the more than the best view. Plus we still had more climbing to do. This was just a pit stop.
And on our next set of climbing. I'm not sure what I'm looking back at right here but you can get a sense of the immense size of some of the buildings.
In the foreground you can see the remains of one of the temples. It is one of the newer buildings on the site. In the background you see some of the older buildings carved into the stone.
Once again, no idea how that little goat got up there but I guess they are pretty nimble.
I am also not totally sure what this building but it is in a pretty hidden location as you climb up the other side of the mountain.
If you didn't turn back, you would have walked right past this one.
The best building I could do at Petra.....and some of the only plant life you will find.
After about 8 hours of walking and climbing and exploring, the rain started to fall and it was time for us to leave Petra. I did a quick bit of shopping before I left (magnets, postcards etc)........I guess the postcards never made it to their destinations though. Pretty sure I could spend another day there and find a whole different set of ruins to check out. From here we headed out to the desert. We were supposed to stay 2 nights in Wadi Musa but as this was New Year's Eve Ayman wanted to make sure we had a great place to go, so we headed to a desert camp to spend the night.
My little tent. Those blankets were super warm....but I still had 2 of them.
Dinner coming out of the ground. We had a great dinner being prepared in the traditional way, with hot coals under ground.
Look at that feast. It was so good and there was tons of it.
The rest of the night was spent relaxing and dancing and having a good time.
The boys dancing in the New Year.
Our NYE fireworks.
Steve fell asleep at about 2330 so we decided we would go wish him Happy New Year. That's Chisoto, Sarah, Me, Steve and Greg. Pretty sure Steve had no idea what was happening.
Shortly after the fireworks, our very long day ended. More adventures to come on New Year's Day.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!
Julie
