Petra, Jordan – Rose Red City of the Nabateans

Treasury - first glimpse

Like Indiana Jones*, or more like his father, I descended into Petra through the Siq (Seek). This sunken pathway snakes through a gap in the rocks, at times more than 150 metres (500 feet) deep, for over a kilometre. And for most people, it’s the only way in or out. As you reach the end, you catch a glimpse of the Treasury, a Greco-Roman building from 2,000 years ago. But you realize this is no ordinary historic structure; like all of the buildings in Petra, this façade was carved out of the rock where it stands – no assembly required. Petra was largely constructed by the Nabateans, but eventually the Romans conquered and modified the site adding their own structures.

Wall colours - Silk Tomb

Unlike Indiana, you cannot enter; apparently, there’s not much to see in there, and at first sight it looks like this is it – this one magnificent façade is Petra. But, turn to the right and walk along another Siq and a breath-taking world opens up – one full of beautiful facades, hundreds of them, amphitheatres, long staircases and coloured caves. The dramatic vista of Petra is huge and unique.

Abdullah, our Petra born and raised guide, pointed out details, explained the history, and set rules – what was good to buy, where to use donkeys, how to deal with the locals, and how much to pay (not much!) – and it seemed everyone knew him – it made us feel oddly connected. And, he had good advice: “You’re going to get a lot of people offering horse rides, silver bangles, postcards… Don’t say ‘maybe, on the way back, or later’ they’ll see that as a promise… …just say No”.

Young entrepreneur

But, we all bought something – the children selling stuff were just too cute, and polite.

We climbed the more than 800 steps to the Monastery, on the donkeys Abdullah negotiated for us; some stretches seemed almost vertical. My donkey just jogged up, going right to the edge of precipices. I held on for dear life, partly because my saddle wasn’t quite tight. And, frankly, shouting at me to sit up straight didn’t help!

The Monastery

The Monastery is a huge façade; it's large interior and the level plaza it dominates were all cut from  solid mountain. A set of steps lead up to the top but these have been walled off after several tourists fell or jumped to their deaths… Still, you can see guys scramble to the top of the urn. But, that’s Petra – the amphitheatre is fenced off, but we saw a group of tourists pull back the fence to get in – a local guy was helping them. 

Coffee at 7am

There are café’s along the way, run by local Bedouin who live there. On a cool, early morning photo hike, a guy called out ‘tea or coffee?’ and we went in. It was only then I realized that behind the canvas awning the café was a cave. And like many of the tombs, in fact, even the washrooms, the patterns on the rock are stunning.

I discover how fortunate we are to visit this site now; before the Arab Spring, Petra saw 5,000 to 6,000 visitors a day; now it’s more like 500 a day, a tenth of that. And in the early morning (6:30am), it was deserted, save for the locals, and their animals.

Abdullah guided us up from the Monastery across the relatively tortuous mountain route, but that’s a story for the next blog...

Our highly recommended guide: https://www.facebook.com/abdullah.h.nawafleh
 or https://www.facebook.com/TourInJordanPetra

*Petra features in the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Royal Tomb Facades - Petra