Jordan Part 2 - Petra البتراء
Petra, after millions of random votes from all over the world and some extraordinarily heavy lobbying from the Jordanian royal family, is apparently one of the new seven wonders of the world. So a visit to Jordan means you have to visit Petra, even if it means you have to shell out 26JD (approx. US$35) for a 2 day visit.Well I have to say that it was well worth it, despite our laziness and inability to wake up early enough to get to Petra before midday as we intended... or go to Petra early in the morning on Day 2 as we planned... it was an amazing experience.
Petra is best done with an overnight stay at least, do not attempt to do Petra in one day because it will be too stressful and not chilled enough to properly be able to take in the beauty and majesty of the place. This overnight stay will most likely be imposed on you in the town of Wadi Musa, a fairly boring (think sleepy village) and unfriendly (think sleepy village overrun by tourists that are hated by the locals) place that has a few decent restaurants and your fair share of budget hotels.
All this is well worth it however when you enter Petra and walk through the amazing Siq (meaning shaft in Arabic), the narrow (1.2km approx) walkway between two massive cliffs that leads you to the Treasury and the entrance to the ancient town.
Another suggestion. Do not take a horse/carriage through the siq, it is ridiculously expensive and will not allow you to properly take in the amazingness of it. The siq is best down by slow meandering walk, stopping at a bench to admire it once in a while.
The siq eventually leads you to the Treasury, the most photographed and famous part of Petra.
Yes it is a huge building hewn out of a cliff-face. It's as cool as it sounds, except for the hoardes and hoardes of lingering tourists taking happy snaps and constant touting of various animal transportation (horse, donkey, camel). There is a tea shop right outside also which is highly recommended for tea and chilling.
There are a few must-sees in Petra, the Siq and the Treasure being two major ones, but no visit to Petra should be complete without a small detour off the beaten track. It doesnt have to be a 3 hour hike up a random cliff to be enjoyable, but at least do something small or go somewhere near that isn't overrun by tourists. We, for example, climbed a random small hill and chilled there for a while looking at the scenery below, it was my personal favourite part of the trip.
That night we found this cool bar inside Petra called "Cave Bar". The guidebook was right, it's not often you get to sit in a bar inside a 2000 year old cave. And not only that, we really did sit inside a cave. Mmmm... martini and campari in a cave :)
The owners of the bar very friendly, one of them insisted that he'd seen us there before (despite neither of us having ever even been to Petra) and then followed this up by suggesting that I looked Jordanian and Saba looked Egyptian. Interesting. Apparently we is good beoble.And then after that, a boring night in Wadi Musa and back to Petra on Day 2.
It is hard to believe sometimes that Petra is considered to have been built some time around 300-400 BC (by an ancient race of Arabic predecessors called the Nabateans). The sheer magnificence of some of the buildings is difficult to replicate even today using our advanced methods of construction. On Day 2, with the aide of a donkey (we were strapped for time after realising the last bus for Amman leaves at noon and not wanting to spend another boring night in Wadi Musa), we climbed on top of another, bigger mountain to see the Monastery.
The Monastery, in my opinion, is arguably cooler and more impressive than the Treasury. This could be due to the fact that its on top of a fairly huge mountain and there were only around 10 other people there when we got there (clearly the hordes of tourists are lazy and not interested in donkeys). There is another tea stand up there (again highly recommended for chilling purposes) and a whole lot of different peddlers all selling more or less the same 'traditional souvenir' type wares all the way up the mountain. The good thing about them is that they're Bedouins and it's good to know that these people can somehow make a living off the ridiculously overrun Petra.After seeing the Monastery we climbed down the mountain on foot and headed straight back past the Monastery and the Siq towards Wadi Musa and the buses to Amman.
So that concludes my post about the first World Wonder I have seen so far and hopefully will be more to come. Many thanks go to the friendly Jordanian people including:
- Ahmed, the cab driver, who gave us competitive rates and ferried us around Wadi Musa
- the hotel (Orient Gate Hotel, stay there, nice balconies, clean rooms, only 15JD for a twin share with private bathroom and breakfast) owner who met us at the bus station and casually suggested we check out his place rather than touting us like a madman
- the Egyptians at the Cleopatra restaurant for feeding us decent foul and hommous (despite extraordinarily overpriced chips)
- the friendly Cave Bar owners already mentioned
- the chef at the hotel who actually drove down to Petra to find me after I left my ticket in the hotel restaurant accidentally
- our Bedouin donkey instructor who said he gave us a good rate because we looked Arab and made sure Saba's young donkey didnt go over the cliff edge,
- and anyone else I've forgotten.
And of course, many thanks go to my wonderful travelling companion, Miss Saba Imtiaz, who deserves all the glory and homage for being so incredibly chilled (sometimes too much so, see part about sleeping in), entertaining (especially when freaking out on her donkey and stepping onto a mattrass covering a dug out hole on top of a mountain and falling through it), adept at conversation (be it random or structured) and super cool. Love ya Saba.
Still more thoughts to get down about Jordan so insha'allah, soon. :)
posted by LX @ 7:12 AM
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