Petra (Jordan)

Getting Sammy to sleep was a bit of a challenge. After learning that the hotel was "out" of cribs, we tried various tactics to get our little guy to bed. Three hours later, he finally passed out but then began coughing in his sleep. We seemed to have been pushing Sammy's boundaries on this trip, as he had picked up a bit of a cold.

The next morning, we woke up in and had breakfast with some fellow travellers from Germany and China. Nicki greeted the Chinese with a friendly "zao shang hao" (good morning), but it must've been too early to chat since they focused primarily on the food. After a quick meal, we were ready to head to Petra--not letting the travellers across the hall who had returned to the hotel after finding out the cost for entry to Petra dissuade us.

Here is our morning view of Wadi Musa, Jordan (the base town of Petra).

After paying the $75 per person entry fee (Q: Who travels to Jordan only to turn around due to the entrance fee to Petra, anyway? A: the guys staying across the hall from us at the inn), we were on our way. Just past the new visitor's center (still under construction), the walk into Petra begins. Here's a view of the walkway--you'll notice a path on the right for walkers, and a path on the left for horses and donkeys. We'd soon find that animal rides are a-plenty in Petra.  

A Petra dwelling. Thought we were impressed by this, it turned out to be only a warm-up...

We then passed the "Obelisk Tomb". Here it is...

Soon we entered the "Siq". Al-Siq, or "the shaft" in Arabic, is a mile-long narrow gorge with soaring cliff-walls on each side. Visitors like us walk through the Siq in order to enter Petra.

Here is Nicki and Sammy in the Siq. It reminded us of "the Narrows" at Zion National Park in Utah (except there was no water).

Here's another view of the Siq, with some random guy to give you an idea of the height of the walls.

Finally...we reached...the Treasury. Certainly Petra's most famous building, the Treasury was featured in the Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark movie. Do you remember it?

Here's the Treasury as seen from the Siq in the morning.

Many people were lining up for photos. Here's a closer look...

Here's a shot of the Treasury in its entirety...

And a side view...

After soaking in the Treasury, we moved on. This camel, standing on the "Street of Facades", was for hire...

If camels aren't your thing, perhaps a donkey ride will do...we'd be riding donkeys a bit later.

More from the Street of Facades...

Petra (Greek for "rock") was established as the Nabataean capital somewhere around the 6th century, BC. Before that, though, the area was apparently inhabited by the Edomites (descendants of Esau). Here's a link to some information regarding Petra in the Bible, if you're interested.

This is the Petra Theater. With a capacity of 6000 people, it was apparently constructed during the 1st century AD.

Next, we headed to the Monastery. Some local donkey-owners lied to us about the length of the climb. Between the unknown distance to the monastery, and the fact that we were carrying Sammy, we decided to cave in and opted for the donkey ride. We got a "special price" for being Americans, after all (yeah right).

It turned out to be fun, if not a bit nerve racking in some areas with steep climbs and no handrails. Here is Nicki (and Sammy) with their trusty donkey at the Monastery.

Quite a site. Here's the monastery. Note how dwarfed the people look (yes, it's huge!).

Another angle. This time, no people. 

We took a break under a bedouin tent with a nice view. Sammy enjoyed climbing around... 

Here's a view of the walk to/from from the Monastery. Apparently there are more than 800 steps...

  

This view includes the Silk, Urn, and Corinthian Tombs...

We then worked our way back to the Siq. Here's a view of the Treasury on the way out, with afternoon lighting...

By afternoon, the amount of tourists had at least doubled. Many of the day-tours from Eilat (Israel) had arrived. We were glad to be on a "self-guided" tour...

Many cab drivers were waiting for tourists on the way out of Petra. We tried to ride with the same guy who'd brought us to Wadi Musa the previous day--but after an internal driver argument, another guy won our business. The ride back to Eilat was 35 Dinar, whereas the ride from Eilat to Petra had been 65 Dinar. We had read in advance that a "taxi mafia" controlled the price from the border with Israel, so we had given up on bargaining.

Here's a shot out the cab window on the ride back to the Arava Crossing (border of Jordan/Israel near Eilat). Wadi Rum is in the background somewhere.

Another out-the-window shot. These camels seemed to be roaming wild.

Finally, we were back at the border--with our car waiting. Our fascinating self-guided trip to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan was complete.