Petra - all I imagined and more!

Bright and early we were up and ready for our guide, Ali, who was supposed to be the best guide in Petra. Also a chainsmoker as we were to find out - he smoked constantly while we were in Petra. We wanted to go as early as possible as we knew it was going to get hot, so we set off at 7am, when the park opened. Heading past a cacophony of men wanting to provide us with a carriage ride or a horse ride, or a donkey ride, we said no to all and hoofed it down ourselves. Walking through the canyons on the way down was awesome, they are so steep, the colours superb. Ali pointed out several walls built along the way to stem the flash flooding that can occur in winter time - if the place flooded you would have nowhere to go and be drowned. That last happened in the late 60's.  It's also interesting to think about Petra, abandoned for all those centuries, left to the ravages of sand and water - a lot of the damage done to it is man made, but there is also a lot of water damage caused by flooding waters.  As we walked, people clattered through the canyons in horse and cart - missing all the interesting bits on the way down!

Finally after about half an hour we turned around a bend and saw the Treasury through the gap in the rocks. Stopping to take some photos, I had my Indiana Jones moment, with the theme running through my head! Then through the gap in the rocks and there it was, the Petra Treasury.

Petra is a vast, unique city, carved into the sheer rock face by the Nabataeans, an industrious Arab people who settled here more than 2000 years ago, turning it into an important junction for the silk, spice and other trade routes that linked China, India and southern Arabia with Egypt, Syria, Greece and Rome. The Treasury, Al-Khazneh soars 45m high above the sandy floor, carved into the rock face so long ago. Unfortunately, unlike in the movies, there is nothing inside - you can't go in.  We sat and looked - just absorbing the beauty of the place, thinking about it's history.

... and then Ali moved us on to the REST of the site. Ye Gods I never thought about there being anything much other than the Treasury, but how wrong I was!  There's a huge site there with a great many other buildings, although none as spectacular as this one.  
Ali soon decided that walking along the main road through the sand wasn't enough of a challenge for us, so we went off overland - along a part that did say 'Do not climb here". Apparently that was just for newbs, not for us... Anyway whoever it was for, it was damn hard work.  We climbed up and saw things from a different angle - the theatre, some rock caves, some more attempts they'd made of carving something like the Treasury but facing north so not protected from the wind and sand storms. An old Bedouin who just happened to be there (OK I got a nice photo with him in it...) tried to sell us some ancient coins, which Ali, in his expertise, assured us were real... of course they would be cheap for us and why he would sell to us rather than a museum is beyond anyone's guess.... One thing we did get to see was the spectacular caves - see below.

Ali left us right at the end of the Petra site - barring the 800 step climb to the Monastery, which he did not recommend, and given the heat and general tiredness, we gave in and decided not to climb. Apparently you can hire a donkey to take you up but I couldn't do that to a poor donkey!! they are not particularly well treated here, it's common to see the boys whacking them with electrical wire. We went through the archeological museum (5 minutes - it was cool - temperature wise) then we set off back through the Roman ruins to our first drink stop!  There we came across Sheik Abdullah Brogden... and took him with us.. :)

Many hours later (at least it felt like it) we made it back to the Treasury then staggered back towards the hotel. The last kilometre I confess - it was too hot, too dusty, too much uphill and I was totally knackered, so we paid 5JD for a horse and cart back up to the entrance. Then back to the hotel, pool and afternoon nap!!  A splendid day!