Sunday, 16th December.
It has always been a dream of mine to visit Petra. Ever since I was a child. I nearly made it five years ago when I was travelling around Egypt. I opted to do my PADI advanced diving course instead. I am glad I did: it was as cheap as chips and the Red Sea is reputed to be one of the best diving spots in the world. Now though, finally getting to see this amazing place - the ancient Rose City, the Nabatean gem of Jordan, and one of the recently voted Seven Wonders of the Modern world - is a dream come true for me. There is a lot to see in Petra. The place is a marvel, not just of ancient architecture, but one of geology. The rock formations themselves lent the term The Rose City to it. However this does the site little justice. It is far more than that. The entire landscape in which Petra sits is a gorgeous stratified myriad of pure technicolour. Each rock is a snapshot of swirling colours, as if a rainbow mist has been trapped and solidified in a vibrant canvas of reds, browns, golds, ochres, bronzes, azures, oranges, and yellows. Every five steps you just stop with your mouth open and gape in wonder. And this is even before you reach the Al-Siq, let alone the Treasury.
… We are walking through the Siq. Merryl and I are silently taking in the fantastic colours of the sandstone cliffs rising above us. As the Siq was formed when an earthquake rent the solid rock apart many of the vivid colours are the same height and pattern on each side. The floor is paved – from the time of Roman occupation – and along the wall of the Siq runs a
water viaduct, for bringing aqua vitae to the Nabatean city. There are relatively few people in the tunnel. Firstly, as it is 7am, and secondly, December does tend to help stave off tourists. They will be here later, in tour buses aplenty, for now though, apart from a few other early birds, we have the place to ourselves. We continue to amble along, Marcus has gone on ahead and the winding, twisting Siq has swallowed him up. A sound from behind makes us turn: a horse-drawn carriage is rattling towards us, the clip-clop of hooves are abnormally enhanced within this natural echo chamber. We stand aside and let it trundle past; a scene that could be straight out of a classic English period adaptation - apart from we are in the Middle East. The horse looks to be well looked after, although the driver is carrying a whip. Two women sit in the back, one older, one younger. They look to be mother and daughter. Merryl is just further ahead of me. She turns and looks at me. “I’ve just caught a glimpse of the Treasury!” My stomach is doing cartwheels…
The Nabatean city of Petra is thought to have existed since time immemorial – that is to say there were settlements in Pe
references in the Bible to Sela – which also means rock - but this could be confused with other cities in the region. The best reference as to its age seems to be from the eclectic architecture that was employed in the creation of the tombs [The city of Petra is, in the main, a huge necropolis. The Nabateans were early Bedouin, the were nomadic people, the grandiose monuments hewn out of the sandstone rock are mtra, pre-dating modern history. Petra is referred to in the Dead Sea Scrolls as Rekem. It is mentioned by name in the Old Testament, but this does not appear to be a definitive reference to the city. There areostly, but not all, tombs]. The style of the tombs range from Hellenic to Egyptian. There are also styles very similar to ancient Syrian and, of course, Roman settlements. Oh and the Crusaders also turned up; typical isn’t it? The styles, therefore, can be traced as far back as the 6th century BC at the earliest. This gives an approximate age of when the Nabateans first began to use the city. I am not going to bore myself, and add to your ennui, with a long-winded description of Petra’s history so the abridged version reads thus: Petra was essentially a Nabatean city, but looked to be under rule – or at least influence - from the Ptolomies and the Syrians until the Romans discovered and drew it into the Romana Arabia. During this period a large Roman city was built here and it prospered for a good couple of hundred years. Thus it remained until the Palmyra became the hotspot of trade and commerce. Then it slowly began to decline. After the fall of the Roman Empire and a major earthquake it fell into ruins although it did still have religious significance into the 4th Century BC. Fast forward about 500 hundred years and those old funboys the big Cs rocked up – probably killing everybody and boiling them in pots – and fortified and added to the architecture here and there. Arabic folklore suggests that this is spot where Moses struck his
staff in the ground and brought forth water. The city had references to itself in Mediaval times as a place of interest and curiousity. From here it was lost to the world and faded into the history books as nothing more than a legend. The Bedouin always knew of its existence though, and protected it fiercely. And thus it stayed as a mystical city of legend for nearly a millenium until 1812 when Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, a young Swedish explorer travelling Arabia. came looking for ancient civilizations, heard tale of a hidden city of untold beauty, hitherto known only to the Bedouin. Burckhardt, dressed as a Arabic teacher of law and the Qur’an, asked passage to this place as a holy man coming to worship. I imagine he must have nearly creamed his pants when they first brought him through the Siq, and western eyes fell upon this place for the first time in nearly a thousand years.
… We are sitting atop of a mountain in Petra. It is the second day we have been here and we still are just brushing the surface of the place. Instead of coming through the Siq today we came via another route – through a series of flash flood tunnels, designed to divert flood, and heavy rain, water. We are on the cusp of a plateau jutting out over the path that leads down aside a rouge mountain face to the house of Dorotheus, and the tomb of Sextus Florentinus. The sun is high in the sky and we have stopped for lunch. We have decided to purchase our own packed lunch this time and have fresh banans, honey, large, flat, pancake bread, and nutella chocolate. We are all carefully making our sandwiches. The wind whips lightly aro
und us and far below we can see the colonnaded street and Qasr Al-Bint with people milling about like ants. I am at peace. Marcus decides to put wrap his entire banana in his lafa bread, not before he covers the entire thing in honey. "That doesn't look like a good strategy," I remark."This is where its at!" He replies. Merryl and I exchange glances. I shrug and tuck into some of the fresh goat's cheese we have also bought. A bird is circling high above and the blue sky is cloudless and the sun is warm and the scenery is indescribably stunning. I look back at Marcus to see him take a huge bite out of his his sandwich. Honey pours from the bottom and drips all over his hands and his shoe. I take a photo for prosperity...
Once we had checked out the the mountain look-out points - and had what was purported to be the best cup of tea in the world - we started our long trek home. It was well over 5k back to the hotel and a good part of that was uphill. We neglected to take donkey or horse rides. Marcus and Merryl are both accomplished equestrians, but they both did not like the look of the treatment of the horses. It took us fecking ages to get back to the town of Wadi Mosa where we were staying. In fact so long, we had to stop off for food and beer in a pub on the way home. We also stopped by a restaurant and arranged to do a cooking course the next night. Then we went home and crashed.
It has always been a dream of mine to visit Petra. Ever since I was a child. I nearly made it five years ago when I was travelling around Egypt. I opted to do my PADI advanced diving course instead. I am glad I did: it was as cheap as chips and the Red Sea is reputed to be one of the best diving spots in the world. Now though, finally getting to see this amazing place - the ancient Rose City, the Nabatean gem of Jordan, and one of the recently voted Seven Wonders of the Modern world - is a dream come true for me. There is a lot to see in Petra. The place is a marvel, not just of ancient architecture, but one of geology. The rock formations themselves lent the term The Rose City to it. However this does the site little justice. It is far more than that. The entire landscape in which Petra sits is a gorgeous stratified myriad of pure technicolour. Each rock is a snapshot of swirling colours, as if a rainbow mist has been trapped and solidified in a vibrant canvas of reds, browns, golds, ochres, bronzes, azures, oranges, and yellows. Every five steps you just stop with your mouth open and gape in wonder. And this is even before you reach the Al-Siq, let alone the Treasury.
… We are walking through the Siq. Merryl and I are silently taking in the fantastic colours of the sandstone cliffs rising above us. As the Siq was formed when an earthquake rent the solid rock apart many of the vivid colours are the same height and pattern on each side. The floor is paved – from the time of Roman occupation – and along the wall of the Siq runs a
water viaduct, for bringing aqua vitae to the Nabatean city. There are relatively few people in the tunnel. Firstly, as it is 7am, and secondly, December does tend to help stave off tourists. They will be here later, in tour buses aplenty, for now though, apart from a few other early birds, we have the place to ourselves. We continue to amble along, Marcus has gone on ahead and the winding, twisting Siq has swallowed him up. A sound from behind makes us turn: a horse-drawn carriage is rattling towards us, the clip-clop of hooves are abnormally enhanced within this natural echo chamber. We stand aside and let it trundle past; a scene that could be straight out of a classic English period adaptation - apart from we are in the Middle East. The horse looks to be well looked after, although the driver is carrying a whip. Two women sit in the back, one older, one younger. They look to be mother and daughter. Merryl is just further ahead of me. She turns and looks at me. “I’ve just caught a glimpse of the Treasury!” My stomach is doing cartwheels…The Nabatean city of Petra is thought to have existed since time immemorial – that is to say there were settlements in Pe
references in the Bible to Sela – which also means rock - but this could be confused with other cities in the region. The best reference as to its age seems to be from the eclectic architecture that was employed in the creation of the tombs [The city of Petra is, in the main, a huge necropolis. The Nabateans were early Bedouin, the were nomadic people, the grandiose monuments hewn out of the sandstone rock are mtra, pre-dating modern history. Petra is referred to in the Dead Sea Scrolls as Rekem. It is mentioned by name in the Old Testament, but this does not appear to be a definitive reference to the city. There areostly, but not all, tombs]. The style of the tombs range from Hellenic to Egyptian. There are also styles very similar to ancient Syrian and, of course, Roman settlements. Oh and the Crusaders also turned up; typical isn’t it? The styles, therefore, can be traced as far back as the 6th century BC at the earliest. This gives an approximate age of when the Nabateans first began to use the city. I am not going to bore myself, and add to your ennui, with a long-winded description of Petra’s history so the abridged version reads thus: Petra was essentially a Nabatean city, but looked to be under rule – or at least influence - from the Ptolomies and the Syrians until the Romans discovered and drew it into the Romana Arabia. During this period a large Roman city was built here and it prospered for a good couple of hundred years. Thus it remained until the Palmyra became the hotspot of trade and commerce. Then it slowly began to decline. After the fall of the Roman Empire and a major earthquake it fell into ruins although it did still have religious significance into the 4th Century BC. Fast forward about 500 hundred years and those old funboys the big Cs rocked up – probably killing everybody and boiling them in pots – and fortified and added to the architecture here and there. Arabic folklore suggests that this is spot where Moses struck his staff in the ground and brought forth water. The city had references to itself in Mediaval times as a place of interest and curiousity. From here it was lost to the world and faded into the history books as nothing more than a legend. The Bedouin always knew of its existence though, and protected it fiercely. And thus it stayed as a mystical city of legend for nearly a millenium until 1812 when Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, a young Swedish explorer travelling Arabia. came looking for ancient civilizations, heard tale of a hidden city of untold beauty, hitherto known only to the Bedouin. Burckhardt, dressed as a Arabic teacher of law and the Qur’an, asked passage to this place as a holy man coming to worship. I imagine he must have nearly creamed his pants when they first brought him through the Siq, and western eyes fell upon this place for the first time in nearly a thousand years.… We are sitting atop of a mountain in Petra. It is the second day we have been here and we still are just brushing the surface of the place. Instead of coming through the Siq today we came via another route – through a series of flash flood tunnels, designed to divert flood, and heavy rain, water. We are on the cusp of a plateau jutting out over the path that leads down aside a rouge mountain face to the house of Dorotheus, and the tomb of Sextus Florentinus. The sun is high in the sky and we have stopped for lunch. We have decided to purchase our own packed lunch this time and have fresh banans, honey, large, flat, pancake bread, and nutella chocolate. We are all carefully making our sandwiches. The wind whips lightly aro
und us and far below we can see the colonnaded street and Qasr Al-Bint with people milling about like ants. I am at peace. Marcus decides to put wrap his entire banana in his lafa bread, not before he covers the entire thing in honey. "That doesn't look like a good strategy," I remark.We wanted to see as much as Petra as possible so we got up at 6am. That was a shock to the system. The hotel offered free taxi rides at any hour so we were soon at the gates. It was freezing. I didn't care though. I was so excited I was hopping from foot to foot. We went into the city via the Al-Siq (the shaft) which is the ritual entrance to the city. You can see the remains of the Roman archway as you enter. The Siq is nearly a kilometre long and culminates at the entrance to the Treasury -or Al Khazneh. One of the most photographed places in the world
. Especially if you catch it when the sun hits it and once thought to house the Pharoah's Treasure. This place was especially sacred to the Bedoiun, who fiercely protected it, indeed the whole of Petra, from the outside world. Some claim for spiritual reasons, however it is more likely they did not want people searching and discovering the legendary Pharaoh's Treasure. From the Treasury we walked down the Street of Facades, down past the amphitheatre, hewn out of the side of the mountain. From here we explored the Urn and the Silk Tomb, the Palace and the Corinthian Tomb. Before heading down into the colonnaded street to visit the Great temple, the Arch-Way, and Qasr Al-Bint - the castle of the Pharoah's daughter.
. Especially if you catch it when the sun hits it and once thought to house the Pharoah's Treasure. This place was especially sacred to the Bedoiun, who fiercely protected it, indeed the whole of Petra, from the outside world. Some claim for spiritual reasons, however it is more likely they did not want people searching and discovering the legendary Pharaoh's Treasure. From the Treasury we walked down the Street of Facades, down past the amphitheatre, hewn out of the side of the mountain. From here we explored the Urn and the Silk Tomb, the Palace and the Corinthian Tomb. Before heading down into the colonnaded street to visit the Great temple, the Arch-Way, and Qasr Al-Bint - the castle of the Pharoah's daughter.Once you get to the main valley of Petra you realise just how vast this place is. I believe that a mere 15% of Petra has been excavated. The extent of the tombs and buildings is mind-boggling. After taking lunch in the great temple, we then set off up again into the mountains to visit Al-Deir (The Monastry). Perhaps somewhat incorrectly named - as it was originally a Nabatean temple, the crosses etched into the bottom are what lent it its modern name. There are plenty of touts offering t
axi-rides (donkeys) and after a forty-five minute walk uphill you realise why. It is knackering! We stopped on the way to view the Lion Temple and the Roman Soldier Tomb. I found myself the Al-Dier was even more impressive than the Treasury. Merryl took a break there and Marcus and I wondered up into the mountains further to explore the "View".
axi-rides (donkeys) and after a forty-five minute walk uphill you realise why. It is knackering! We stopped on the way to view the Lion Temple and the Roman Soldier Tomb. I found myself the Al-Dier was even more impressive than the Treasury. Merryl took a break there and Marcus and I wondered up into the mountains further to explore the "View".Once we had checked out the the mountain look-out points - and had what was purported to be the best cup of tea in the world - we started our long trek home. It was well over 5k back to the hotel and a good part of that was uphill. We neglected to take donkey or horse rides. Marcus and Merryl are both accomplished equestrians, but they both did not like the look of the treatment of the horses. It took us fecking ages to get back to the town of Wadi Mosa where we were staying. In fact so long, we had to stop off for food and beer in a pub on the way home. We also stopped by a restaurant and arranged to do a cooking course the next night. Then we went home and crashed.
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