Petra (continued) – Wednesday 2nd November 2016

Photos at https://www.flickr.com/photos/ffnord/albums/72157675251190510

We had lunch at a restaurant just down the road from our hotel, it doubles as the local reference point for Explore groups so was a handy place to know. After lunch we walked down to the Petra Visitor’s Centre, the Sun was beating down in the Mad Dogs and Englishmen tradition, so I was darting from shade to shade. Armed with tickets valid for two days we were led by Saleh down the path which wound down to the entrance to the Siq proper. The path is rough and stony, split one half for people on foot and the other for horse-drawn carts.

As we for further along the way we began to see the first of the tombs cut in to the rocks of the canyon, the whole site was built as a necropolis and the quality of the carved tombs varies to quite a degree.

The walk to the entrance of the Siq takes around 25 minutes at a good pace, or nearer 40 if one stops to inspect the tombs. The Siq entrance has a ramshackle assortment of shops and huts, including the last toilets until you get to the valley itself, none of it has been laid out with much thought, but nowhere in Jordan seems to be particularly geared up to the tourist trade, despite Petra being entirely run for it.

The Siq is a natural valley carved by water erosion so one of the first things you have to wonder is how they avoided flash floods when the rains came. It turns out the Nabateans built channels in to the walls of canyon, one side for fresh drinking water, the other to channel the rain water. These channels survive to this day in varying conditions of repair, the floor of the Siq has now mainly been smoothed over and in places concreted to avoid erosion by foot and hoof traffic.

The narrow confines of the canyon precluded building any proper tombs but there were plenty of niches carved in the walls, mainly to the god Dushara, a mountain god which is unsurprising for such a rocky environment. He was mainly depicted as a monolith, and never with a face or human features, worship of him was done by walking around the carved monuments. This practice lasted until the Romans conquered the area and forced the Nabateans to adapt to their way of life.

As we neared the end of the Siq we were asked by Saleh to all stick to the right hand side of the canyon, he then stopped us and pointed behind us at a juniper bush growing right at the top of the rock face, as he did this he moved us over to the other side of the canyon before finally telling us to turn around. This bit of showmanship was done to give us the best reveal of the highlight of Petra, Al Khazneh, or, The Treasury.

The Treasury was called such by people first exploring Petra who assumed that because of it’s grandeur and having a large urn atop the carving it contained great wealth. This was not the case, it was built as the tomb of a king in the 1st century AD, and it has appeared in many films and TV shows. I first saw it in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade where it was used as the entrance to the resting place of the Holy Grail. Since watching that movie as a kid, still good by the way, go watch it again, I wanted to see it and I am so glad that I have now had the opportunity to do so. The whole area at the exit to the Siq was swarming with people, it seems many get no further than this and then turn around after getting their photo taken with a camel.

The valley continues around the corner but with much more unsteady terrain, large rocks and stones litter the path and it is anything but smooth going. Roughly every 20m there is a stall or two selling trinkets or scarves, and there are a few cafes scattered along the valley. Pretty much every surface is carved in to, with some evidence of aborted carvings where mistakes were apparently made and the effort wasted.

Amongst the tombs was also carved a massive amphitheatre presumably for ceremonies to be conducted in, unfortunately it was closed when I was there so I only saw it from the path (donkey for scale).

Nearing the end of the valley we were shown the Roman contributions to the necropolis, the remains of a temple and the entrance gate they constructed having cut their own entrance to the valley from the other end.

The sun was beginning to go down and our tour was complete so we made our way back out of the valley, I decided to try one of the carriages, partly for the experience but mainly due to lazy, it being up hill all the way. For future reference, it really isn’t worth what they charge for the ride, it certainly cuts down on the time and effort to get back to the gate though. Making my way back to the hotel, also uphill, I found my luggage and had a welcome shower and a lay down. Some of us had booked a Turkish massage for that evening, and the men and women went to our respective parlours. There were three of us men partaking and we got the full works, a long steam room session followed by a scrub down and massage with oil and a spray with cold water. We were given the local tea to relax afterwards and then we met up with the others for a meal and drinks. Unfortunately the ladies did not have such a good time of their massage and this led to some problems with relaying the story to Saleh and the owners of the place, but this was smoothed out.

Thursday 3rd November 2016

(Distance walked today: 15.6km)

The following day was a free one, so the fitter members of our group took Saleh up on his offer of a hike over some of the less trodden paths of Petra, some of which were only passable with a trained guide. They finished their tour with a climb up to The Monastery, the largest tomb in the valley and the hardest to get up to. The rest of us had a lay in and met for breakfast before walking back in to the valley. We made our way down to the mid point of the valley where a path led up to the High Place of Sacrifice, which was listed as a medium effort climb of around 300 steps. Not sure who counted these steps as I lost count around 800!

We climbed for around an hour, with frequent stops along the way and finally found ourselves at the top. Where it turned out there were more steps to climb until we rounded a corner and found a massive rock we had to scramble up, before a few more steps led us to the actual top. The Nabatean priests would carry sacrifices up to this altar, presumably the effort of doing so enhanced the value of the offering.

Needless to say that from the height we were at afforded us some incredible views of Petra and the surrounding area. Standing on the edge of the cliff and looking down at the ant-sized people walking through the valley below made quite an impression on me.

We descended the way we came and made our way to the Royal Tombs that were only a couple of hundred steps above the valley. These were quite impressive and had stalls lining every step of the way up to them.

After all of this exertion we were ready to head back, we walked steadily back up the path and I had to take a moment to stop and admire The Treasury as we passed back in to the Siq. It truly is one of the wonders of the world, with some many ancient treasures being destroyed either deliberately or otherwise it’s somewhere I am extremely grateful to have experienced.

We all met up for our evening meal and drinks and then headed to our rooms for some well earned rest after a libation at the hotel bar.