I'm sorry but I'm too tired to put these pictures in order. I'll just explain them as I go. One thing to know, if you've ever seen a picture of Petra, you've never seen much of Petra. It is a huge place. We woke up at 5:00 AM, at a quick breakfast at 6:00 and were at the gate by 6:20. The point is, once it gets to be about 10:00, there is no more shade. And even though it only got to be about 87 degrees, it's about as hot as I've ever felt. It also gets crazy crowded at the first thing which is what we've all seen, the Treasury. In fact, by the end of the day it's a zoo. But we had the place practically to ourselves.
This is Rebecca at the monestary which is one of the last sights. It's 900 steps up from the valley. You basically are walking steps (and that word is used loosely for a lot of it) for an hour and a half. It's a larger structure than the Treasury and in some ways more impressive. As with everything else, it defies imagination how it was carved.
These two pictures are for perspective.
We thought this sign was funny but it also shows some of the steps up.
Trust me, I'm the one that asked for the break in the shade.
We stopped with about 20 minutes left to the top because this guy had a fan! We also bought some juice and water from him. We talked to him for about 20 minutes and it was fascinating. He grew up in a cave. His mother still lives in a cave and the night before he stayed at a friends cave. He used to have a shop in the bazarre near the Duomo in Florence but when the recession hit in 2008 he wasn't making money so he moved back. He lives in the town with his wife and 5 children but often prefers the cave. We stopped again on the way down and had some more juice and he told us more stories. He keeps seven goats who come down at night to be fed. While we were there a 12 year old boy brought a donkey up with 2 huge things of water for Yussef to give the goats. It cost him 5 dinar for the delivery. Since it's the low season, a donkey ride to the monestary was going for about 10.
I called this, pillars are us!
Between the mountains, there are ruins. Theyr'e pretty spectacular and as always, you can climb all over them.
We went into some of the carved buildings where you could see how the stone was coverd.
We had heard about a place you could climb for a look over the Treasury. There are several of them but we had read that this one took the least amount of time. Ultimately, a bedouin young man charged us 10 dinar to take us there.
It's hard not to include every picture and video we took, and we took a lot. I think it's easily the most amazing man made thing we've ever seen by a mile. Ultimately, we walked 12.7 miles and were there more than 8 hours. For the last 4 hours there were lots of breaks to try and find shade and drink water. In those 8 hours I drank endless bottles of water and several cans of juice and never peed. We were also rarely terribly sweaty either. It just all evaporated. By the end, at the Treasury it was nuts. And walking out, we were in constant danger of being run over by a wagon or other vehicle.
Every day of this trip seemed to almost outdo the day before, and as I write this, on our last night, it kept being true. But Petra was the reason we came and it didn't disappoint. I read that a lot of people consider it mankind's single greatest artistic achievement and it's hard not to agree. The fact that it still exists in the condition it does, after 1700 years or so boggles the mind. My mind is officially boggled.
Hopefully I will have the energy to write about Day 6 cause it was a doozy but we'll see. In the meantime, Day 5 was incredible. And so was the epic shower after!
Thursday, June 30, 2022
I don't think I'm nearly up to writing about the last two days. They've been overwhelming. The original plan, years ago, was to see Petra. The original plan this Spring was to drive the King's Highway and see Petra. Those were the two things we wanted to and those two day were yesterday and today.
The King's Highway was mentioned in the Bible as the road Moses wanted to use to lead the people up to the promised land. It was an ancient trading route. Most of the Jordanians told us not to take it because it's slow. But the slowness was part of the reason we wanted to take it. It winds through endless small towns and across severe desert and even down and up what is called the little grand canyon. Khaled, our trusted cabby, picked us up to take us to the airport to fetch our car. It was relatively easy to get the car and after getting lost right out of the airport, we headed to the town of Madaba. There is an old church called St. George's church with an old mosaic of a map of the ancient world.
After that, we drove 20 minutes up the road to Mr. Nebo is where Moses was said to have gone to once more look at the promised land and it is the place where he died.
There is a church at the top that contains some amazing mosaics from the 2nd century. The ones on the wall were over the ones on the floor which is why they are so well preserved.
This is the symbolic tomb of Moses. I don't know why I took a picture of it. It could be the symbolic tomb of any dead person I suppose.
Then it was time for the big drive. Here are some images of what we saw.
These pictures don't do justice to the vastness and barrenness of the desert here.
At some point, we got hungry enough to be brave enough to pull over and find some food. We got a lot of stares in town but we found a place that made a cross between a gyro (shwarma) and a burrito and they also made falafel sandwiches. I tried to explain what we wanted but it wasn't working. All of a sudden, a man who was waiting for his food stepped up and asked us what we wanted and ordered for us. It turns out, he was the English teacher at the school in town. He took us outside to sit and a random person brought us some chairs and we waited after he left. Another man, dressed like a sheik, came up and asked where we were from. He welcomed us to Jordan and invited us to his house. I misunderstood and said, we're going to Petra. It's just as well, I might have accepted and Rebecca informed me there was no way we were going.
I should say that on the drive, 100% of the women wore at least head scarves if not more and a lot more of the men wore traditional robes and head scarves.
Our next stop was at Kerak Castle. This was the only hard driving as it was a very steep town with tiny streets. Fortunately, it wasn't very busy. We found a parking space and headed for the castle. When we walked in, there was a man who began giving us a tour. He never asked, he just started walking and talking. Fortunately, I had put in our itinerary to find a guide since there are no explanations of anything. He was very nice, of course, and explained things quickly and well. I will say, every room was one of three things; a bedroom, a place for hanging people, or a place to shoot camels. Oh, there was one dining room. Every ruin we saw on this trip was better than the last, and this one was even better than the ones we had seen.
This hole was the opening to the cistern.
Yassif pulled some toilet paper out of his pocket and dropped two flaming charmins down the hole so we could see how deep it was. Of course, you can't tell from this picture but I like it because it looks like a Jawa fell in.
He asked me to pick up this big rock which I thought was an ancient cannonball and then told me to throw it. I don't know why. If it makes the expression on my face any less sad, the thing weighed 48.5 pounds.
In a scene Rebecca was expecting at some point but not looking forward to, Yassif took her scarf and tied it in a traditional bedouin manner. And here she is - Rebecca of Sheeba!
We were really tired by this point. We had been on the road for 8 hours but we still had 2 to go. These were some of the things we saw pulling into Petra. The first pictures are of "little petra". It's just one facade but we thought it would be a good appetizer!
Our hotel is spectacular but intimidating to get into. I've never dealt with so much security at an airport. But they upgraded us and invited us to a happy hour for special people so that was good.
I bought the breakfast/dinner package since Wadi Masa, where Petra is, is not much of a town. After dinner and freshening up, we headed to "Petra at night." They do it three times a week. The part of Petra you might know from Raiders Of The Lost Ark is the first carved building in the area. It is a 30-minute walk downhill to get to. About half of which is through beautiful slot canyons. They line the pathway with candles on both sides.
Once you're there, the ground is covered with candles and you can see the Treasury faintly lit. They laid down rugs for everyone to sit on, there were about 1000 people, and they brought tea around. It was magical.
It was magical for about 15 minutes but we sat for almost 40 minutes with nothing happening. At one point a local dog came over to drink the last bit of my tea and I got to pet him for 10 minutes or so. That was nice but he felt like he had all the dog things you shouldn't be touching! Just when I wanted something to happen, the show started. Then I immediately regretted wanting something to happen. A "flute player" played nonsense for 10 minutes. I was praying for him to stop. Then the next "act" started; a "cellist" played poorly for another 10 minutes. I began to miss the flute player! He played the same thing over and over and sometimes sang along. Rebecca said it was a famous musical form - A A A A A A A A A A A!!! At some point, there was a B. It was a bit thrilling. But then...A A A A A. Finally, it was over and a man came out to talk for 10 minutes. I almost missed the cellist. We don't know what he said but we heard enough to know that it was racist and misogynistic. Mostly it was nothing with a lot of microphone feedback. That was the best music we heard all night!
But then, finally, over an hour and a case of fleas later...
Remember how I said the walk there was half an hour downhill? Well...
I was certainly exhausted but really excited about the next day. It really didn't disappoint.
