The Indiana bug
Petra is what everyone goes to Jordan to see. A favourite location for filming because of it's absolutely stunning unique scenery. The other lure is because of it's lost city status, rediscovered by a Swiss explorer called Johannes Burckhardt. Me - well I've always been a mug for ancient civilisations. Every since I was a little girl, I have had the bagging list sitting there. It has always been high on my list because of it's sheer age, wealth and mixture of cultures. The height of Petra was around 1 BC, a capital city of the Nebataeans. , It has been a central city in the silk trade routine, specialising in exotic spices, eventually jealous of the wealth and success of the city, the Romans annexed it to their empire. It isn't without it's Greek and Byzantian influences either.
Well the site opens at 6 am - this is the time to go. Once you reach the main entrance it is around a 2km walk to the Treasury itself. This first section is where you slowly start to descend to the canyon. This is called Bab Al Siq. It is tempting to rush down pass all the horses and carriages, but it is amazing what you would miss.
Djinn (God) blocks are scattered. Once these would have had carvings of the Nebataean gods. Did I mention that their chief god looks a bit like sponge bob square pants?
Or different text messages left for traders on the rocks.
At the end of the section we see part of the reconstructed dam system. Jordan may be desert now, but once it was a lush landscape. A complex dam system was installed to ensure that travellers had a clear path. This has been reconstructed, because rain still potentially causes a threat to the site. This is also the entrance to the canyon or The Siq.
The Siq was some what longer than I thought. It is a natural cleft in the rocks, the bottom of which have been carved to collect water and transport it through out Petra. The natural beauty of the place is stunning. You never realise that sandstone has so many colours. Carvings and statues to the Gods of travellers once decked this area. Can't mention this area without the classic photo:
The Siq brings you out at the Treasury. Now if you have a day pass to Petra, it costs £33. If you come via a cruise it is double that and the walk to the Treasury as far as you go. To be fair it is extremely impressive. It's name came from the large urn at the top, because once upon a time, it was thought to contain money. Alas it isn't. This is a tomb of great importance, the full use is not understood, but there are probably food preparation areas in the ante rooms, it might have held some religious significance, but it also has two underground tomb chambers which have only recently been uncovered. It also has cats and a few kittens kicking around.
It's at this point I feel worth stating that starting out at 6 am means you get some decent photos without the hoards. There is another advantage. The Treasury is just the real start, it is one of many many tombs, generally called the Street of Facades. The Treasury is the best kept of the tombs.
It is here the key many of the carvings lie. Most tombs hold symbols of steps and triangles, the steps representing the journey of the spirit and the triangles the ascent of the soul. The number of triangles represents the number of people buried in the tombs.
Going round the corner the Roman influence is more widely noted, with a large amphitheatre, just round the corner are a series of stairs to the Sacrifice Place. They certainly liked their sacrifice (probably goats). Near each of the idols from the Siq down are steps to higher areas, where sacrifice and worship would have occurred. Earthquakes have turned this into a strange Escher-esque vision of stairs leading to other stairs or no where. We didn't head up to the sacrifice place as we were assured that it is a hole in the ground with a square marking and bloomin' hard work.
Just beyond here is the caves where the Bedhouin once stayed. Did I mention the natural rock colour before?
Tourism pushed the Bedhouin out. They were provided with a new village with facilities like schools/doctors. They are free to trade without cost and they help look after the site, but there is still a bit of a grudge there. They do also paint their eyes black underneath and one we met looked the spitting image of Jack Sparrow!
Oh and there are more tombs
This was about midday when we reached here - does this give an idea of the size of the site? No wonder it is a World Heritage site and a new wonder of the world.
Here we also got to see a Byzantian church with some fantastic mosaics and fossilized seaweed and the only Nebataean built structure. For some reason they never got the hang of building, so all these photos and structures I have displayed are hand carved out of rock, every last one of them. The other key feature which is worth note is the Monastery.
You can thank a_pawson for this, because I didn't make it. Something about this being at the same height as a munro and the ascent was made at midday in a desert. For more info you need to ask him.
So that is what took us the day. I think we explored all we wanted to on site, but many people take 2 days to scramble up to all the individual caves and tombs. The thing was we did it all again at night.
I wouldn't necessarily recommend this. The walk by candle light and full moon was stunning, but what for? A small cup of mint tea, two dodgy renditions on local musical instruments and a couple of tales no-one could make out what they were about. The ambience is nice and better if you have a quiet group, but the highlight seemed to be when the kittens started to frolic in the candle light. The Bedhouins like their animals. It was something I was impressed with on the trip, was how friendly the cats and camels were in particular (dogs are also kept, but not as popular amongst Jordanians).
Well the site opens at 6 am - this is the time to go. Once you reach the main entrance it is around a 2km walk to the Treasury itself. This first section is where you slowly start to descend to the canyon. This is called Bab Al Siq. It is tempting to rush down pass all the horses and carriages, but it is amazing what you would miss.
Djinn (God) blocks are scattered. Once these would have had carvings of the Nebataean gods. Did I mention that their chief god looks a bit like sponge bob square pants?
Or different text messages left for traders on the rocks.
At the end of the section we see part of the reconstructed dam system. Jordan may be desert now, but once it was a lush landscape. A complex dam system was installed to ensure that travellers had a clear path. This has been reconstructed, because rain still potentially causes a threat to the site. This is also the entrance to the canyon or The Siq.
The Siq was some what longer than I thought. It is a natural cleft in the rocks, the bottom of which have been carved to collect water and transport it through out Petra. The natural beauty of the place is stunning. You never realise that sandstone has so many colours. Carvings and statues to the Gods of travellers once decked this area. Can't mention this area without the classic photo:
The Siq brings you out at the Treasury. Now if you have a day pass to Petra, it costs £33. If you come via a cruise it is double that and the walk to the Treasury as far as you go. To be fair it is extremely impressive. It's name came from the large urn at the top, because once upon a time, it was thought to contain money. Alas it isn't. This is a tomb of great importance, the full use is not understood, but there are probably food preparation areas in the ante rooms, it might have held some religious significance, but it also has two underground tomb chambers which have only recently been uncovered. It also has cats and a few kittens kicking around.
It's at this point I feel worth stating that starting out at 6 am means you get some decent photos without the hoards. There is another advantage. The Treasury is just the real start, it is one of many many tombs, generally called the Street of Facades. The Treasury is the best kept of the tombs.
It is here the key many of the carvings lie. Most tombs hold symbols of steps and triangles, the steps representing the journey of the spirit and the triangles the ascent of the soul. The number of triangles represents the number of people buried in the tombs.
Going round the corner the Roman influence is more widely noted, with a large amphitheatre, just round the corner are a series of stairs to the Sacrifice Place. They certainly liked their sacrifice (probably goats). Near each of the idols from the Siq down are steps to higher areas, where sacrifice and worship would have occurred. Earthquakes have turned this into a strange Escher-esque vision of stairs leading to other stairs or no where. We didn't head up to the sacrifice place as we were assured that it is a hole in the ground with a square marking and bloomin' hard work.
Just beyond here is the caves where the Bedhouin once stayed. Did I mention the natural rock colour before?
Tourism pushed the Bedhouin out. They were provided with a new village with facilities like schools/doctors. They are free to trade without cost and they help look after the site, but there is still a bit of a grudge there. They do also paint their eyes black underneath and one we met looked the spitting image of Jack Sparrow!
Oh and there are more tombs
This was about midday when we reached here - does this give an idea of the size of the site? No wonder it is a World Heritage site and a new wonder of the world.
Here we also got to see a Byzantian church with some fantastic mosaics and fossilized seaweed and the only Nebataean built structure. For some reason they never got the hang of building, so all these photos and structures I have displayed are hand carved out of rock, every last one of them. The other key feature which is worth note is the Monastery.
You can thank a_pawson for this, because I didn't make it. Something about this being at the same height as a munro and the ascent was made at midday in a desert. For more info you need to ask him.
So that is what took us the day. I think we explored all we wanted to on site, but many people take 2 days to scramble up to all the individual caves and tombs. The thing was we did it all again at night.
I wouldn't necessarily recommend this. The walk by candle light and full moon was stunning, but what for? A small cup of mint tea, two dodgy renditions on local musical instruments and a couple of tales no-one could make out what they were about. The ambience is nice and better if you have a quiet group, but the highlight seemed to be when the kittens started to frolic in the candle light. The Bedhouins like their animals. It was something I was impressed with on the trip, was how friendly the cats and camels were in particular (dogs are also kept, but not as popular amongst Jordanians).