“You must really like Petra”, was a comment I received on my Instagram. Were we that obvious? I guess so because yes, yes we did. We really liked Petra! I defy anyone to come here and NOT like Petra. Take me up on it, I dare you…
To start your journey, you walk the 1.2 km through the Siq. We all know that the first thing we’ll see is The Treasury, so the anticipation is palpable.And then finally, there it is!!! And you catch your breath, wipe away a tear and keep going (well, that’s what happened with us anyway).Just you and 200 other people take a moment, stand and stare at this wonder, pose for a few pictures and then, catching a whiff of the camel pee and getting tired of the people trying to sell you stuff, you realize that there’s more to Petra than the treasury and you start the grand adventure of exploring the site.We started our exploring by going up the steps leading to the High Place of Sacrifice.
And then I saw arrows and couldn’t resist so UP we went!
And UP!Incredible view from the top!!And then down and UP again to the high place of sacrificeLiving on the Edge We stopped a few times on the way down to appreciate the views and admire some of the fancier tombsThe colours of the rocks are unbelievable and these caves really show it off!The Roman theatre from ground level
And that was the end of our first day. Mohammed, the owner of the Hotel where we stayed, was really good at giving us a plan for each day; drawing a route on the map and numbering each site that we would see. And Day 2 began. First step – you guessed it, meandering along the Siq.
A Water channel runs along the side of the gorge (Siq)We went past the Royal Tombs and saw this little boy playing amongst the ruins. His mom ran one of the many shops on the site.You walk through or by shops of all shapes and sizes run by the Beduin of the area.And UP we climbed Stopping to rest and enjoy the view along the wayTo get a bird’s eye view of the Roman Theatreand the Treasuryand the surrounding mountains!And back DOWN we went.The history is hard to grasp for us Colonial Canadians. The indigenous people of Canada of course have a long history on the land but, due to a rich oral history tradition, we may not find the same records with dates and such.Mosaics at the church siteA look back on the Great Temple, the old museum in the cave (left side of this pic) and the Qasr al-Bint, from a little trail that took us above the main way back to the Siq, and day 2 was almost in the books.
We debated whether or not we should pay for the Petra at Night experience, as the reviews we had read and heard weren’t great. In the end, we decided to go for it, as we didn’t want to have any regrets about our once in our lifetime trip to Petra.
Walking down the Siq with only candles and moonlight to guide you was quite magical. Our only complaint was towards some of the visitors who felt the need to put on their phone flashlight. We just waited until they were well ahead of us before we carried on.❤️
And then our last day in Petra was upon us. We decided to do a ‘Petra by the backdoor’ guided tour. We could have easily done the walk without a guide but, we decided that 1 day with a guide would give us a better understanding of all that we had seen and would be seeing that day. And that it did. Adl was wonderful. He had a lot of experience as a guide and had grown up in Petra so he shared some interesting perspectives about the site, his life and sometimes the politics and history of Jordan.
The walk in from little Petra was stunning.We are not great at posing but okay at taking direction.Approaching the Monastery Donkeys are used throughout Petra for the shopkeepers to transport their goods and also for tourists who can be convinced to hop on top. (Not us!!)The Monastery Looking back along the Colonnaded street from whence we had come.
As Adl led us out past the Treasury and through the Siq, we both knew it would be our last time here and we kept looking back for just one last look.
We shed a tear once again, this time likely seeing it for the last time.
Definitely a highlight of our trip to Jordan, Petra did not disappoint!
A final sunset overlooking the town of Wadi Musa – Petra.
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