On Wednesday, we were up early to arrive at the Petra entrance just after 7 am. It was alarming to see the number of buses in the parking lot already (it was high-season), but we later found that these were parked there overnight as there probably isn't anywhere near the hotels to park them.
The day started out cool and overcast, but the threatened rain didn't appear and the day became clear and mild with blue skies.
You walk into Petra along an open track for about 700m. You then enter the Siq, a 1.2 Km natural narrow gorge in rocks that are about 80m high. The track winds and is from 10m to 2m wide. There are various carvings in the rocks as you go.
You know it is coming, but the first view of the Treasury as you come to the end of the Siq is breath-taking. The Treasury is a tomb and is well-known from its use in the Indiana Jones movie. It is amazing. It is huge - 30m wide and 43m high and was carved from the solid sandstone rockface in the 1st century BC. It is elaborately carved and has not suffered unduly from erosion over time, In fact, the most damage was by Bedouin tribesmen using it for target practice - this harmed some of the statues on the facade. Inside is simply one large room - this was a tomb.
Most of what remains in Petra are the tombs. Petra was an important city (the Nabataean capital and later a Roman colony) made wealthy through it's position on the caravan trade routes (particularly for frankincense). In time, trades routes changed and the demise of pagan religions lessened the demand for frankincense, which meant that Petra fell into ruins. Most of it's free-standing buildings were destroyed by an earthquake in 747 AD, with only the tombs remaining. Petra was re-discovered in 1812.
There are many tombs, of varying sizes. While numbers of tombs were grander than the Treasury, these are mostly much more affected by erosion and so in a much less complete state. We had the time to look at many of these tombs.
We hiked to a tomb called the Monastery, which is set up a flight of 800 steps cut into the rock. The views on the way up are marvellous and then you come to the only tomb that can rival the Treasury. The Monastery is huge and awesome - it is less embellished than the Treasury but its size and location are fantastic.
Arriving at 7am gave us one great advantage. We saw Petra without the crowds - because it does become very crowded indeed. When we first saw the Treasury, we were the only ones there. Similarly, we saw the Monastery without crowds. By contrast, the front of the Treasury was a milling crowd of tourists when we left at 3pm.
Petra is simply fantastic. The entrance through the Siq and then the tombs (particularly the Treasury and the Monastery) are breathtaking in their scale and drama.
We drove on from Petra to our overnight camp at Wadi Rum
The day started out cool and overcast, but the threatened rain didn't appear and the day became clear and mild with blue skies.
You walk into Petra along an open track for about 700m. You then enter the Siq, a 1.2 Km natural narrow gorge in rocks that are about 80m high. The track winds and is from 10m to 2m wide. There are various carvings in the rocks as you go.
You know it is coming, but the first view of the Treasury as you come to the end of the Siq is breath-taking. The Treasury is a tomb and is well-known from its use in the Indiana Jones movie. It is amazing. It is huge - 30m wide and 43m high and was carved from the solid sandstone rockface in the 1st century BC. It is elaborately carved and has not suffered unduly from erosion over time, In fact, the most damage was by Bedouin tribesmen using it for target practice - this harmed some of the statues on the facade. Inside is simply one large room - this was a tomb.
Most of what remains in Petra are the tombs. Petra was an important city (the Nabataean capital and later a Roman colony) made wealthy through it's position on the caravan trade routes (particularly for frankincense). In time, trades routes changed and the demise of pagan religions lessened the demand for frankincense, which meant that Petra fell into ruins. Most of it's free-standing buildings were destroyed by an earthquake in 747 AD, with only the tombs remaining. Petra was re-discovered in 1812.
There are many tombs, of varying sizes. While numbers of tombs were grander than the Treasury, these are mostly much more affected by erosion and so in a much less complete state. We had the time to look at many of these tombs.
We hiked to a tomb called the Monastery, which is set up a flight of 800 steps cut into the rock. The views on the way up are marvellous and then you come to the only tomb that can rival the Treasury. The Monastery is huge and awesome - it is less embellished than the Treasury but its size and location are fantastic.
Arriving at 7am gave us one great advantage. We saw Petra without the crowds - because it does become very crowded indeed. When we first saw the Treasury, we were the only ones there. Similarly, we saw the Monastery without crowds. By contrast, the front of the Treasury was a milling crowd of tourists when we left at 3pm.
Petra is simply fantastic. The entrance through the Siq and then the tombs (particularly the Treasury and the Monastery) are breathtaking in their scale and drama.
We drove on from Petra to our overnight camp at Wadi Rum
1 comment:
Hi Mick,
Great to see that you are having a wonderful time... we got your postcard and the link to the Blog.
I am really enjoying the updates, Petra must have been an amazing experience...
Vivek
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