Jordan Day 5: Petra, main entrance

We have breakfast in a completely empty hotel restaurant and walk to the entrance of Petra. Nobody on the streets, only some shop owners. At the entrance we walk straight to the ticket office to get our ticket with our Jordan pass. No waiting line. We drink a cappuccino (the most expensive ever) and start our walk into Petra through the southern entrance.
The city of Petra was established as a trading post by the Nabateans, an Arab Bedouin tribe indigenous to the region. The city dates back to the fourth century B.C. The Romans invaded Petra in 106 A.D., and ultimately forced the Nabateans to surrender. The Roman Empire continued to rule over the city until an earthquake destroyed many of its buildings. The Byzantines eventually took control of the region. By the beginning of the eighth century A.D., Petra was largely abandoned.
Petra was named an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985. In the early 2000s, the site was named one of the “Seven New Wonders of the World,” leading to a spike in tourism. That is precisely why an empty Petra is such an exceptional situation.
We follow the main road. We pass the donkeys and horses. Of course we are offered a ride, but we are not pushed. Then the path enters the Siq. It’s the part of the main road with high rocks on both sides. It’s very impressive, the rocks have many colors and sometimes it looks like they touch. After about 1500 m the Treasury monument appears between the high rocks… what a view !!! The Treasury building is absolutely spectacular. I have seen so many pictures of it though, that it is not such a surprise anymore. And the expectations were so high, how could they ever be exceeded?
We continue a little along the main road, until we find the stairs of the High Place of Sacrifice trail. It’s a huge climb to a place on top of the rocks. The views are spectacular. The sacrifice place itself consists of a small plateau where animals were killed as an offer. It has a small groove where the blood seemed to flow through… brrr…
We drink a cup of tea with a group of Bedouin women (yes, at Petra are women!!!) and we continue the trail that supposedly is a former procession route. I try to visualize a row of Nabataean priests striding over the colored rocks, down the long stairs to one of the amazing buildings down in the valley… a typical Indiana Jones type of environment…the fact we meet no more than about 25 tourists the whole day, certainly makes the experience even more special.
Before we start our descent a Bedouin woman show us a nice viewpoint. She has a small shop on top of the rock. We give her a small tip. The descent itself is a little scary since I don’t like heights, but absolutely worth it. When we arrive at the bottom we have the lunch we brought and give our feet some rest…
We follow the path to the main tempel of Petra, Qasr Al-Bint. Along the path I can see caves everywhere. They are currently used by the shepherds to gather their cattle in. It looks like some caves are used to live in too… very impressive. After the tempel we start our way back on the main road.
The last main monument we visit for the first time is the Theatre. Here too, I try to imagine how it would have looked filled with spectators… amazing. Tomorrow we will enter Petra from the back trail and visit the Royal tombs. We exit now by following the main trail and passing the Treasury again and the Siq. We have walked 12 km including all the climbing and our feet are killing us.
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