Petra—the Rose Red Desert City
O
ur first stop after the Suez Canal was the ancient port of Aqaba, Jordan’s only access to the sea. For us, it was the jumping off point to for another destination
on our bucket list - the ancient ruins of Petra about three hours away from the port. We hired Petra Nights Tours company to transport eight of us from the Journey to Petra and back. It’s a full-day’s trip through spectacular desert landscapes populated today as for thousands of years by nomad Bedouins. Having an experienced driver and guide are essential for Petra. Our guide excelled at bringing stark landscape of Jordan and the history of the Petra ruins to life. Nothing prepares you for Petra’s exotic beauty, grandeur and dramatic history. The long departed Nabataeans, an Arab tribe, created one of the greatest wonders on earth when it carved these giant red mountains into a now 2,000-year-old complex of mausoleums. You feel like Indiana Jones discovering the lost tomb as you emerge from the Siq, a giant 360 foot-high narrow red gorge, and get your first glimpse Petra’s jewel, the towering carved masterpiece called the Treasury. We walked this city of the dead, awestruck, as we took in more than 500 tombs carved into the rock -- each made to look like facade of buildings of the great civilizations. It was truly awe-inspiring. It’s also exhausting. There’s a lot of walking just to see the main ruins and Petra’s Roman-style coliseum. To see it all would take at least four days and require climbs up steep paths. The sun is intense as well, so carry water and wear sunscreen and good walking shoes. Most of us walked the mostly shady downhill path to the ruins rather than ride a horse down, an option included with our Petra entrance ticket. Horse drawn buggies down and back also are an option for folks with mobility problems. The buggy drivers obviously didn’t go to buggy driving safety school -- it looked to me that both the tourists walking the narrow road in the Siq and the white-knuckled passengers were in peril as the buggies raced recklessly through the gorge. I decided instead to take advantage of the no-thrills horse ride for the long uphill road to the entrance of Petra . Thankfully there are shops and cafes at the entrance to the Siq. Hot and thirsty, we clambered into one for a round of beers. The bill was a shock, but complaints vanished as the cold brews vanquished the heat and washed the red dust out of our throats. What lingered then and now are visions of this remarkable place.
24
WDT MAGAZINE WINTER 2016
At Petra, came stone gorges an make up one of