Exploring Petra

Last updated on April 4, 2010

We left Wadi Rum on October 15th and headed off to Petra. We had a fun driver. At one point in the road, we appeared to be going downhill. The driver idled the car, with his foot of the brake to show us that we were actually on level ground. I was kind of too tired to really appreciate his enthusiasm but did manage to stir myself enough to appear suitably impressed.

We stayed at the Taybet Zaman in Petra. It is a large complex built in the Bedoin style. There is a hamam on site (that I unfortunately did not get a chance to experience), stores and a fantastic restaurant.

Our first night in Petra, we met up with a couple of friends who were also visiting from Sudan for dinner. We had the buffet dinner at Taybet Zaman. It was an extensive buffet with many delicious items. I just loved all the mezzes available. After dinner, we rushed off to a unique view of Petra through the Petra by night tour.

We all pretty much agreed that the Petra by night tour was overrated. The guides asked that people neither talk nor take pictures on the walk through the siq. There were enough people who did not respect the instructions that the mood was ruined. It’s still a pretty impressive place, even at night. Thousand of candles lend light to the siq. You get glimpses of majestic rock but it’s all kind of mysterious as you can’t tell exactly what the place looks like.

The next day, we woke up early to have breakfast before heading back to the old city of Petra to explore. It’s quite a walk to the siq. There are horses available to carry you on the tour. We chose to do it all on foot.

Once you get to the siq, it’s a bit of a hike (again) to get to the Treasury. The channel is quite impressive, with huge boulders fanning it on both sides.

It’s not known what the treasury was used for in ancient times. It is quite an imposing structure. I’d caught glimpses of it the night before during Petra by night but they hadn’t prepared me for the daytime view.

I enjoyed walking through the city of Petra, stopping often to admire the patterns created by the interplay of light and shadow on the rocks. I found all the variations of colors in the rocks quite fascinating and often stopped to take pictures.

We decided to take the most direct path to the Monastery before the sun got too hot, stopping along the way to take pictures of the highlights.

The climb was easier than I expected although I did have to stop a couple of times to catch my breath. The views along the way are breathtaking, postcards of nature’s best creations. The monastery itself is an imposing structure. Not being a history or architecture buff, I’m not sure that it was worth the climb. I did enjoy my expensive coffee and chocolate while sitting at the little “restaurant” beside the monastery.

On the way down from the monastery, I stopped often to take pictures of the exhilarating views.

From the monastery, we visited a few more sites.

One of my friends decided to climb the high place of sacrifice. I did not join her. I was ruined out. 😀 I decided that 6 hours in the city of Petra was enough and headed back to the hotel.

We rested at the hotel for a few hours before heading to the hamaam in town. The experience didn’t even register considering my hamaam experience in Turkey. After the hamaam, it was time to head for dinner. We had dinner at a local place. I had fish while my friends had a local specialty (kind of like biryani). We’d read in Lonely Planet that one should check out the cave bar so we headed there for drinks and dessert.

I was looking forward to dessert and a Turkish coffee. My turkish coffee was too gritty so I sent it back, and none of the desserts indicated on the menu were available. We decided to try another spot. After a couple of futile attempts to locate a place that served dessert, we headed back to our hotel, where they served fabulous apple pie.