How can I describe a day on which I took over 400 photos and do justice to the experience?
The guidebooks are right – Petra is indeed one of the wonders of the world. My clock alarm was set for 6 am this morning so we could catch the early rays of the sun on this magnificent site – an ancient city of the Nabataean people dating from the 3rd century BC comprising temples, tombs, palaces, storerooms, stables and a huge theatre, all hewn from the red sandstone cliffs of southern Jordan.
Petra was the capital city of the Nabataean people, and from here, they controlled the trading routes between Syria and Arabia, collecting taxes and protection money which were used to build and advance the city and its surrounding territory. In its heyday, the city showed evidence of advanced hydraulic engineering, metal smelting, and of course, stone carving.
Petra is one of those places where photos can only be an imperfect and pale reflection of the real thing because the scale of the city itself and its buildings are so large. The city is about 4 kilometres from end-to-end, although the first (eastern-most) 1.2 kilometres comprises a thin, high-sided canyon-like crevasse entranceway known as the Siq.
After the long walk through the Siq, much of which was spent admiring the wonderful colours in the rocks and the strange formations, the canyon opened out to reveal what many consider to be Petra’s finest building, the Treasury. Unfortunately, visitors can only peer into the Treasury as it is closed to access. Nonetheless, the huge scale of the structure (I am not sure whether a cave should really be called a ‘building’) and the beauty of the carving were breathtaking.
Following the advice in the Lonely Planet guidebook, Andrew and I then ascended a long and somewhat arduous set of flights of stairs cut into the rocks that led ultimately to the High Sacrifice Altar, a cliff-top location where animals were sacrificed by the Nabataeans. The High Sacrifice Altar offered superb views across the western half of Petra, revealing many tombs and other structures that were difficult to see at ground level.
Descending to the main city once again, we then proceeded to walk in the growing heat towards the west of the city, past the semi-circular amphitheatre carved into the cliffside, along a colonnaded avenue that was modified by straightening by the Romans to the end of the city, marked by a large temple and a cliff containing tens of tombs.
To leave Petra, we had to re-trace our steps, but this time we took a small diversion to climb up to what was perhaps Petra’s second finest set of structures, the Royal Tombs. Although not quite as finely carved as the Treasury, the Royal Tombs were even larger in scale, and having climbed to their entrance, we found that we were able to venture inside through several carved doorways. Once inside, the atmosphere was cool and exhilarating, made even more so by the spectacular colours on the rock faces.
We began our walk through Petra at about 7:30 am and finished at about 12:30 pm. We had kept a fairly steady pace, and it was hot, exhausting, dusty and tiring, but unbelievably stimulating and energising. Quite simply, Petra is one of the world’s great treasures.
We returned to our hotel and had much needed showers to remove the accumulated sweat and dust, and then began the drive to Amman at a little after 1 pm. The distance from Petra to Amman was about 290 kilometres, which we completed in about four and a half hours. Two reasons for the slow progress were the hundreds of speed humps that appear randomly and very frequently on Jordanian roads, even on expressways, and the fact that we made a stop for almost an hour at a town called Karak, which about half way between Petra and Amman.
The attraction of Karak was a huge hilltop castle built in the 12th century by the Crusaders. In addition to offering spectacular if extremely windy views of the surrounding countryside, the castle was fascinating to explore in its own right. We explored dark corridors, old horse stables, barracks, kitchens, chapels, subterranean rooms illuminated by tiny skylights, flights of stairs and strangely evocative structures. The castle was an excellent mid-point break in the drive.
We arrived at Amman Airport at a little after 6 pm. We had been told that a person would be in front of the departures area of the terminal to meet us and take the car, but as no-one was there, and the company (National Alamo) did not even have an office in the airport, we phoned to find out what was happening. They apologised and said they would send someone, which they did, but only after a wait of 50 minutes, during which we were reminded several by the police that this was a no parking area! It was quite disappointing service by the rental car company to say the least, but luckily it was the only hiccup in an otherwise excellent two days of using the little Citroën C3.
Our flight from Amman to Damascus was scheduled to leave at 9:45 pm, but was half an hour late. Fortunately the flight was a short one, just 30 minutes – much less time than it took to pass through immigration! It was a significant arrival for me – Syria is my 100th country to visit. Being late at night, we took a taxi for the 32 kilometre drive to our hotel in Damascus, arriving just before midnight.
Regrettably, the room we had booked was not available, so we were allocated to a different room for the first night only, with the promise to change for our second night. We were also told that it was too late to issue a password for internet access (!), and it would be better if we waited until tomorrow to get on to the internet. With no water (or any liquids) to drink, an air conditioner that could not produce any cool air, a bathroom with a ceiling so low that neither of us can stand up straight, and a bed (yes, one only for Andrew and I to share) that had a mattress that was so soft that it offered less support than an empty bean bag, our very long and tiring day had a less than stunning finish.
But it didn’t matter - our memories of Petra were more than enough to overshadow any inconvenience. Hopefully the happy memories will also help us get a very much needed good sleep tonight - we need it after a very long but deeply satisfying day.
