All right, what can one say of Petra that hasn't been said already? We've all seen Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (though rarely does anyone mention Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger - I swear when I saw this as a kid, the Treasury Building, or Al-Kazzneh as it is known, (the most iconic image of Petra) featured quite prominently in a scene which featured Arabian types brandishing scimitars on horses. Must try and chase that one down.
A few pointers one must make about Petra (ha, now that I'm such an expert after two days!!). Firstly, you should know that Summer is not the ideal time to explore the place, for obvious reasons. Very few days venture below 38 degrees, so exploring this desert metropolis (sorry for the cliches, I'm trying, really) with the sun bearing down on you as it is - simply not pleasant, at least for yours truly. How the hordes do it at peak hour (ie between 11 and 3) is beyond me, but hey, not my problem.
Having said all that, it can be done with a minimum of solar discomfort. Firstly, the gates to the Petra site open at 6am. Can I strongly recommend taking advantage of this. Besides the fact that you won't have the heat to contend with, you also have less crowds, and less hawkers offering you horse/camel/donkey rides (oh Lordy, those poor animals), and in fact most of the stall holders will be yet to rise. Their stalls will usually be fully set up (an act of incredible generosity and bravery on their part, obviously), so you can browse without getting hassled.
Seriously, there were moments when I thought I had the whole of Petra to myself!! And believe me, by the time 9.30 comes around, you'll be starting to feel the heat, not to mention your limbs will be begging you to stop (there can in fact be a lot of climbing involved if you wish to investigate some of the tombs at the higher levels). It also means you can then get back to your hotel (preferably with pool) by 10am.
And speaking of hotels with pools, can I please take this opportunity to whore myself and pimp out the Petra Moon Hotel, where I'm staying. It's worth it for the roof top pool alone, particularly with that view (see previous post). It's not cheap, but for approx $US90 a night you get said pool, you're five minutes from the Petra site entrance, complimentary buffet breakfast, and the staff are super accommodating. WIFI is complimentary as well, but only available in the lobby, which is fine.
Petra's also one of those places you don't want to rush. Three nights should be plenty, and two days should give you plenty of time to do the main stretches of the site. 1 day pass is 50 JD, two is 55 - you do the math. Didn't quite have my act together on Day 1, it was 7.30am by the time I got there. Still, I managed to get enough done by 11 before it got too unbearable. Entrance to the site, through the As-Siq (that narrow gorge that links Petra to the outside world) up to the Treasury, takes about 25 minutes each way, so that's something you should consider.
Also worth noting is the fact that although the signs say the the site officially "closes", you can pretty much be there till the sunset, and then some. That pretty much you can be leaving the site between 7.30 and 8 in the evening, with some light still to spare, and for the afternoon/evening two and a half to three hours should be plenty. Having said that, its important to give yourself enough time to get from wherever you are back to the site entrance/exit. It can take a lot longer than you think, and can get darker a lot faster than you'd allow. On my first night I made the mistake of leaving it till about 7.30 before I started making a move back.
That actually turned out to be a lot scarier than I'd anticipated. Seems silly now thinking about it, but at the time I started freaking out a little as the dark began closing in. On my way back, I had my usual offers of donkey/horse, and even those in vehicles were offering me lifts. Their desperation (ok I might have imagined that, but it seemed real at the time) seem to reek of more than just trying to make a buck. And being exhausted and delirious wasn't helping. Bare in mind Petra is NOT lit up in any way (apart from the candlelight on Thursday nights), so by the time I'd hit the As-Siq, the dusk was well and truly setting in. And when you're hot, exhausted, and delirious, those gorges and the lack of light can play all sorts of tricks on your eyes.
I began envsioning that desperation in the locals' eyes as something akin to those warning Jonathan Harker before heading into Dracula's castle "Please mister, accept this life, the vampires will soon be coming out". That's right, I'm over forty and still getting freaked out by things that go bump (or even that, just simply move and shift) in the night. Then of course I started getting paranoid about being "locked in" for the evening, or in the very least having some border give me a going over about staying out late and being an inconvenience for the rest of them.
I could drag this on, but I'll spare you - I got to the exit just fine, and no one was there to abuse me. I even managed to make my to the Petra Palace for a well earned before heading back to mine, and finish watching 'Stealth' on the MBC Action channel. Magic.
Second day proved to be a little more civilized. Started at six with a walk along the main drag before hitting the Roman Theatre, before heading up climb amongst the Royal Tombs. Luckily I was doing this so early, it would have been exceptionally hard going doing it in the heat of the day. Did that till 8.45, headed back to Hotel, had breakfast, then swam and lay by the pool for a couple of hours. Come 5pm, was ready to head back for my final assault on the site, this time taking in the Byzantine Church, the Royal Palace, and the Temple of the Winged Lions (opposite the Great Temple, which had been my last port of call the night before, before enduring my delirious paranoia). Come 7pm, I was getting ready to leave.
After two days I was aching, sun-stricken, exhausted, and in need of more Petra Moon Hospitality via a a quiet beer at the Petra Palace. I stopped one more time at The Treasury, giving it the longest of gazes, and farewelled it, having accomplished a boyhood dream of laying eyes on the place where the Holy Grail was hidden (a la Last Crusade). Though having loved being here, Petra Fatigue can hit pretty quickly, but no matter, I'm sure if I visited again it will be just as awesome.
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