Petra – where camels are touted as ‘air-conditioned taxis’, donkeys finally get the credit they’re due as ‘Ferraris’, ‘happy hour’ prices and ‘buy one get one free’ rides come into play at a moment’s notice, and horse rides to the Siq are included in your ticket price. ‘No, really! It’s free! You just pay tip’.
This was allegedly Jordan’s ‘tout capital’, but in comparison to Egypt, Petra proved a breeze, with welcoming smiles, cocky-but-friendly peddlers, and cheeky kids selling postcards on their days off school.
Being among the first to wander through the Siq – Petra’s extraordinary natural gateway – early on our first morning was, apart from feeling very Indiana Jones, one of the highlights of our travels so far. The weather was changeable and cold, but the unmatched ambience more than made up for the weather as we squeezed our way along the narrow, 1.2-kilometre sandstone passageway.
Just before we reached the end of the Siq, we caught our first glimpse of Petra’s most famous monument: the exquisite Treasury, a 43-metre high Nabataean king’s tomb carved straight into the rockface sometime between 100BC and 200AD.
Our Lonely Planet guide had warned us this is the spot most people fall in love with Petra and standing there, just the two of us and a pair of blasé camels, we did.
It marked the start of a two-day affair in fact – exploring, hiking, scrambling and catching our breath on the ancient city’s many paths.
Once we’d recovered from the majesty of the Treasury, we high-tailed it a couple of kilometres to the far end of the site and up a very worn flight of 800 steps to the superb third century BC Monastery (actually another royal tomb).
Again, we were rewarded for our early start with being the only people there (apart from a Bedouin kid who had tried earlier to get us to help him pull his very reluctant donkey up the steps, and two adorable, flea-ridden puppies). We settled in with a Turkish coffee and took in the view of one of Petra’s most impressive monuments which, while not as ornate as the Treasury, is strikingly huge and set imposingly high up with a dramatic backdrop of mountains and valleys.
Petra was established around 312BC by the Nabataeans, a nomadic Arab people with some serious stonemasonry skills, leaving a legacy of rock-cut tombs, theatres and water management systems scattered across the valley and its mountain slopes. The city was absorbed into the Roman Empire early in the 2nd century AD and slowly declined through the Byzantine period. Today, it’s deservedly a World Heritage site.
There’s so much to this ancient city, you could spend a lifetime exploring. Some of the real highlights for us though – in addition to the Treasury and Monastery – were the amazing High Place of Sacrifice, overlooking the city; the ruined but very cool eagle-eyrie crusader fort; and the huge, pink-hued rock-cut theatre.
While the Treasury is Petra’s poster child, the city actually has more tombs and temples than you can poke a chisel at, including a number of impressive royal tombs cut straight into a huge cliff face (we found a group of young local guys and girls performing a dance inside the massive Urn Tomb).
The vast site also has Roman roads, colonnaded streets, impressive temples, and many excellent walks that take in both the architecture and the stunning mountain-and-wadi setting.
Another hands-down highlight of our visit was Petra by Night, a candlelit walk through the Siq to the Treasury forecourt, where a Bedouin pipe player fills the night with music and visitors sip tea as shadows flicker on the Treasury’s great facade. It was magic.
By the end of the affair, we’d scoured a good part of this extraordinary ancient city and climbed what felt like fifteen thousand steps. We didn’t find the Holy Grail, but there’s certainly a whole lot more to this place than Indy would have you believe.
Good to know
Getting there: Petra is near to the town of Wadi Musa, a good base if you’re planning on giving over a couple of days to this epic site. If you can, do, it’s worth it. The site can be visited as a day trip too – it’s 3-4 hours from Amman, depending on the route, and nearly 2 hours from Aqaba.
Stay: There are plenty of accommodation options in and around Petra, and we opted for the Amra Palace Hotel, which we felt offered a good balance between price and comfort. Read John’s review of our stay here.
Tip: Avoid the heat and the masses and get to Petra early. Really early. Opening time early (usually 6am). Having the Siq and sites like the Monastery to yourself is an experience like no other. Late afternoon is also great, the light on the rose-coloured stone is beautiful.
Tip: Tip: If you do Petra by Night, try and hang at the back of the group in the Siq…once it quietens down, you’ll truly appreciate the ambience of this unique candle-lit walk.