Petra – I did it so you don’t have to!
The wake up call was at 4:30 this morning. It’s important to see Petra in the early morning light before the crowds descend. Bab El Siq is the gateway to the gorge. The monument pays homage to Greeks, Egyptians and Assyrians through the carved rock.
The walk through the gorge is magnificent. The Siq is a long, narrow serpentine fissure through sandstone rocks. The Siq path is framed by towering cliffs with colorful striations. Water channels were chiseled into both sides of the 1.2 km gorge. One side provided filtered water and the other side was used for crop irrigation.
Petra was the capital of the Nabatean kingdom. The Nabateans were wealthy due to their strategic location which facilitated the control of trade routes. Much of the archeological site is from the Nabatean period, 5th century BC to 1st century AD. Roman influences, including a colonnaded paved east west route and modifications to the carved amphitheater, were the result of the transition from Nabatean to Roman rule. The last Nabatean King, Rabell II, agreed to cede the city to Rome upon his death. Petra at this time, 106 AD, had a population of over 20,000.
Petra became an UNESCO site in 1985. In 2007, it was declared one of the Wonders of the modern world. I think Lucas and Spielberg helped a great deal. The final scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade showcases the Siq and one of the best preserved tombs, the Treasury. We trekked from the Treasury past the amphitheater to the temple ruins. The Temple, constructed of stone and wood, had sufficient flexibility to partially survive three major earthquakes.
Our group set off in different directions at this point. Caroline, Andrea and I decided to climb the 850 steps that led to the monastery. Steps is a misnomer. The path was irregular with several sections of sandy, sleek stones, dotted with ruts from the donkeys’ hooves. The elevation gain was 250m. Ascending the path, fighting for a foothold and avoiding both the downhill and uphill donkey traffic was perilous.
But we made it.
Going uphill when a path is sandy and steep is challenging, going downhill is paralyzing. So, we opted for donkeys. Fortunately, a fellow traveler is a retired Canadian Mountie. On Tuesday, he entertained me with tales of learning to ride and the differences between English and American riding styles. His pointers and the knowledge that very few people actually die while descending a steep slope on a donkey shored up my courage. Most importantly, I knew the donkey had a better sense of balance than I did.
The Monastery
After gracefully mounted the ass, it was a derrière numbing, Adrenalin rush down the hill. We, donkey and I, avoided tourists, banged up against rock walls and took some skids and missteps along the route. 20 minutes later, I was safely back to the Temple.
We walked the past the monuments, out through the Siq and past the vendors. Andrea’s fit bit was at 20,700 steps. Please remember, one step uphill is equal to one step on flat ground. When I factor our daily steps for degree of difficulty, I think we actually completed 147, 613 steps.
Tomorrow I’ll sleep in a bit and then it’s off for a night of “glamming” in Wadi Rum.
Denise
Epilogue – the trek might have been a bit easier had I packed reasonable hiking shoes