Rise and Shine at 6 in the morning. Only had a few hours of sleep because I slept extra during the day yesterday to recover from the travel or maybe it was just from being excited about what this day had to offer! I ordered breakfast the day before and the scedule to ride to Petra was planned between 7 and 8am. A golden note to myself: Stop being punctual, the world isn't what you're used to! Woke up at 6, completly washed, shaved and bag for the day packed. Walking down, the place it dead.. Ok, wait a bit more in the room, 7am time to run down again, still dead! I did found someone sleeping there, I had to wake him up! Breakfast in 10 minutes. This part was more punctual. After breakfast I started wondering about the ride. Waited till 8 and annoyed the guy again. He made a phonecall and 10 minutes later my ride was there, full speed to Petra (which is 4 minutes driving).
Entrance to Petra is 50 Dinar for a day, 55 for 2 days, easy choice.. I visited very early and Petra was as good as empty and I was smart enough to print a complete map and guide out from a travel agency. If you ever wanna visit, remember these 2 rules, go early print the map and info from a link I will provide later. Everyone knows Petra from the Treasury used in the Indiana Jones movies but what most people don't know is that this place is massive and full of ancient history. Perfect match for me. Wadi Musa, the place where I stay is translated: Valley of Moses. This should be the place where Moses ended up and was catched up with by the Pharao. So a religious historical place as well. When I entered I got a free ride offered on a donkey or a horse cart. I refused to use them as I know those animals get abused, I have seen this with my own eyes and if you confront them they are offended and curse towards you. Don't let this fool you, its full of people who want to sell you things but if you say no they stop annoying you, even if you have to say in a few times in some cases.
Now Petra... Just WAUW! I have been to a lot of wonderful, stunning places already but this one beats them all. I felt like I was born for this place. To get to the ancient city you have to walk thru a wonderful split in the mountain called The Siq, Its a magical walking experience, a walking way surrounded by high rocks, curving its way into mystery.. The feeling of butterflies in the stomach when I'm expecting to see the treasury after every corner is great and when I finally get to see it it beats everything I wished for, what a masterpiece! After enjoying the view I work my way further into Petra to get to the old city center passing some amazing tombs/tempels along the way. Before I enter the city center I noticed some steps, I guessed this was the way to see the treasury from above. Another wonderful way upto the stairs I notice I wasn't going to see the treasury from above but I made my way up to a place of sacrifice. A stunecut sacrifice table on the top of the rocks and what a view! Time to turn back but I found some other stairs leading to a walking way down. A long magical way down, all alone more then an hour. I really feel happy with every step I take, enjoying every single second. When I finally made it down I stumbled into a place full of tombs and one little house made out of rock with colors like a rainbow. Right in front of it I look up on a small Roman temple cut out of stone. Every corner I take I get rewarded with unforgettable views. One hour desert walking later I ended up in the middle of a massive Roman Temple with a small amphitheater. This keeps getting better and better. After exploring every corner of that temple it was time to take a little break and have an icecold cola, yet again this feels like heaven in these temperatures. I slowly started walking again following some small paths on the way to the ruins of a church and I spot a blue lizard, how awesome is this place and then I didn't even see the beauty of the inside of the church! Super detailed mosaic floors, this place has it all! By now I was already walking there for 6 hours and decided I needed to leave for food and rest. Its pretty hard to go back if you keep bumping into these amazing things everywhere around you. I walked thru the old city center, where every single cave house is a beauty to bump into a massive amphitheater cut into the rocks. I have seen a lot of those but never anything like this one. Perfect last view to end the day. At the entrance of Petra you have the Cave Bar. I enjoyed a great meal in a restaurant thats something between a cave and a temple with some nice music surrounded by waterpipes. Back in the hotel I sorted out some pictures and noticed hotmail blocked my account because of suspicious activities. GREAT! Since all my bookings, flight information, .. are all stored in a Worldtrip map there, just to be safe. Oh the irony in this.. haha. I decide not to stress and after a few hours of rest I went for the next adventure.
I went back to Petra for the magical event Petra by Night. I was one hour early so I went again to the Cave Bar and enjoy a tea. 10 minutes before starting time I went to the entrance to find myself there as the first person. How lucky can I be! Petra by Night means they put a million candles all the way along the Siq to the treasury. Since I was first I walked first towards it as well. Imagine walking there thru a canyon of darkness following an endless road of candles with candle light against the colorful rocks. And if I look up I can see a the stars thru the gaps of the canyon. The only annoying part is that behind me were 100s of people walking and one super loud spanish family, who was asked 3 times to shut up but kept talking and ruining the magic for everyone else. Anyway the spectacular glimps in the distance of the light of a lot of candles in front of the treasury makes you forget that in an instance. Since I was first I get the first and best place in front and get offered some bedouin tea to enjoy 2 bedouin songs played on instruments. To be honest the show isn't that impressive but the view is worth every sincle cent. After one hour enjoying the view I was one of the first to leave, which means I could walk all alone thru the Siq following a candle trail in darkness. Just awesome that feeling of being there all alone, complete silence except the sounding echo of your footsteps. I end up in bed with a massive smile, I made memories that will last forever!
The next morning went smooth, had breakfast, drove to Petra, walking the Siq again. Its the 5th time by now and I still get impressed with every step. Since I went early I was almost alone again. After exploring some tombs and a beautiful temple I followed a path with once again a million stairs. Just me and some girl walking there. She beats me on the way up, I am impressed. At the top there are unclear and unofficial signs of the way to the view on top of the treasury. Me and the girl combined forces and went climbing on top of the hills. Guess what, we got lost and didn't even get close to the view but we got 2 hous of adventure and probably a very unique picture that noone had before. On our way back which was a misson on itself we got a glims on the real path to the view. Halfway there donkey started following me, funny. Finally made it to THE view. Guess what, some bedouin looking like a pirate was living there in a tent. Me and the girl decided to sit there and have some talks for half an hour. After this she had to leave and I went back to exploring Petra. We never exchanged names. Just a wonderful few hours with a stranger I'll never see again. Just perfect. I decided to go the monastery, this means climbing up to the mountains and I can assure you I felt like I died 3 times already on the last few hours. This climb is long and hard but the view at every step is worth it. I'm thinking it might be damn hard to do this climb but imagine how hard it was for the people to make this path of stairs cut out of rock. All the way to the top I get to see the monastery. Just wauw.. the beauty and size of this thing. Luckily they made a bar next to it as well. I did drink 3 liters of water by now and didn't use the toilet once, just ordering another 1,5 liter of water. This might give you an idea of how it feels here. After relaxing and charing my body up again I follow another path to "The end of the world". This are 2 viewpoints where you can actually notice how high you are. I could see the border of Israël in the distance. I can't describe the views, the same goes for anything in Petra anyway, its something you have to experience. Its a combination of montains, canyons and.. the end of the world as they said. By the time I reached the bottom again I was already there for 7 hours and decided to end the day. I needed some food, do some handwash, sort my hotmail problem out,.. After another meal in the Cave Bar my driver on the way to the hotel offered me to go to Little Petra to see the sunset with a campfire and tea but I didn't have the energy left. I didn't see Petra completly and I missed this chance of experiencing Little Petra but that leaves the option of coming back someday. After the handwash, shower and food I fell into a deep long sleep. I close down the Petra chapter with a very happy feeling. This is a place that everyone should visit in his lifetime.Up to the next adventure!
Pictures at: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153729663708191.1073741901.697493190&type=1&l=1e04644754
