The Rose Red City

Yes today was Petra. Well since I am a day or so behind it's not strictly true but let's go with the illusion shall we! :)

We had an early breakfast so that we could maximize our time in Petra. First breakfast in Jordan was decent. Nothing to write home about (tee hee) but definitely not to be missed. And as a bonus there was coffee on the house. One thing I forgot to mention in the previous post was that I ordered a Turkish coffee after dinner the night before. This cost two dollars. The morning coffee was free. One thing to remember about Turkish coffee is that it is strong, there is not much of it (comes in an expresso cup) and do not stir it. The grounds are still in the cup so you need to let it settle and have short sips.

Now our hotel is literally walking distance to the entrance to Petra and to prove that we walked into Petra from the hotel. Before we started walking I got a 1.5 liter bottle of water for one dollar. And in we went. When we entered the main road (this is before you hit the Siq) we made a stop in the shade for a short lecture on Petra. The Nsbateans being the most well known residents. One thing that stood out to me was that the single hump camels actually originated from China. Now who in their right mind would associate camels with China. But there it is.

After that we continued walking and reached the Siq. I didn't take quite as many pictures this time as it is a bit of the same old same old. Interesting walk none the less. We were given short lectures at each idol in the Siq. We also learnt that there was one Nabatean queen who was much loved by the people. She became queen because her husband died and the son was too young to assume the throne. She was later deified and there is a shrine to her in the Siq. In the Siq I also learned that our guide was the same guide we had on
my last visit to Petra. He says he remembers me. I don't remember him but such is life :) I doubt I will forget this time! :)

I tried to stay up front with the guide as I knew what was coming. At this point we were very close to the Treasury. One of the ladies in the group comes up and asked how far we are. Jambra our guide says "Half way" He then ammends his statement and says "Maybe a little more than half way" I say "just a tiny bit more" He looks at me and puts his finger to his lips and tells me not to say anything. This is when he tells me that he remembers me from before. He has an interesting way of making the first look at the Treasury memorable. He distracts the group by getting them to look here there and everywhere except down the Siq. Finally he points down the Siq and everybody goes wow! :) Very clever. Except I didn't fall for it either time I was there. We come out of the Siq and see this


Quite the site no matter how many times you see it. From there we moved along and checked out the other tombs. This time we went a lot further and saw the theater and the royal tombs which are at the end of the main wall. We had lunch at the main lunch stop in Petra. One funny incident that happened just before was when we had stopped to rest while some of our group were checking out the stall of a woman who had married a bedoiun and lived there. She had written a book about it and everything. So there we sit and a guy comes up to us wanting to sell us stuff. We decline and he walks away saying, "No problem. You don't want to buy, you don't have to. This is Jordan not Egypt!" At which I cracked up laughing. Having some experience with Egyptian Arabs and their "persistence" I found that comment hilarious :)

So we eat lunch. I get some of the overflow as I did not order a lunch box. At $9 it was a bit pricey. After lunch we could decide what we wanted to do. There was the sacrificial high places, the monastery or one of the closer places to visit or just walk back to the hotel. I chose to visit a ruined church with mosaic floors. Don't know why they would have bare breasted women in a church floor but there you have it. Then it was the long trek back to the hotel. Boy was I tired! Eventually made it back to the hotel. Wanted to go for a swim in the pool but was too tired so I lay on the bed till just before dinner time.

Had a decent supper which included a local Petra beer. From there straight to bed and prepare for the next day.

-- Post From My iPhone