Jordan Part II - Petra

To say that nothing prepares you for Petra would be to lie....

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade prepares you for Petra.

Go back to the very first time you watched the movie (and don't even attempt to tell me you've never watched Indiana Jones)...... remember that thrilling moment when Indy, his Dad, Marcus and Sallah go off in to the dessert in search of the lost city of Alexandreta after saving Indy's dad from the nazis?..... Their horses suddenly slow down to walking pace as they enter a narrow rock canyon.... can you remember how your heart starts to beat faster as the pace slows down and you see Indy and the guys slowly start to raise their heads?......  Remember how your jaw drops and your eyes widen to take in the magnificent silhouette of the building that slowly begins to materialize between the rock walls as they advance?...... Remember how when Indy and the guys finally reach the clearing and stare up you can't help feeling as if you are there, sharing with the them that incredible moment, asking yourself if they (and you) are not perhaps in front of what is possibly the most amazing, magnificent and unique creation on this planet?..... For a fleeting moment you forget all about the Holy Grail and are almost certain that you have reached the Treasure itself - that you are standing right there in front of it.

Holy Grail? What holy grail?

That's exactly how you feel walking up to the appropriately named Treasury building when you reach Petra.

Hubby and I got to the little town of Petra in the early afternoon hours and immediately went into the entrance to the protected national park where the ruins are in. By the time we were walking the dessert corridor that leads up to the Siq, most of the tourists were leaving the park after having spent all day there. Score!

When we reached the Siq we immediately felt like were Indy and the gang. You begin to walk along the very narrow rock canyon that is the guarded entrance to the lost of city of Petra. Along the way you see carvings in the rock, handmade rock water pipes that used to carry water into the city and even a huge life size wall carving of a camel caravan making its way through the dessert.

Just when you think it's never gonna end you turn a bend and see a slit in the rocks ahead and you have to do a double blink because somehow it doesn't look right.

But it's right enough, you hurry up and run into the clearing and bang! there it is. The Al Kaszneh, also known as The Treasury building. It is so impressive and captivating it's only the ache in your neck that alerts you to the fact that you've been staring up at it for a long while.

Nobody really knows why it's called the Treasury in the first place. It seems to have been built as a tomb for some really important dude back in the Nabatean ere. I can't even imagine how important he must have been to have one of the World Seven Wonders built in his honor.

On the other hand, when you peek inside the inner room is just one big empty dark cave. Not too glam if you ask me.

But the Treasury is just the beginning. Over the course of the next two days, we visited Petra Inside and Out, Up and Down and All Around.

Inside because as you walk around the ancient city the Nabateans built, you start to realize that most of their city was carved directly into the rock mountains, so visiting their temples and monuments literally means going rock-cave-hopping.

Outside it gets even better. The Treasury is not the only amazing carved building in the park. Entire outside walls of the rock mountains were carved and made into majestic facades and decorative entrances. Most of these were tombs too - what was the deal with their obsession with making the afterlife so luxurious?

Going Up the mountains it gets even more impressive. Hubby and I decided to climb the 800+ steps up the Jabal Al-Deir in order to visit the impressive Monastery. Even though we set out first thing in the morning to avoid the glaring sun and the hoards of tourists, we were still bordering with exhaustion by the time we made it to the top an hour later. Still, the view was magnificent, amplified by the fact that we were practically alone.

As if that wasn't enough, we then proceeded to climbing up the Jabal Al-Madbah to visit the Sacrifice Palace. Thinking it would probably be easier than the Al-Deir (it wasn't) and faster to climb (it wasn't) we made it to the top around early afternoon. Despite being literally liquefied by the glaring sun, the view I have to admit was indeed amazing.

Coming Down from these mountains gave us the immense sense that these places must have been incredibly sacred for the Nabateans to have gone through all the trouble of going all the way up there to build such impressive structures, only to have to repeat the physically exhausting experience each time that they then wanted to go up and use said buildings.

Walking All Around Petra, was indeed an uninterrupted pleasure. Yes it was hot and the sun glared down on you unmercifully at all times and yes, you felt to an extent that this was a tourist spot by the looks of all the cheap souvenir stands that the Bedouin people have set up all over the place. But the truth is that the site does something to you. The magnificence, the reclusiveness, the sheer size and power, the beauty of its colors as the sun rises and sets throughout the day....

To an extent, I am glad the Rose City of Petra is no longer lost.

Fned.