Travelogue Jordan 2011
Petra

Petra is probably the most important tourist attraction of Jordan. A town constructed two thousand years ago where huge temples and graves were not built but carved out of solid rock. I don’t want to write a full guide about Petra here, the most important information you can find on Wikipedia.

Here are some tips for a visit to Petra:

Try to be there early in the morning. You will enjoy Petra much more if you make it before the arrival of the busloads of tourist groups.

We spent there one and a half day and that was enough for us. Hobby archeologists should plan more time.

Our program as an example:

Day 1 (long): Siq, Khazne Faraun, Outer Siq, Cardo Maximus, Lunch, El Dedir, Byzantine Church, Kings’ Wall and back through the Siq.

Day 2 (short): Siq, Outer Siq, climbing up rock stairs to the Sacrifice Palace, then back down through the Wadi Farasa, leaving Petra through the Siq

Petra Souveniers - bottles with sand painting — Typical souvenir. The colors of the sand are all natural, made from the stones of the area. At many other places they will use dyed sand.

Petra - a police man in traditional uniform and the roman theater in the background — a police man in traditional uniform and the roman theater in the background

Petra - ascent to El Dedir — ascent to El Dedir

Petra - mosaics in the Byzantine church — mosaics in the Byzantine church

Petra - sun set — another sunset (Petra is a great place for that)

Petra - stairs to the High Place of Sacrifice — stairs to the High Place of Sacrifice

Petra - High Place of Sacrifice — The High Place of Sacrifice – it would not be worth climbing up just to see this places but the way back through Farasa is great (though I don’t have any photos to prove it).

Petra - A camel drinks from a water bottle. — It is funny to watch a camel drink from a bottle. After the water they gave a can of coke to the camel which got chewed like a chewing gum till there was not a bit of flavor left. If coke is good for the animal is a different question.

And then we really saw the Jordan king! He visited Petra the same day we were there to lay the foundation of the new visitor’s center. So the people of Wadi Musa were partying in the street, with flags and music, there was a lot of security and then he passed us standing in his car twice, once before laying the foundation and once after. But he went so quickly that we hardly saw anything.

Petra - motorcade of the Jordanian King Abdullah II — the Jordan King Abdullah II in the middle of the first car

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Travelogue Jordan 2011Petra

Travelogue Jordan 2011
Petra