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
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.