Day 12: Petra

The reason why the tour guide took us to see Petra from the top first is because today is the beginning of the holiest month in Islam: Ramadan. If you don't know, Ramadan is a month of fasting and prayers. Muslims would eat breakfast at around 3 am, which is before sunrise, and then would not eat or drink anything until sunset, which is around 8 pm. At sunset, they would eat a large meal and a lot of times, go shopping. So, our tour guide, who's a Jordanian Muslim, went to the more difficult course first, and today, he's doing the "easy" course.

The day starts with going through the long curvy path, called the Siq, early in the morning (to avoid tourists) and we then get to see the Treasury as a group. The Siq is quite magnificent in and of itself. It is a natural opening in the hills with Roman paved road.

The Siq

The Siq leads to the Treasury. The building was magnificently carved out of the mountain, with its reddish hue perfectly reflecting the early light. According to Wikipedia, the building could be as old as 312 BC! The building is in extraordinary condition, with only a minor restoration done on the two front pillars. One of the reason for its great condition is because Petra was not rediscovered until the 1800’s when a Swiss man stumbled upon this site.

The Treasury

Petra was a town that flourished by being a center of commerce. There were camel caravans passing through Petra, carrying spices, perfume, and stuff to and from far away places. The place declined during Roman rule because the Romans decided to focus on trading by sea.

We continue walking down Petra to see its magnificent tombs. Much like the Egyptians, the ancient people of Petra (I believe they’re called the Nabataean but not sure if the tombs are all Nabataean) believed in building magnificent tombs to help aid the journey to the afterlife.

Path to see the tombs

These tombs are for moderately important people

A theater

These are temples (I think)

This is the King's tomb.

King's Tomb

 The location of the King's tomb is georgeous. As you can see, the rocks here are a blend of many different colors.

Interior of the King's Tomb

You can see that its walls are neatly and diagonally carved . Unfortunately, the King's tomb is empty. There used to be treasures surrounding a tomb but they were all sold by the Bedouins. Unlike the Pyramids, these tombs are just one big empty room without any traps or anything fancy.

After seeing the King's Tomb, the tour guide took us to a restaurant for a buffet, but no one ate because it was only noon and everyone had breakfast at 8:30 am. From here, the tour guide said that the tour of Petra has ended but we can, and should, go up to see the Monastery. The Monastery, however, as he futilely warned, requires climbing up 800 steps. No one really knew how bad 800 steps was so we all split up and then went up without much food or preparation. I decided to go with my roommate, which wasn't a very smart choice because this guy is a mountain goat. He climbed 800 steps up without rest, water, panting, or any signs of fatigue, while I was chugging my water, gasping for air, and massaging my numb thigh and calf muscles. I was still fit enough to follow him though and the climb was nothing short of amazing (and torturous).

The start

The steps, if you can see, are caved out of the mountains.

Up, up and up

The flag is our destination!

The climb up took 40 minutes but I believe it was well worth it. The first thing you see is nothing, but a shop on a flat surface. However, once you walk a bit more, you'll see this huge and glorious structure - The Monastery.

The Monastery looks like The Treasury on steroids.

Side story: During group dinner, we (my roommate and I) get to see a photo of a crazy dude doing a handstand on top of the Monastery. This happened when we were walking down (because we got there so fast and the rest of the group just arrived). Would not have the courage to do this.

Some crazy guy did a handstand on top of the Monastery!!!!

Anyways, since we were so high up, there are three view viewpoints that we can see. We can't decide on which, because each viewpoint claims to be the best one. The three viewpoints are hilariously and unofficially called "The best view", "The better than the best view", and "The more than the best view". My favorite is "More than the best view" and  here is a video of "More than the best view":

More than the best view

Of course this picture does no justice. This picture was literally taken at the edge of the cliff and it was so high up that I didn't dare to look down.

Now here are some other pics of the area:

Huge cairn. I put a rock up there.

The dilemma

A view of the other views

So much humor up here!

Like yesterday, after this, we walked down and went for a dip in the pool, but then I realized that I couldn't swim because my muscles were cramping. I hadn't eat a lick since 8:30 but I was artificially full by drinking lots of water. So I just had a quick meal, and then I slept... almost missed dinner.