Jordan: Petra Day-1 and 2
Originally published at myblog-dipankar.blogspot.com on Nov 19, 2017.
To be honest, Jordan was not the first choice when we were planning our next trip. We were toying with the Philippines or Israel. When my wife was leaning towards Israel because she wanted to see the Dead Sea, the next thought was “Why not Jordan?” What clinched the deal for Jordan was this one video by Mark Wiens.
We soon booked our tickets and hotel in Petra. The hotel had a strange sounding name — “P Quattro Relax Hotel” — but was well rated in tripadvisor. One of my wife’s colleagues had been to Jordan before, and recommended Omran Brkavi and his taxi company. Omran is a well known tourist taxi operator in Jordan, and we booked him for our trip from Amman (the capital) to Petra, and then onwards to the Dead Sea in Sweimeh.
We flew Etihad from Bangalore to Abu-Dhabi, and then onwards to Amman. Both flights were comfortable, even in economy class. I was dressed in touristy shorts, and for a change, it was my wife was concerned about the amount of skin I was exposing. Sure enough, I was the only one in Amman airport with my knees exposed!
The next step was getting the visa-on-arrival. Jordan is one of the few countries where Indian tourists are allowed to get a visa-on-arrival. Having said that, we were in for some tense moments. We stood in line, and when we reached the counter, the immigration officer just frowned and could not figure out our passports. It didn’t help that he had a limited vocabulary of English, and neither of us spoke Arabic. He finally gave up, and asked us to go contact his supervisor, who was in the “office”. The said “office” was a small and dingy police room. A rotund uniformed officer sat behind the desk, and a slimmer junior officer sat in front. Both were casually smoking, and from the looks of the ashtray between them, one would have thought that the two were actively engaged in a smoking competition! Both were oblivious to the fact that the room had turned into a mini gas chamber.
The officer looked up, and I explained the situation to him. With a weary look, he held his palm up indicating that I should give him the passports. After thumbing through our passports, he shouts at another guy in Arabic. After a few minutes of conversation, he hands us back the passports, and tells us to go back to the same line we were in. Once we reach the counter, the immigration officer again does not know what to do with us. He asks me if I went to his supervisor, and I told him that his supervisor asked us to get back in line here! Then a few more minutes of confusion, but finally the immigration officer beside him manages to figure things out, and he starts the visa process. We are asked at least 4 times how long we intend to stay. Each time, we reply “1 week”. Immigration officer says, “OK, I give you 2 weeks visa”. Relived, I say “Shukran!”. Visa officer is happy to hear Arabic for “Thank you”, and stamps the visa and we are on our way, finally.
Omran, our taxi company guy had sent one of his drivers to take us from Amman to Petra. It was about a two-and-half hour drive, and we used the “desert highway”. Our driver Yousef was very cheerful, and gracious host. This highway is, as suggested by the name, quite barren, and not picturesque at all. We stopped mid-way for some coffee at a place called “New Jerusalem Rest House”.
We soon reached Wadi-Musa, the gateway to Petra. A bit about the history of Petra; the area was home to a tribe called “The Nabateans”. The Nabateans were nomadic initially, but later settled down and formed their capital of “Raqmu” in 100 BC. Raqmu was called “Petra” by the Greco-Roman world, due to the rock sculpted city-scape (petra means rock in Greek). The entire city had temples, buildings and amphitheaters, carved out of the sides of a rocky mountain. Petra was later annexed by the Romain empire, and continued to thrive until 300 AD. Wadi-Musa, the gateway to Petra, is Arabic for “Valley of Moses”, and is a small hilly town. There are numerous small hotels in the town, and some big names like Radisson and Movenpick just outside the main town.
We entered our hotel — the “P Quattaro Relax” — at around 3:30 PM. The place was small, but clean, and had good service. The room we had booked was upgraded to a larger suite, free of cost. The room was nice and comfortable, but the bathroom was not the best that we have experienced.
While checking in, the staff informed us that there was a “Petra by Night” event, where the path to the monuments in Petra were lit up with small lamps, and there is a Bedouin folk-music performance. The hotel also provided a drop and pick up from the venue, so we decided to purchase the tickets to this event. Having traveled by airplane and car for a good part of the day, both of us were tired, and needed to catch some shut eye, so we set an alarm for 6PM, and hit the sack. When the alarm rang, neither of us wanted to go out, but we did force ourselves out of the bed. We ordered room service for a hurried dinner of farmer’s omelettes with grilled veggies. The food took some time to reach, but eventually we had a good meal, and set out in the taxi for the Petra tourist complex.
As we started down the path to “Al-Khazneh” — The Treasury — which is the most famous monument in Petra, we were in for a visual treat. The entire path to Al-Khazneh was lit up, and it was a really unique experience to walk on the quiet path, lit only dimly by the lamps.
The path goes through a narrow gorge (which we later found was called the “Siq”), as we continued down the lamp-lit path. As we exited the gorge, the sight of a thousand lamps lighting the monument greeted us.
There was a Bedouin musician playing a flute, and walking around the seated tourists. As you can imagine, it was a haunting melody to hear on a dark night with lights of a hundred lamps, valiantly trying to battle the darkness. I could not help but name the Bedouin flutist the “Pied Piper of Petra”.
Once the musical performance was over, the Al-Khazneh was lit up with floodlights, to help us tourists take breath-taking shots of the monument!
This was one of the defining experiences of our travel in Jordan, and we were glad that we opted for this tour. We walked back to the Petra visitor entrance, where our taxi was waiting for us to take us back to the hotel.
The next day, after a good breakfast, we headed out to explore Petra again. The hotel provides a free shuttle to the Petra visitor center, so it is quite useful. We headed to the ticket counter, and it turned out to be quite a steep fare. We paid 55 Jordanian Dinars per head, for a 2 day pass, and an additional 50 JD for a guided tour. That amounted to a little north of 200 USD overall, so definitely not cheap.
The guided tour starts off along the same path to Al-Khazneh that we had followed the night before.
The trail from the visitor entrance to Al-Khazneh is a easy, but rocky path. We followed along, with our guide for the day — Mohammed. On the way, the first minor monuments one sees is the “Djinn blocks”. These are large rectangular blocks, which the Nabatheans used for their tombs and temples. The local Bedouins, who later discovered them, were convinced that only a Djinn could have moved such large blocks… hence the name.
A few steps from these blocks are more Nabathean tombs, of different sizes. The larger ones were probably for aristocrats while the smaller were for the common folk. The largest of these is the “Obelisk Tomb”, which is a three-tiered structure. The rock inscriptions state that the entire family of a Nabathean nobleman is probably buried there.
Further down, the trail first widens, into a large flat clearing, and then branches towards the left through a narrow canyon. This canyon is called the “Siq” in Arabic, and the entrance is called “Bab Al Siq”. We had already walked down this path last night, but had missed the dramatic gate, as it was dark.
The trail leads through the canyon, and you can see ancient Nabatean carvings, as well as water conduits all along the way. Further down, there are places where the canyon walls turn into a multi-color hue.
At one point there is a rock formation that looks a bit like a fish or whale.
A few steps further down, the canyon narrows down somewhat, and you get the first breathtaking glimpse of the Al-Khazneh.
As you walk through the last bit of The Siq, you enter a small clearing with the Al-Khazneh — the most popular monument in Petra — towering over you. The sunlight gives it an almost rose-gold hue, and the first impression on anyone is that of wonder and awe. In case the facade looks familiar, yes, this served as the location for the climax in “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”, where the Holy Grail was hidden and guarded by a thousand year old Templar Knight!
Al-Khazneh, means “The Treasury” in Arabic. Apparently, this is a misnomer, and this structure was most likely a temple dedicated to the memory of King Aretas IV (i.e it is a mausoleum). The Bedouin tribes who rediscovered Petra, later in the nineteenth century, thought that there was treasure hidden somewhere inside the temple, and hence it was named “Al-Khazeh”. Our guide Mohammed explained that the entire structure was carved out of the mountain, and you can still see the holes along the sides, where scaffolding was supported during construction.
There were carvings of Greek Goddesses Medusa and Venus in the niches between the pillars in the upper storey. There is an urn carved at the top center of the monument, and it was said to contain precious stones and gems. Sadly, due to this rumor of treasure, you can see bullet marks all over the urn.
Towards the right of Al-Khazneh, the trail leads on to the main city of Petra. As you cross the shoulder of the mountain on which the monument is carved, you come to a small market place selling souvenirs. Further on are the royal and commoner apartments, and the amphitheater.
Our guide suggested that we visit them at leisure, later in the day, and took us towards the so called “colonnaded street”. This street was built during the Roman rule in Petra, and probably served as the main bazaar. Only the bottom portion of the columns remain now.
At the end of the street, was a structure called the “Great Temple”. This was not so awe-inspiring, as it was a modest-sized, oblong structure. Maybe the reason is that very little of the structure remains above the plinth. The recent excavations (as recent as 1993) reveal that it must have been a grand temple, and (as the sign outside reads) “one of the major archaeological and architectural components of metropolitan Petra”.
At this point, our guide Mohammed ended the tour. He showed us the path to the next large monument — the “Al Dair” Monastery, which was a good 30 minute hike, and the Byzantine church.
The Monastery is the largest monument in Petra, so we headed there first. It’s a bit steep climb, but there are steps at places in the trail. For those who are too tired to climb, there are donkeys and mules to carry you.
We started up the steps, and it was indeed a long climb. As we ascended the hills, we could see views of the weather-beaten canyon.
Half-way up the top, there is a strategically placed tea shop, that sells a refreshing mint and lemon juice as well. We stopped here for a quick sip, and moved on to the monastery. After going uphill all the way, the last few steps of the trail narrows down into a short downhill stretch, which leads you right through the shoulder of the mountain where Al Deir is carved.
As you probably have notice, Al-Deir looks very much like Al-Khazneh, except that it is larger, and the decorative carvings of Medusa in the upper alcoves are missing. This monument is also incorrectly named . It was probably a temple, and maybe later as a Christian Chapel.
There are a group of small shops serving basic tea, coffee and sandwiches, just opposite the Monastery. As the hike up is difficult, many people rest here while admiring the view.
After spending a little while here, we headed down the same path, back towards the Great Temple. The return was less challenging, as it was downhill, but we were quite tired after the hike, and headed straight for lunch. We had a good buffet meal at “The Basin” restaurant. This is a popular upscale restaurant, and one of the few places you can get a beer in Petra.
There was also an excellent selection of Jordanian desserts at the buffet. It’s a pity we could not try all of them, as we still had a few places to visit, and didn’t want to bloat ourselves! After lunch, we headed to the “Temple of the Winged Lion”, which sounds grandiose, but is actually just ruins. We then headed to the Byzantine church, which has well-preserved mosaic floor tiles.
As the name suggests, this was a later Roman period church. We then explored the “Great Temple” structure a bit more, and realized that it was larger than just the oblong structure we had seen. We spent some time on the steps of the “Theatron”, wondering how life must have been in the 1st century BC.
While we sat at the Theatron, we wondered if it was like a parliament, or an entertainment center. Given it’s relatively small size, I was inclined to think it was more like an upper house of parliament for the Nabathaens.
We then walked back to Al-Khazneh, passing by souvenir shops, and camel owners, offering a quick ride back. We bought a few cheap souvenirs but opted to walk instead of the camel. As we reached Al-Khazneh, we were tempted to sit at the tea shop facing it. We ended the day sipping mint tea in front of the Al-Khazneh.
