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March 31, 2005

Petra

Took a mini-bus from Amman to Petra (Wadi musa) it takes about 3 hours to reach Wadi Musa. On previous day had received recommendation for CleoPetra Hotel in Wadi musa. It certainly is a nice place for 9JD, including breakfast and free drop-off & pickup from Petra entrance.

Since I arrived in Wadi Musa around 12.30, there was no point in visiting actual Petra site. The guy at CleoPetra hostel offered to take me and yet another couple from France traveling the world while collecting unemployment check to Little Petra. Little Petra is okay place if you just want to kill some time while in Wadi Musa, not something to visit if you are short of time.


Petra itself opens at 7.00AM, I started the day around 8.30AM. The 1.2Km walk through the Siq is very nice, you can still some of the clay pipes used to channel the water. The colors you see in the Canyon are impressive.













Reading all guide books you excpet the view of the treasury to be impressive. But no amount of words or pictures can describe this place. What is more impressive all of this is carved out of stone.













You can probably spend 1/2 hour here, early in the morning there are lot of people but in the evening after 4.30/5.00PM there are very few people around.


After visiting the treasury checked out many tombs, and visited the amazing Theater, its a classical theater as you would see in greece but again carved out of the rock. If you hike up to the sacred hall you get very nice view of this theater. The trail to the Sacred Hall starts few meters from the Palace Tomb.













After a long hike to the sacred Hall I visited some of the remote tombs. In the afternoon headed towards the trail leading upto the Monastery. Just at the start of the trail there is a nice place where you can have lunch for JD8. Has good BBQ going outside, it also serves beer. Anyway hike upto the monastery is easy, took about 30 min. The monastary itself is "similar" to the treasury but much taller.













Since I had walked from 8.00AM to about 4.00PM I decided to chill there for about an hour and watch the sunset from there. There is small coffee shop right infront of the monastary. The views from the top are fantastic. It is certainly worth climbing up. Right after sunset it got cold really fast and its a long walk back from the monastery to the entrance gate, takes about an 1Hr. On the way back stopped at Petra Palace Hotel for few well earned beers. In Petra(Wadi Musa) there are not many places that sell beer/wine etc. so if you are in Petra and want some beer head out to Petra Palace Hotel.


Next day started the day around 9.00AM. Visited the Roman soldier's tomb, high place of sacrifice etc. again its a long hike up with nice view. If you do hike upto Roman soldier's tomb, do checkout the dining hall right opposite it. It looks amazing.











After climbing down visited the great temple, Byzantine church. The church has some interesting mosaics.













You can visit Petra in 1 day but give it at least 2 days to fully explore this place. Next day chilled out in the hostel, uploaded my photos etc. In the afternoon paid 10JD to guy in the hostel and took a quick ride to town of Shobak to see the Shobak Castel.












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The castel itself is okay, but again you get some nice views from the top.












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Following morning took a mini-bus to Aqaba for some diving.

Posted by Subodh on March 31, 2005 03:53 PM
Category: Jordan
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