Stacey’s Mini-Extravaganza to the Middle East

The Monastery

On Day 2 in Petra I got up bright and early to miss the massive tour groups and even though I didn’t begin my climb to the Monastery until 9 am I was one of only about five people at the top which was fantastic.  At the bottom of the hill the local Bedouins will try to rent you an “air-conditioned taxi” (or a donkey to the rest of us) saying that the donkey will get you there in 20 minutes and walking is 1 hour.  I suspect that’s a bit of salesmanship on their part as it only took me 25 minutes to walk to the top.  Admittedly it’s about 900 steps and straight up the mountain but it wasn’t too bad as Petra isn’t nearly as hot as Egypt is in May.

 An air-conditioned taxi

Views on the hike up to the Monastery

 Close-up of the Monastery

 The urn on top of the Monastery

 More close-ups of the Monastery: the doorway is about 2 stories high

 And again…

After finally reaching the top, the Monastery spreads out before you surrounded by amazing scenery.  The Monastery is considered to be the most awe-inspiring monument in Petra and while it is not as well preserved as the Treasury, it is much larger though less ornate.  The Monastery (a misnomer for sure) was likely a temple and the original complex probably had walls around the front yard to contain the crowds who would gather there.  If you walk past the Monastery a bit you’ll find some amazing views of Petra, Wadi Musa, Wadi Araba (the desert) and of Israel.  I’ve included some of those views here.

 Temple of some variety

 Views over the Wadi Araba Desert and Israel is in the distance

 Some cute goats across the valley…

 …who arrived to attack me 10 minutes later as I was eating an apple.

On the way down I ran into my new friend Celestino taking a mule to the Monastery with a Bedouin guide.  Sami, the guide would ultimately be my guide into the desert of Wadi Araba the next day but more on this later.  Here are Celestino and Sami:

 En route to the Monastery: Celestino and Sami

 Near the Monastery

I headed back up towards the theater to do the walk up the mountain to the High Place of Sacrifice.  The walk was steep but short and you are rewarded with more views over  the valleys.  I’ve included pictures here of the sacrificial area as well as the views over the rest of Petra.  Descending down the other side of the mountain you come upon quite a few interesting sites including more tombs and caves…some of the caves are still occupied by local Bedouins.  Of interest here is the one tomb in all of Petra to have ornate carvings on the inside…all the rest of the tombs simply have flat walls and no columns.  Also, a recent excavation yielded about a dozen graves in one of the tombs.  All of the graves had been previously looted but they did find bone fragments and other assorted items you might find in a grave.

 Views of the Royal Tombs from above at the High Place of Sacrifice

 More caves: just in case anyone is wondering, the caves and the buildings of Petra universally smell of urine.

 Place of sacrifice at the top of the mountain

 Steps down from the High Place of Sacrifice

 More examples of the rock coloring

 Soldier’s Tomb

 Inside the Soldier’s Tomb looking out

 The only building in Petra with carvings on the inside

 Tomb with graves found inside

After the climb to the High Place of Sacrifice I was considering if I should do the last climb of the day…one that is up to the mountain across from the Treasury so you get to see the Treasury from above.  As I was walking back towards the the Petra gate I ran into Sami again and he offered to take me up to the view of the Treasury.  As it turns out, his cave is on the hike to the Treasury overlook so I got to see where he lives and take some good pictures of the Treasury from a different angle.  On our way down the mountain we ran into a couple of other Bedouin guides who said they were taking a Belgian woman on a desert tour the next day and if I was interested I could join them.  This was fortuitous as I had at this point given up the idea of spending the night in the desert of Wadi Rum as it is prohibitively expensive when traveling alone.  More on all of this in tomorrow’s post.  After today’s third Petra post I have two more to share:  my trip to the desert of Wadi Araba as well as an assortment of items from northern Jordan including a float in the Dead Sea and a visit to the castle of Ajloun and the Roman ruins of Jerash so stay tuned for those as we wrap things up here at the Mini-Extravaganza.

 View of the Treasury from above

 Sami giving Stacey a mild cardiac episode on the edge of the cliff