October 11 - Petra

We docked early in the morning in Aqaba, Jordan’s only port, located at the northern end of the Gulf of Aqaba.  We boarded our bus and began the two hour ride to the Rose Red City of Petra.  Along the way we passed through some spectacular  countryside including the western side of Wadi Rum.  For anyone who has watched the movie Lawrence of Arabia that name will be familiar because it was the place where the Arab forces were camped when Lawrence met up with them.  The cliffs were impressive.  Along the way we passed a few Bedouin encampments.  It was hard to catch a photo from the bus, but hopefully you can see the size of the tent.  Around it there were various livestock tethered including camels and goats.

 

A Bedouin encampment

We drove through the fairly large town of Wadi Musa (wadi means valley and Musa means Moses, so literally the Valley of Moses) and arrived at our destination of Petra.  Our guide was Saleh, a young Jordanian, who was very knowledgeable.   A little about Petra. No one knows precisely when it was built but the city began to prosper around the 1^st century BC as the capital city of the Nabataean Empire which became rich trading in myrrh, frankincense and spices.  The Romans annexed the city and it continued to thrive until 363 AD when a large earthquake destroyed much of the city.  Between that and changes in the trade routes Petra declined and by the 7^th century was largely abandoned.  It wasn’t rediscovered until the 19^th century when a Swiss explorer set out to find it.  He persuaded his Bedouin guide to take him to the fabled city and thus the beauty of the place became known again.

Saleh, our guide.  Doesn't he look the part?

The beginning of the path with the first carvings and tombs

One of the carriages careening down the path

 

The narrowness of the siq

We began our walk down through the siq, the narrow gorge.  The path drops some 600 feet from roughly 5000 ft. above sea level to 4400. (And unfortunately, to get out we had to walk up.)  There is an option to take a breakneck carriage ride which we didn’t do. In retrospect, we should have but we had no concept of what we were in for.  The gorge was created by an earthquake and in places is so narrow that not much light penetrates. Along the way there were several altars that had been carved into the rose red stone and some tombs had been dug.  Finally we got our first glimpse of the piece de resistance, the Treasury (of Indiana Jones fame).  As we walked through the last narrow place there it was in its full glory, a massive façade about 40 meters high and beautifully carved into the red stone.  There are intricately carved columns with Corinthian capitals and at the top a magnificent funerary urn which legend said contained a pharaoh’s treasure.  The edifice is empty and we couldn’t enter but it was breathtaking to see.  There was no ancient Crusader waiting to greet us.

First glimpse

The Treasury of Petra

I had to put in a picture of a camel.  This fine fellow was available for rides in front of the Treasury.  We didn't try it, but someone on our trivia team did and now has a camel rash on her legs.  Good that we didn't!

We then had to make our ascent to the starting point.  It was a struggle.  That day we walked 7 miles and by the time we reached the top we were completely bushed.  Our reward was a nice lunch and then it was time for the ride back to Aqaba.  Seabourn had another surprise for us though.  Along the way back we stopped at an overlook.  There were the Maitre D’, Hotel Manager and a collection of waiters ready to serve us champagne and caviar and foie gras.  They had made an hour and a half drive to set up so that on our way back we would have a treat.  It was amazing!  When we finally got to the ship, the cabin stewardesses and other staff were assembled with a big welcome banner, a band playing and fruit punch and cold towels.  This is an incredible cruise line!