This is a place I've always dreamed of coming to and today was absolutely unreal. One of the 7 wonders of the world, Petra is so much bigger than I ever imagined. My feet hurt and I only saw a very small portion of the ancient city. Rather than bore you with all the details on its history, please take a look at the wikipedia page I linked to in last night's blog.
We arrived around 8am and started the walk down from the entrance toward the Siq. The Siq is a large gorge in the sandstone that forms a bit of a walled walkway to the city. This was the main entrance for people coming to the trading center it's over 1km long, but the stone, dams, aquaduct system and colors in the rock is amazing. Eventually, you see the opening at the end and the Treasury Building peeping through.. It gave me chills! The building is beautiful and I'm amazed that it's in such great shape after all these years. I then walked, and walked and climbed and walked some more. I ditched the tour group and set out on my own (I actually "accidentally" did that in the Siq).
I climbed up to the Royal Tombs, climbed way up to the Monestary (most folks hire the air conditioned taxis for that trip, otherwise known as donkeys), climbed up to the High Alter of Sacrifice where the obliesks are and saw as much as I possibly could today. I was amazed that whenever I looked down at valleys that are not open to tourists, I still saw more homes and caves carved into the rocks. Though most Bedoin moved out of Petra in the 1970's (King Hussein offered them free, nice permanent housing near the entrance), I found out that there are still 60 families or so living there in caves, just not near the areas that tourists go. Most of them take tourists around on camels and donkeys or sell souveniers around the sites.
The rocks change colors as the day goes on the sunlight hits the area differently. The Treasury turned very red by the end of the day, as did many of the other buildings. In some areas, the colors and layers of the rock came out more, while in others if faded. It was simply amazing.
It wasn't until I walked into the hotel that I realized that I completely missed the church -- dammit! I knew I had to have missed something. As mad as I am, I don't think that my feet could have taken any more. They are swollen and I'm having trouble just walking around the hotel. And I went through 3.5 liters of water there. That's a lot.
Petra is absolutely amazing and I urge all of you to make the trip sometime. I can't put it into words, but I am so glad that I came. Just like the Taj Majal, Petra took my breath away.
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