Here’s what I knew about Petra 5 years ago:
- It is something very, very old, and looks like this–>
- Dwayne really, really wanted to see it.
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Here’s what I learned about Petra a few years ago, when we first booked the tour:
- Petra is in Jordan. I can even point out Jordan on a map.
- Petra is ancient and is much more extensive than this one picture suggests.
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And here is what I’ve learned in the past two days:
- From the ticketed entrance to the main event, the Treasury, it is about a mile walk, much of it over old (old!) Roman roads, that have been made uneven by time and earthquakes. Before getting to the Siq (the walled cavern that is most of the walk to the Treasury), there are several antiquities of note, almost all related to death and memorials. The canals, aqueducts, and dam were the most interesting to me, as enough of it has survived to truly picture how this dry rock was continually made rich with fountains and pools.
- The ticket does come with a free horse ride down the Siq, but almost no one takes advantage despite the long walk. Our guide told us there was a mandatory “tip” of 3 dinars ($4.25) but there are online reports of 12-15 dinars demanded of riders. The attempted fleecing at every turn in Petra could only be tolerated only by ignoring it and walking purposely somewhere else.
- The Treasury is as superlative as it is reputed to be. Nothing captures turning the last bend and seeing it for the first time, even with the crowds of tourests, hawkers, camels, and the many, many asses.
- Petra is about the façades. Truthfully, the most inspiring finds (supposedly only 5% of the original city has been excavated) are mostly grave markers and empty tombs. The Treasury, which you might be forgiven for believing was originally a financial center, or, you know, treasure, is basically equivalent to the Giza pyramids. It was actually a tombstone, an extraordinary angel-mausoleum on top* of four small burial rooms. But if you are like me and yearn to clamber up and search every nook and explore each alcove, your soul will be cut deeply. As you can see from the top picture, there is the main chamber as well as a smaller chamber behind the second pillar on each side. Truly, they are just empty rooms, or more accurately, giant litterboxes. #CatsAreEverywhere I wanted them to be giant palaces carved out of gorgeous stone, taunting me with a “you may not enter and explore the elaborately sculpted halls, lowly swine!” locked gates, but alas, they are just skin deep, though their complexion is flawless.
- Petra is extensive. Leaving the Treasury is when Petra opens up. Wide, wide up. We had a map with multiple trails and sites marked. On our first afternoon, our guide showed us many of the famous carved memorials, a church with some intact mosaics, pointing out temple ruins, etc. It was probably about a 7-mile walk that day, and the youngers refused to make the trek again**. The next day, Dwayne, Kyla, and I explored more of the main street before taking the longest, steepest, and furthest trail out to The Monastery. Between our day in Petra, and then returning for the night show, we walked 30,000 steps, or 21km/13miles, with significant elevation and rough ground.
- The Monastery, it will not surprise you, was not built to be a monk’s retreat, though it probably became one many hundreds of years later. It, too, was a remembrance of a rich king.
Petra is so brimming with carved out tombs (think Joseph’s tomb given to Jesus) in every rock wall that it can be easy to forget… 
…that it was certainly a thriving city, a pulsating hub of trade. This was a pool complex with a public square, pavilion, and smaller theater, across from the remains of a public fountain. 
The smaller theater. 
The larger theater held 3,000 people! 
I love ruins I can scramble over and not just look from afar. 
The main street is façaded well. [Yep, I am either murdering the English language or Shakespearianizing it. Just did it again.] 
But the lasting part of this lively place is how it commemorated death. 
These four burial markers overlook the main street, where the market, public square, pools, fountain, and temples once thrummed with people living life. 
Piper’s hat has become another dimension of our family portraits. 
Part of the beauty of Petra is the rock itself. 
The monastery. What a climb! But really worth the view and the cookie at the top. 
Why yes, one of the movies was filmed in Petra. I am amused. 
The youngers were pleased to have cats that needed scritches.
Petra at Night is a separate event and ticket, but the same long path newly marked with luminaries. The gates open at 8:15 to begin the walk down the Siq. We sat only in candlelight while two musicians playing traditional instruments and a storyteller wove a sense of history to the evening. When the Treasury was lit up at the end, several tourists saw it for the first time. For us, it was the final send off, first on another long walk, and then out of Petra the next morning.
I learned a lot about Petra that suprised me, but I was never disappointed by our experience.
*Technically, these tombs were ground level at the time of construction, but thousands of years of dirt and debris, and about eight feet of Roman road, gave them a basement location upon refurnishing.
**After carrying my 12-year-old whine sack for a bit on the last bit home, I was not unhappy to comply. You can read his take on our time in Petra here.
Needopedia 