Day 13: October 24, Aqaba to Petra, Jordan

Treasury at Petra

Monastery at Petra

Well we made it to the 2nd out of 7 wonders of the world (the Great Wall of China is 1st ). And it is  amazing to walk through the narrow Siq and arrive at the Treasury! Ali, our guide, cleverly had us all look to the right and then turned our attention to the Treasury which was very effective.

We stayed with our tour group and guide until 2 pm when he set us free on the site. At that point we had walked past all of the tombs and the Roman theater to the restaurant near the steps to the Monastery. We could say it is both interesting and overwhelming. The interesting is, of course, the ruins. The overwhelming is the horses, donkeys, camels, carriages, children selling postcards, and stall after stall of trinket sellers saying "Happy Hour".

Little hustlers

After lunch we managed to make our way up the 850 to 900 steps, depending on your source, to the Monastery. That was quite stunning, as it is a simpler design, more complete, and off the beaten path. It is also the largest carved monument at Petra. We were pushed for time (had to be back at the tour company by 5 pm) so we didn't get to linger very long but we did climb up to the "best" viewpoint above the Monastery where people have been building multiple small rock cairns. We did walk the whole way although we must have looked tired as there was a lot of encouragement to ride a donkey up or down the stone steps. We did see some riders and it looked scarier then the mule trains at the Grand Canyon. The weather was pleasant for the Jordanian desert, about 25 degrees, with a breeze. And a lot of the time we were in shade from the high cliffs.

Tonight we are in a comfortable hotel in the city of Petra (although there is no alcohol served here). Tomorrow we are off for a 4 wheel drive Wadi Rum adventure with a different Ali.