Description: Petra was built around 2,500 years by the Nabatians, a trading Arab tribe. The Nabatians discovered a value to locally found bitumen and copper. Soon, they had more wealth than they knew what to do with. They did what many men do; attempt to buy their way to everlasting life by carving ornate temple caves out of the rock in the Petra valley to please their God and in tribute to their ancestors.
On the peaks above Petra, the Nabatians created a mountain top temple, complete with drainage channels possibly for sacrificial blood to drip down the mountainside to demonstrate very physically just how godly they were.
It appears this show of devotion or wealth didn’t help the Nebatians, as they were slowly battered into history by stronger civilisations, including Alexander the Great and the Romans.
It's best to get to Petra as early as humanly possible. If you buy a two/three day pass you can pass ticket inspection as early as sunrise, meaning the Siq is pretty much yours. The reasonably energetic can be trekking towards the further treasures of Petra by the time day trippers are tripping over each other in the hunt to capture that elusive deserted photograph at the Treasury.
As well as the temples, the Roman remains are interesting (particularly the Colonnaded Street, and the grand open air Amphitheatre), but if you are visiting the Roman remains at Jeresh to the north of Jordan, your time is better spent exploring the Petra Tombs. There are also ruins of a byzantine era Church on the site.
To one side of the main valley, a route allows the visitor to explore along a whole range of large Tombs hacked out of the rock, some requiring step ladders to enter as they were carved above the height of others in the cliff face. Unlike many western attractions, you are free to wander amongst the tombs, enter the caves and touch the rocks.
One good tip is to take a packed lunch with you into Petra as there is only one overpriced and overcrowded "package tour" restaurant in the centre of Petra itself. A meal here is an excellent way to kill the atmosphere of Petra.
We enjoyed taking a short hike to find a quiet spot in the shade of a temple to share our meal with one of the many Petra stray cats. There are a number of local Bedouin tents in the "main drag" offering a shady space for a seat and a soft drink or tea. Some even sell cans of alcohol free lager to those who find it difficult to believe beer isn’t widely on sale. Other stalls on the site sell jewellery, ornate images made from different coloured sand stored in bottles, and fake artefacts.
Many (particularly US visitors) fit in Petra in a flying day-trip visit from Israel. For these folk, the Jordanian government have set a harsh entrance fee of 90 JD (£80). Those staying overnight in Petra pay 50 JD for one day entrance, and it becomes better value for hard core Petra fans at 55 JD for a 2 day pass and 60 JD for a 3 day ticket.
The Jordanians reward people who spend money in their country. Those that don't stay in Jordan miss a treat as there is plenty more to see in this small country, and Jordan is a friendly, polite and hassle free kind of place.
All ticket prices includes a single led horse trip down (or up) some of the way from the main entrance gates to Petra to the entrance of the Siq. There is also promise of a free leaflet, but it is literally just a folded sheet of paper, and totally insufficient as a guide for a serious 3 day explorer. If you intend to walk to some of the further Petra attractions take a good guide book with you.
As we had a full three days in Petra to explore, we took a number of routes away from the "main drag" to get a quieter experience. Even with 3 days, we only saw a portion of the whole site, although after 2 days you get the measure of the place.
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