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Day 6 — Petra
OK everyone, this is going to be short tonight (maybe!). It was a great but exhausting day at Petra so I’m going to let the pictures do most of the talking.
We checked out of our hotel and headed to the “Petra Visitors Centre.” Fadi had explained on the bus how things were set up here, so after he got and passed out the tickets, we were on our way! The horse ride to and from the Siq — the walk between rock walls and entrance to the city — was paid for, except for the tip for the fellow leading the horse. It was a lot like a taxi operation at any major airport. The guy at the waiting area called out names and the “drivers” brought the horses. As each one loaded up, off they’d go!
Some walked this distance, but since this promised to be a day with a lot of exercise, I decided any steps I could save would be a good thing, so I opted for the horse ride; besides, I was just following Nancy! 😉
Always mindful of what would increase the tips, some drivers do that “something extra.” Mine offered to take my picture, so I have a record of this part of the trip. The horses dropped us at the entrance where we would start our walk. Fadi explained some of the history of the city before we started, then continued pointing out things all along the way. If he hadn’t done that, there are certainly things I would have missed. As it was, I kept seeing great pictures of red rocks and beautiful patterns in the sandstone, so I missed some parts of the explanations anyway.
Along this walk you can see some portions of the original road. In many places you can also see the channels on both sides of the road which were carved for water to drain into the city. Really amazing engineering in this place.
Eventually we rounded a corner and there it was — the Treasury. It truly was just like in the Indiana Jones movie — not inside of course, but outside. Fadi again explained a lot of what we were looking at, the shapes and such. He also explained how the carving was done, which I’ll try to get to at a later time.
After the treasury, we continued our walk through the tombs — magnificent entrances all, some in better shape than others. Eventually we got to the residential area, then the temple area. This is the lowest point and where we had lunch. After that, there were optional walks. Maxine and I opted for the 900 steps up to the Monastary. It was hot, hot, hot, and a steep climb, but we rested when necessary and encouraged each other, and we reached the top!
All along the way are vendors selling jewelry, carvings, and other things. Amazing to think this constitutes these people’s livelihoods.
After reaching the Monastary, we walked a little farther (and higher) to see a valley view and be able to look down somewhat on the Monastary. Here’s where we caught up with Doreen and Megan. They went one level higher than we did. We had taken a while to climb, so after a bit of a rest, we headed back. We were supposed to be at the bus at 3:00 and it was already 2:15, so we knew we had to get moving.
We retraced our steps, and as you can imagine, the trip down was a lot faster, and easier, than the climb up. We made it down to the lunch spot, then Max negotiated for camel rides to take all four of us back to the treasury area. Here we had to hoof it (on our own two feet) out through the Siq, which we did in 20 minutes. Then we opted for the horses again back to the town.
We were bringing up the rear, making it to the bus at 3:30, but Fadi was very patient. It was GREAT to be once more sitting on the bus, even though we were sweaty, dusty, and smelly — and were to stay that way for a while.
We had a two-hour trip into Aquaba and Eilat, on the Red Sea. Since this is back in Israel, we said good-bye to Jordan, getting one more stamp for the passport. We also said good-bye to guide Fadi and Fayiz the bus driver. They both took great care of us while we were in Jordan. Thank you to both of you!
We took our luggage and walked across the border to Israeli Passport Control and security. I was through early but had to have my luggage opened and checked. It seems that everyone with books had the same experience. A couple of folks who had a LOT of books were held up quite a while as the Israelis flipped through just about every book. Not sure what they were looking for, but instead of this operation taking 15-20 minutes, we were there for almost an hour. Stinky. Sweaty. Hot, but cooling down as they had a great fan on an air conditioner in the tent where we were waiting. Still, we were all dirty and tired.
Then it was off to our hotel for the night. I am SO looking forward to getting horizontal.
Tomorrow we tour a bird sanctuary and Beersheba, then spend the night in a Bedouin tent. There won’t be any internet access there, so I’ll have to catch up the next night — for those of you who are following.
I’m a bit ahead of the schedule compared to other nights. Every night has been a 12:30 or 1:00 AM bedtime. Right now it’s just 10:30, so I’m hoping I can get everything uploaded and get into bed by 11:30.
Here goes!
