Day 12 - Monday, March 20, 2023

Day 12 - Monday, March 20, 2023 - Petra

March 20, 2023

The day turned out better than expected in that it didn't rain. It was exceptionally windy and very cold - 38 in the morning and a high of 45. At times the wind blasted us with sand and it was like being in a wind tunnel. Overall, we were able to enjoy our time at Petra.

Petra is the 7th modern wonder of the world. Its main culture started in the 4th century BC with the Nabateans who were merchant traders and controlled some of the important trading routes from the middle-east to Africa and Europe, mainly Rome. At the time, Frankincense and Myrrh were twice as valuable as gold and these substances were in great demand for Roman rituals.

Petra was at its height in the first century BC and first century AD. Petra was a city of 20,000 to 30,000 people with large temples and a large amphitheater. Petra is located in Wadi Musa, the valley of Moses and the only access is through a very narrow, 10' - 50' wide, and very deep mile-long cut through the rock which made it almost invisible and easily defend-able. Petra is in the desert with very little water but the Nabateans were very skillful in hydrology and constructed aqueducts to collect and transport water to reservoirs inside the city. Petra is famous for the many spectacular facades cut into the solid sandstone with tombs behind them.

Petra was finally conquered by the Romans in 108AD when the Romans found and were able to cut off the water supply to the city. It continued as a Roman city until 321AD when a large earthquake destroyed much of the city. It was rebuilt as a Byzantine city and was on the Christian pilgrim route until another major earthquake in the 8th century which destroyed much of the city and the bishopric was moved to Damascus. It was largely unknown until 1812 when it was rediscovered by a Swiss explorer and was occasionally visited by adventurous tourists from Europe. It wasn't seriously excavated until Jordan became an independent state in 1948. Bedouins lived there in the caves (tombs) until the 1980s when the Jordanian Department of Antiquities required them to move to a new settlement outside to reduce damage. The Bedouins still guide tourists, sell souvenirs and operate the horse, donkey and camel rides.

UNESCO declared Petra a World Heritage Site and has contributed considerable funds for its care and for a visitor center / museum.

Our hotel was only a few hundred feet from the entrance which was very convenient. Zuhair gave an overview at the visitor center and then led us down to the entrance of the Siq which is about half a mile down. We walked down through the narrow chasm of the Siq and had explanations of the various deities that are carved in the sides. The Siq is about a mile long. We could also see the aqueduct along the side that brought water down into the city in ancient time. . It was quite spectacular to get to the end of the Siq which is dark at that point and see the first facade of the "Treasury".

A number of people in our group took turns riding camels in front of the Treasury.

The valley opens up and the sheer walls are dotted with elaborate facades of tombs and areas where they have eroded away, just leaving caves back in the rock. There are around 3000 caves. Only about 5% of Petra has been excavated, mainly the Roman road (Cardo), the large temples and amphitheater. There are torrential flash floods even to this day and in the past, they carried large amounts of debris into the city after it was abandoned, 40-50' deep.

At the end, a little over 3 miles in, we had lunch outside at a restaurant.

After lunch, a man asked us if we wanted a ride back to the entrance. We could either ride donkeys back to the Siq and then get an electric cart back to the entrance or take donkeys on a 25 minute ride and then a car back to the entrance. I don't think the latter is authorized but we decided to try it as rain seemed imminent. We were put on two donkeys that were led by two little boys probably around 7 and 11 years old. Most of the way was on a road restricted for use by the Bedouins. It was interesting because it went by a number of other "temples", caves and spectacularly colored rock formations. We got off the donkeys at the Bedouin village that was created when Jordan wanted to move the Bedouins out of the caves in Petra. A man then met us and took us by car just outside the entrance. We had some significant disagreements over the cost. We were told at the start it would be $50, all included, but when we got off the donkey's were told it was 50 Dinar or $70 - we were a bit stuck at that point so paid. At the end of the car ride, the driver told us we had to pay him. We told him to "forget it" and walked off.

We then went to the new Petra museum that opened in 2018 after I had been there. It is a an excellent museum of the history of the civilizations in the region from 12,000 BC to the Nabateans, Romans, Muslims and Ottomans.

After that we had coffee in a local shop.

Before dinner, we had a talk by a Bedouin about the culture of the Bedouins which was quite interesting. Although about half of the population is of Jordan is of Bedouin background, only 35,00 still live the nomadic life, raising sheep and goats, moving from place to place in the desert. Our speaker has degrees in history, worked as a teacher and tour guide and now is an olive farmer.