Petra Day Trip

Off to Petra -  A (looooong) daytrip planned and we were on the bus by 6am ready for the 4 hours drive to Petra.  At this point I have to mention that this drive would have taken 2.5 hours but we live here by Jordan-time.  We have to stop, stuff around for a bit.  "take some cafe break" etc.  For the most part the drive was fairly monotonous, like the surface of the moon, then at about 945am we stopped at the top of a valley. Looking down, there didn't appear to be much.  So we drove onwards, down, down, winding, winding, down to the bottom.  Then we walked through a dusty carpark through a ticket booth.  We then had to walk a further 30-40 minutes.  A little way into the walk, we noticed the rocks rising on either side.  Like a canyon.  Soon the walls of the canyon were hundreds of meters above us and we were winding through a narrow passage way.  This passage was worn away by wind and water millions of years ago.  It was cool and there was a nice breeze.  This was very welcome relief from the oppressive heat of the DS.  Eventually, you emerge from the canyon walls through to an open area where this massive "Treasury" stands before you.  A massive building carved into the rock.  I posted a small video of this earlier.  It is most impressive.  All around there are more building carved into the rock and caves, and stairs.  This place, Petra, used to be a mojor trade centre,art of the Silk Road which caravan traversed to trade between the western and eastern parts of this whole area.

We walked a little way on and came to a further open area where there was a massive amphitheatre carved into the rock and many more tombs and buildings.  It is very impressive again.  We sat in a little cafe and had some snacks to get some energy back before setting off further into the area.  We wandered around then back to the Treasury.

Too exhausted for the enormous walk out we caught a horse and cart.  A bit of a crazy ride as the horses go quite fast.  Once back at the top we regrouped with our group, got back on the bus and headed back home.  Home at 830pm - quite the day.  Straight to the buffet then shower and bed.