Friday 2^nd July

Again we set off at 8.00 am, this time though we were picked up in a smart people carrier for the 3 hour trip down to Petra. Sadly the air conditioning was broken, but it was early in the day and we were heading for higher ground where the temperature was a little more reasonable so it was no real hardship. Our driver was very entertaining and managed to explain that Jordan is home to some 7 million people, only 3 million of whom are Jordanian, the rest being Palestinians who had settled here with the help and blessing of King Hussain. He himself was a Palestinian and came from a large family, ‘a rabbit family’ and proudly told us that Jordan was 70% desert and rocks and absolutely nothing else – but added that he found it hard to believe that the only two countries in the entire middle east that did not have oil were Jordan and Israel. We arrived at our hotel just outside the entrance to the historic site of Petra around 11.30 am and were told we would have to wait for our rooms to be ready, so we went for a stroll before returning and used the very pleasant hotel swimming pool. Finally our rooms were declared ready but the one assigned to Sarah and me was still in occupied when we let ourselves in! We went back to reception who promptly allocated us a second room but on inspection this turned out to be tiny compared to the first one, so they eventually gave us a third room which was acceptable – but only just considering the broken fridge and TV.

We had a lazy early afternoon and then around 4.00 pm we made our way to the entrance to Petra with a view to walking through the site and back prior to a longer more detailed visit in the morning. Nothing can really prepare you for the extraordinary experience that is the hidden city of Petra and our timing was perfect as the coach tours had left and most people were making their way out as we began our journey. Firstly we rode on horseback down the 800 metres to the start of the Siq which is a dramatic rift in the rocks that leads you down a narrow deep pathway for one and half kilometres before dramatically opening up to reveal the first of the incredible rock tombs, the ‘Treasury’. It was at this point that we met the crew of Kiwi Volant along with Trevor and Lesley walking the other way. We had no idea that they were here today and it was great to meet up with them again. They had been very intrepid and during a very full day had walked almost the entire site including the two mountain top locations. The entire site is both awesome and spectacular and whilst most of the city buildings were levelled in two huge earthquakes in 363 AD and 551 AD all the massive rock tombs carved into the massive sandstone cliffs remain untouched. This place makes Dalyan rock tombs in Turkey look decidedly ordinary! The city in its heyday was home to some 30,000 people and was one of the most important trading centres along the silk road and it was able to pay off the Romans in order to continue their trade unmolested. Sadly the rise of Palmyra (see earlier log entries) and the development of sea trading led to the gradual demise of the city and of course the earthquakes did the rest. The extraordinary thing is that Petra became a secret place only known to the Bedouin from the 12^th century when Saladin captured the two forts that the crusaders built here, until 1812 when it was ‘discovered’ by a Swiss explorer! Visiting the site is no easy matter and stout walking shoes are the order of the day as the city stretches several kilometres beyond the ‘Treasury’.

We made our way back up through the site as the sun went down and after a buffet dinner in the hotel got a reasonably early night in preparation for our planned return to Petra in the morning and the ascent to the monastery.