This weekend was a whirlwind of alternately riding in cabs and hiking through ancient sites. When I was younger, I would watch Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and think that this scenery was just a set. Turns out it is known as the Treasury, one of the most famous sites in Petra I got to see.
We entered from the southernmost crossing, starting in the Israeli city of Eilat and arriving near Jordanian Aqaba. Eilat is right on the Red Sea, and its main attraction is definitely the beach. I traveled there last weekend with a friend, and we snorkeled in a beautiful coral reef where we even saw an octopus cruising around the ocean floor!
Sorry, the octopus wouldn't come up for the photo shoot.
But this time, we were only passing through Eilat. There was a surprising lack of security, and we were across the border in no time. I managed to get what I believe is a slightly discounted cab ride to Petra, simply by throwing out some Arabic greetings to the drivers (it also helped to know how to push their buttons a little by using an expression for “crazy expensive!”). Jordanian public transport simply does not compare to that of Israel, so we had no choice but to taxi it up.
It is 3 hours to Eilat and another 3 back up to Petra from where we started, so by the time we arrived at our hostel it was late afternoon. We were welcomed with tea and coffee by the hostel manager, and decided to visit “Little Petra” while there was still some daylight. This is a nearby park that actually offered free admission — a rarity in Jordan! It was a great place to whet our appetite for what was to come the next day.
The town of Petra was fairly limited, but still had some tasty places to eat cheaply.
In addition, we discovered a concert of traditional music that evening. It mostly consisted of singing and the guitar/sitar Arab hybrid that none of the locals were able to name for us in English.
Apparently bagpipes are more common in Jordan than we thought. The man in the posters is the King of Jordan, whose noticeably light appearance stems from having an English mother.
We found some local high schoolers to hang out with that evening, and in the process I broadened my colloquial Arabic base a bit. It was interested to watch their reactions as we described our experiences in Israel to them. These guys made no attempt to conceal a certain disdain for the Jews that would unfortunately be echoed throughout our trip. This sentiment seemed to be directly mostly at Orthodox Jews, whom they claim would treat Arab shopkeepers and Bedouin guides poorly when they visited the country. Yet we enjoyed hanging out at the show with them, and even lent some cheering support as their rapper/beat-boxer friend took the stage (which was quite the departure from all the previous folk singing, and probably shocking for the older listeners!)
The next day, we got up early so as to get to the site before it got too hot. The entrance fee was a whopping 50 JD (dinar), or $70! Indeed, each subsequent fee on our trip would always make us wonder what Jordan would do without its burgeoning tourist industry!
This gift shop turned out to have nothing but a bullwhip. Sadly, I could not ride into the movie location with a fedora on.
It was nice and cool in As-Siq, the winding canyon leading to the Treasury.
Meh, I've seen bigger.
The suspense steadily built as we walked further into the canyon. On the way, there were some neat carvings and other historical asides. Most of the sites in Petra are over 2,000 years old, built by the ancient Nabeatan civilization. The Nabeatans were mainly traders that settled Petra as a strategic hub connecting European, African and Asian spice routes. However, their rule didn’t last very long, and they were eventually conquered by the Romans. The resulting Greco-Roman architectural themes in some of the sites are impossible to miss.
The second rock formation we've been told resembles an elephant (along with one on the way to Little Petra).
While we would spend the day trekking around several awesome sites, the first one was the one I was most anticipating: Al Khazneh, or the Treasury.
"Wait a sec, is that up ahead what I think it is...?!?!"
And when we finally got to it, the Treasury was even better than I had imagined it.
Supposedly, it is called the Treasury because the urn that sits at the top once held some kind of treasure that was looted some time ago. The spots on it are pock-marks from travelers shooting at it to try and recover some of the loot.