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Published: July 24th 2022
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Here we are, the last blog of our little two weeks gorgeous Middle East trip. This is my third visit to Petra, but only the first one for Tanya. In the span of 20 hours in Petra, we actually visited 3 times the site!
The drive from Wadi Rum to Petra is a pretty cool one. Some roads are super narrow and in the "hills"...so if you keep a good driving speed...just stay pretty aware of your surroundings.
There are for me two options (actually three) to stay in Petra. We could have stay at the small Marriott....I hold top level with them, but the rate was a little steep for June. They also have two Movenpick hotels. I have stay in both on my last two stay. The Movenpick Petra has the perfect location, at the door of the historic site. Sadly, their rooms are on the small side and they charge a premium just for the location. There is the "second" Movenpick, also call the Nabatean Movepick. It's next door from the Marriott....gorgeous views, cheaper rates and bigger rooms. Bear in mind, this time I have a rental car, so I went for
the easy choice of the Nabatean Movenpick.
Till I received an email from Movenpick telling me we had been "upgraded" to the Petra property for the same cheap rate I had booked. I nicely disagreed with the reservation agent...that if the location was better...the view, potential upgrade and size of the room if no upgrade was better in my original choice. I'm not a fan of being taken for a ride. They refused to reply clearly to my email and I knew why. When occupancy is low, they keep booking open for both properties...but automatically upgrade the ones paying a cheaper rate to the Petra property prior to your stay. I knew this, was not impressed by the level of communication...and told them that they'd better make sure the upgrade was to a suite.
I know, I know...you pay peanuts and you get the suite. Not fair you'll tell me. But than again, being honest and straightforward with me would have been way easier to start with...specially as I knew the back game from day one. So we got the suite. Well, it's a small one but was comfortable, and I do confirm, the
view is way more impressive at the Nabatean.
Petra will ultimately turn into another overcrowded Disney type attraction. But with some homework, it is still a very very special place. June is not that bad...it's not that hot and the crowds have slimmed significantly alreay from high volume Spring time. Oh, and I have no intention to try this place in 2023! The visitor center use to be a single hut...you paid, you get on....now the place is short of a small shopping mall. I came here for the first time in August 2008...and yes, there is a blog about it. No night show that I am aware at the time...and for the day visit the same rule did apply...show up at the morning early opening time!
Not sure it has ever been cheap to get in. I kind of like the current pricing policy...one day is the outrageous 70usd entry fee....but for two days, you climb to a more subtle 75usd total...and I believe 3 days is less than 80usd. Not that you would want to come here 3 days in a row. But the two days ticket made me go through a
different approach of my planning.
I go up and down hills...and more...with 15 kgs on my bag and high temperatures on top of it. Not sure my parents could ever have done this...and not sure my kids will have do it too...so Tany a has been encouraged to push the limit...but I still need to be on the cautious side with here.
We made it to Petra by lunch time...and by 2 pm we started our first visit. I honestly did not remember that you first start with a 2kms slopes to the entry of the canyon. That's 2 kms in each direction and not sun cover...just to mention it. Than everything else after is easy and we spent a total of 3 hours on the site before re-trenching for a good bath and early dinner to the hotel. Point to note, Egyptians are way better in producing drinkable wines than Jordanians. I was lucky to be taken on a "wine tasting tour" by local F&B managers in both countries...and Jordan is coming second to Egypt!
Few days per week, there is Petra by night. The idea is fabulous...and yes, nearly
500 people believed it too that evening. You re-enter Petra around 8pm. This is an additional ticket, but do not hesitate to spend the extra money. And yes, you go down one more time the same way...so forget about overdressing for the ride...good comfortable shoes are important here! Than...you get to the Treasury for a good hour. Just look at the pictures! There was guided explanations, a concert and even hot tea. What an experience! We made it back to bed at 11pm!
Petra open around 6am...and you want to be there at the opening...even if the night was actually short. Don't ask me why I believe a suite is a good idea! So we made it to the Treasury....with maybe 5 people at the time there...and it's magical...specially at the "sellers of the temple" are not yet in place that early! The challenge is simple...make it to the Monastery...that's 6.5kms one way from the entry of Petra...one way...with the last 1.5kms a steep climb! Our flight was at 3pm....returning the car at 1pm...and 3 hours self drive to the airport! That's 4 hours...to do 13kms...3 of them being solid steps up and down! You know me,
I made it to the Monastery...for the third time with the first 5 visitors of the day. Tanya nearly made it...I mean she was just 500 meters short of it when I started to back track. Was not sure she would get there....but suddenly, she seemed way more ready to hike than what I would believed! After all, she just did around 29kms in less than 24 hours....easy!
Not making it to the Monastery is not the end of the world...but still, I give you few pictures.
The ride back to Amman airport was pretty smooth. The airport is also a new building since my last visit. The Royal Jordanian lounge is actually a simple but super creative idea for food. They tend to copy the concept of Istanbul....simple food....but great ingredients and good food. And we all love good food...but here they beat TK...as they have good food...and better G&Ts!
Here we are, ready to fly back to home. What a month of June it was!
Next entry...not that far from home...on the water...sardine run....rune 2 for me...coming pretty soon!
I hope you don't
suffer too much from the chaos of July-August through multiple airports in the world...our next suffering is coming soon too...
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Home and Away
Bob Carlsen
Petra...
Our only visit to Petra was in De 1978. We took a taxi from Amman with a crazy driver. At the time there were no hotels, no visitor center, no entrance fees, no tourists, nothing. We paid a few dollars to ride a horse, which just confirmed that horses world-wide hate Linda. I miss the good old days of touring!