petra

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July 6th 2015

Published: July 6th 2015

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monestry at the top of 850 steps

Tis morning we got up at 6;30 hadd breakfast and straight down to the bus for 5min ride to petra

very expensive to get in 50 jodanian dina p/p about 100 aus but wouldnt have missed it

unfortunatly it was spoiled by the continual harrassment of the horse donkey and camel ride salesmen and boys the first of which is just inside the gate where you are offered a horse ride to the entrance supposedly included they say in the ticket price but when you get there a tip is demanded of at least 20 jod, once you get off the horse and pay your tip you will be expected to take a donkey ride the rest of the way and if you decline they follow you all the way while continuing to sell their ride we did get a couple of bargains however Danny and cameron managed to get an un-escorted ride for 7 jod though they were on occasions fearfull of their lives as the donkeys went perilously close to the edge of the precipice

the whole area is much larger than I imagined it took us from 9am till 2pm to walk to the monestry

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view of the monestry from best viewing spot

and back

the first part is a narrow passageway of about 2-3 km and immediately at the end of the passage you are met with a magnificent structure carved into the rock

all through the rest of the walk there is houses and rooms carved out of the rock as well as temples with roman pillars however all the pillars are broken down apparently by an earthquake this area must have once been a busy town centre all hidden away in the mountain at one point it is said to have housed 30,000 people

there is an amphitheatre about halfway through and at the end of a 2 hour walk you climb 850 steps aprox to the monestry carved into the rock and if still not worn out you can climb higher to the best viewing spot where you get a 360 degree view

but now only a few bedowins live just beyond where the tourists go. where there is aparently a spring

2pm and we went back to the hotel, had a quick swim and got into our bus to head for the border 2hrs journey through treeless hot dusty mountainous country to start

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near the bend of our day mum and dad were worn out

with and then the second half was treeless hot dusty plains. we were glad to get to the border and pay 10 jod to exit and enter Israel

the motel we are staying in is opulent resort style we had buffet tea and i am now sitting on my balcony writing this as the military jets fly past every few minuets along the border

tomorrow we go to look at a full size replica of the tabernacle and then have a free afternoon

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