Petra, The rosered city

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In addition to Wadi Rum, already covered, Jordan has one other unmissable attraction-the countrys number one attraction-let me present to you Petra! There are two ways of describing what this place is.The short one: a ruinated nabatean city known only by beduins for centuries. The more correct one: a nabatean cityarea in a spectacular landscape of canyons, valleys and mountains still inhabited by bedouins. You can visit the place in one day and tell you have been there, but in order to be able to say you have explored Petra you need at least two days-witch was what i spend-but unless you are a fast walker able to cover big distances on your legs, 3 days are what you need. I walked more than 40 kilometers, and still have covered only the highlights of the area.
The introduction tho Petra is spectacular-almost too spectacular in a way...you walk trough a long and deep canyon, so narrow that it almost form a roof above you. Some places it towers 200 meters above your head. Some places the siq is only around 5 meters wide, the narrowest point is only 2 meters and its lenght is around 1200 meters. In a distant past, religious pocessions used it, they went where you go now,and several places remains of religous figures witnessing about the inhabitants belief can be seen. Actually, the nabateans cut inscriptions and figures everywhere in the surounding mountains and i am sure that a casual visitor walking just a little off the trails by chance might find something new. The siq itself is actually not defined as a canyon (formed by water), it is a crack in the rock formed by tectonic forces.
At the other end of the Siq (canyon), you suddenly see the impressive facade of Al Khazneh-the trasury. The name it got from a legend of a hidden treasure. In reality it is the entrance of a royal tomb-or so they believe. Nobody can be unaffected by its grandeur and craftmanship-the whole thing is cut out of the rockface and tower high above you. This around 2000 year old facade is remarkably well preserved-thanks to the protective cliffsides surrounding it. The best colours here are in the late morning-just as everywhere around here, the rockcolours change dramatically during the day.
After the treasury, you enter a canyon called the street of facades. This is Petras necropolis so the rockfaces are filled with graves. Now you have two choises-go pass the nabatean theatre-witch actually was extended by the romans, and continue towards the citycenter where people actually lived. Or do as i did, take the more energydemanding way into the citycentre-start climbing along one of the ancient paths still with the ancient stairsections worned down by people gone centuries and millennias ago. This path eventually take you to the socalled High places of sacrifices-Al-Madabah, one of several sutch mountaintopaltars in the area. Here you find an altarplatform complete with bloddrainages. But what really makes the climb worthwhile is the view over Downtown Petra and the surrounding mountains. When you continue down on the other side of the mountain-towards the center, you pass by several graves-have a look inside-the colourpattern of the rock is beautifull-a great decoration in itself.
The most impressive strucures, or actually the only big structures standing up in the citycenter are the temples. People themselves mostly lived in clayhouses witch now mostly are gone. The remains are hidden below the soil in areas very little excavated. The survivng homes are those cut into the cliffs, and interesting enough-some of them are modernised and in full use today. Officially not legal, but it is done. Most of the locals now live in villages in the area-some of them earlier lived in old Petra too, and a century ago or even less-old Petra was everybodys home. Other remains worth checking out is the byzantine church-or rather its mosaikfloor, the Cardo Maximus witch was the collonaded mainstreet. Here are also the remains of a nabatean bath and a palace.
One worthwhile sidetrip go into the Wadi Siyagh-at the entrance of the siq there are some nice homes with colourful flovergardens outside. In this wadi there were-i was told-one of Petras suburbs-now it is only empty caves there, a riverbed, quite a lot of vegetation and some small farmplots grown by locals. It is a relaxed walk witch mixes nature (look for birds and wildflowers in the season-i found som really beautifull flowering bushes standing close to the rockface-a good photoopportunity.This wadi actually have quite a lot of forrest), history and glimpses of todays living Petra.
Another trek go north from the museum. The highlight is at its end: the facade of the monastery with some outstanding vantagepoints over a spectacular mountain and valleylandscape. Beware-it is a long way down! This facade, as every other facade in Petra is at its best early and late in the day.
Recomended in the afternoon is a trip up to the royal tombs cut out of the rocface east of the mainroad betwen the theatre and the citycenter-taking a photo of this clifface in the afternoon is a must. The graves itself is richly decorated-by nature. The rockcolouration inside the manmade caves is one of the most living memories of my Petravisit. In this area, an old staired path climb up to the mountaintop. Here i was delayed-herders with their goats filled the path. At the top, a poorly marked and often little visible trail take you to the cliffs just above your first sight of Petra-the treasury. It is a funny way to see it, and the voices from people drifting up from the siq adds something to the atmosphere. But please use your judgement-there are no fencing up there. Having survived this-it is time to return to sivilisation, where food and beer wait for you!

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