Petra is truly a sight to see. You have to see it yourself to really appreciate its beauty. There's some poem that describes Petra as the "rose-red city" but that's not true. In fact, the author didn't see the city until after he'd written the poem.
On our first visit to Petra, we walked through the Siq, a 3km path through a narrow canyon from the gate to the city. Even there we were impressed with the colors, not knowing how wonderful it would be later on. My first view of the Treasury made me gasp. I knew Petra's most famous and elaborate site would greet us after the Siq, but it was still a delightful surprise.
We were both unaware of Petra's size. It was plenty big enough for us to happily explore its tombs and canyons over 3 days. Day 1 was spent seeing the Treasury, the Street of Facades, and the High Place of Sacrifice. The High Place afforded some nice views of the city. Then we took the back way down, not as popular as the way we went up which meant not seeing hundreds of tourists, which we liked. This trail passed some tombs and a home and some more wonderful color. We also climbed up another hill that in the end gave us a view of the Treasury from above. Again and again I was in awe of the lush colors or impressed with the skill of the ancient stone masons. Walking along the Street of Facades, we had a little fun with some of the holes eroded in them!
Day 2 we entered Petra from a side route through the Tunnel. This trail led us through a canyon and for the most part we were alone, except for the occasional tourist. We met a Bedouin man who asked us to have tea with him and his friend. We chatted a little and in the end he asked us if we wanted to buy some old coins, which were nice but we declined. I did give them my orange in return for their hospitality. The canyon got more and more narrow and opened up in this small "room" of niches and a facade. We walked by another tomb, one of a Roman governor who wanted to be buried in Petra. We also found the Petra Church. Neither of us had read much about it so the mosaics caught us off guard. They were pretty neat. Finally, we hiked up to the Monastery, Petra's second-most famous site, which would explain why there were so many people walking up and down it all day. The monastery is huuuuuugggee, way bigger than the Treasury though not as elaborate. I still find it difficult to believe that someone just carved away at a cliff-side, leaving these incredible facades behind. The area boasted the View of The End of the World, too. Like Sinai, it did give me the impression of being on top of the world.
By Day 3 we were both tired but looking forward to taking a little-known trail recommended by Nassr, our hotel manager. It was more wild and we only saw a couple of other tourists on horseback in the distance. The trail went past a set of tombs and purple canyons which led to maroon canyons. We found our way to the Treasury again (after losing and finding the trail once or twice) and I would have really enjoyed being the only ones on that bluff looking down on the Treasury and all the other tourists if it hadn't been so cold. :-( We ate our boxed lunch and Froody tried to get a fire going. Before lunch was over I was cold, sore, and not having fun anymore, so we decided to head back the way we came. Warmed up from the walk, I didn't want to leave Petra so soon, so Froody suggested we spend time exploring the tombs we had passed. That was fun, and I got to collect some pieces of pottery. Some are probably Nabatean, others could be Roman, Ottoman, Persian, or from anywhere since Petra was along a major trade route for a couple of centuries. This was our shortest visit to Petra, only 4 hours instead of 6 or 8!
So, if Petra is not a "rose-red city," how would I describe it? A city made of shifting colors in bands of white, burgundy, blue, purple, and yellow. Like bruise? Oh, yeah, that's romantic- See Petra, whose walls and columns beautifully show the bruises of the Earth.
No comments:
Post a Comment