Petra et cetera

27/2/22

We arrived at our hotel in Petra and headed straight to the historical sites which was just a short walk to the entrance. Husam was going to get our tickets and I asked if there was food inside the site. He recommended we get food before and walked us over to a cafe where we proceeded to have a guided tour of the shop and the menu (I wish I was joking!). By doing this, Husam got a free lunch since he ‘referred’ us there. Guess you gotta do what you gotta do ayy, anything to make the daily grind easier?! Either way I was bemused!! The tourist mark up was from £1 to £5 per wrap so it was just as well that my chicken schwarma was darn delicious!! After food, we got our tickets from Husam and headed in. It was a longggg walk from the ticket check point to the main tourist site, the treasury, and we had to pass many hawkers selling anything from donkey rides to postcards. Husam had told us that you must give them an answer otherwise they’ll keep persisting with their questions but that once you say ‘no’, they should leave you be. This was mainly the case aside from a few kids thay knew they had the upper hand!! To get to the treasury, we walked through a long canyon, caused by an earthquake back in the day, making Petra very well protected. It was through the narrow canyon that we first caught a glimpse of Petra’s treasury. It was glorious. So clean and with such intricate carvings so well preserved. We took a few pictures before (Hu)Sam gave us the low-down. It was from 2 AD so was pretty old and everything had been thought about to try to protect it – a system had been devised so that water drained away from the site and the site had also been cut into the rock so there was an overhang on either side protecting it. It had worked, and remained much more intact than any other remains with the whole archaeological site.

We continued walking through the grounds and passed a theatre which was used when a person died and their family had to offer something to the gods. Normally they would kill a few goats and pour the blood from the top of a mountain which was specifically used for these killings and people in the theatre would wait until the blood from the offering arrived through a drainage system into the theatre. Sounds thrilling, right?! Later the Romans used the theatre for entertainment purposes too!

After that we climbed a small rock for a view over the majority of the rest of the site. There was a huge rock face of tombs on one side and a Roman road (cardo) with a ruined Palace and church on the other. There were also dozens of donkeys and camels wandering about with their owners hoping to drum up some business. After admiring the view awhile and listening to more history from Sam, we walked back through the canyon to leave. By this point Nancy and I were starving so we headed straight to a nearby cafe. After rejecting one, we headed to one called Mum’s cuisine restaurant, which had cute decor and Indian vibes. Obviously I was tempted. I ordered a fresh lemon and mint drink which was divine and Nancy ordered hummus and enough freshly baked pittas for both of us. I was pretty happy! We chilled a bit before heading back to the hotel to freshen up before meeting the group for dinner.

After a brief on what tomorrow’s plan was, we headed out for dinner at what Sam promised was the best place to eat in town! On the way, I admitted to Sam that I wasn’t as hungry as I might be since I’d already snacked. He asked where and I told him it was the mum’s place one. He looked bemused and said that was his place and he recommended the lemon and mint. I agreed with him that it was good and I’d already tried it. He was shocked and I told him, maybe I could be a guide now!!

Dinner was insaaane! There was soo much food. We all ordered lots of starters to share and then I had a chicken dish with peppers and onions. Awhile later the lights cut out and I thought there’d been a power cut. Shortly afterwards a cake appeared from across the restaurant and happy birthday played through the speakers. We all started clapping and were looking round to try to see whose birthday it was. The birthday cake was coming towards us! I was still clapping. The birthday cake came to me and I stopped clapping!! Sam had got me a belated birthday cake since he said he couldn’t do much in the desert!! How sweet! And indeed, how sweet the cake was too! 😋

28/2/22

Had a solid buffet breakfast before heading out to hit Petra hard for the second day in a row. Today was the day to ‘hike’ to the monastery. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the monastery, we were just told that it was the next best thing to see after the treasury. The boys headed off early, but us girls (six of us) started out on our mission up the hill together. We started by going completely the wrong way together which we only realised when Nancy checked maps.me against the map of Petra. Ooops! We headed back across the rocks, past a few Bedouin homes, past some goats and a small, very cute puppy and went right down to the bottom of the hill again. Luckily the views from the top of the hill were nice, so we weren’t too put out!

We set back off in the right direction along a valley bottom before cutting up the rocks, some of which were cut into steps and some which were au natural. The thing which made my life a little more difficult was that most of these rocks were lightly dusted in sand, which made them very easy to slip on, and therefore made me a little cautious. We passed some small market stalls lining the route up. Eventually, the path opened up and there was essentially a repeat of the treasury high up in the mountains. It was super impressive!! We admired it before we scrambled up some more rocks to reach a viewpoint where we snacked and drank iced tea. There was a skanky cat which kept trying to snuggle up to us much to our distress!

After awhile, we headed down and got drinks in a cafe overlooking the monastery. I tried cardamon coffee, which wasn’t as nice as cardamon tea (karak chai), but wasn’t bad! Then three of the girls left, including Nancy and I stayed to admire the monastery from the cafe with Tash and Alex.

After an hour or so, we headed down the mountain slowly while trying not to slip and slide too much! Then we headed to the tombs. On the way, a Bedouin guy invited us into his shop for tea and ‘hospitality’. We chatted about his life, tourists and Petra. He had a cave, a house and a shop. He also asked what our favourite colours were and then if ored each one of us and chose a scarf to wrap on each of our heads to ‘suit our complexion’ and then he put kohl round our eyes. It was quite the look!

Once we were down, we made it up to the tombs for a brief look before we walked back to the entrance via the treasury. We chilled in the hotel a little before heading back to ‘Mom’s Place’ for dinner again. I had a delicious chicken dish wrapped in an insane thin bread after our usual shared starters. Mm-mm!