Petra! I can’t believe it. I’ve been dreaming of going to Petra forever – long before Indiana Jones made the Treasury famous in the Movie.

And now, finally – I’m going to do it! I’m completely excited, thrilled, and a bit nervous about the walk. But hey – I climbed into and up the Great Pyramid – I can do anything.

Unfortunately, Victor wakes up feeling very poorly and tells me that he’s rolling over and going back to sleep. I tell him – it’s Petra! You sure. He’s sure. So I go down to the lobby and explain to Osama that Victor’s not coming. He insists on calling up to the room to explain that Victor can take the cart option – but Victor says no – but thanks. He’s going back to sleep.

We walk across the road, Osama explains the layout of the Park – and then tells us that he plans on doing the walk very slowly, timing it so we get to the Treasury when the sun hits the face perfectly. I’m relieved. A nice slow walk – that I can do.

There are other options of course – some folks jog down as fast as possible. Other folks take a cart. And there’s even a horse riding option. Osama makes sure that no one wants the other options – and that folks know that it’s really easy to just do the carts back in case they get tired.

I’m not sure at this point that I realized that the Treasury isn’t actually in ‘Petra’ the city. It’s part of the Petra Momument of course – but it’s 1/2 way to the city. You must walk another mile and 1/2 to get to the city itself – and that’s where we’re having lunch. So basically it’s 3 miles down and 3 miles back from our lunch stop.

Completely innocently – I follow the leaders down the gravel, but relatively flat path past vendors (1 dinar – just 1 dinar), past folks hustling for horseback rides (want ride – horse ride), and past incredible views. Then we arrive at the entrance to The Siq – the canyon of the moon as per Indiana Jones. There’s a flat part, some bathrooms – and about 12 Roman Reactors! They do a quick formation march – then stand at attention as we walk down into the Siq.

As promised, Osama takes it slowly. He points out the elaborate water system that provided the city with water from springs up in the surrounding mountains, the dams that are part of that watering system, and a place where there’s a carving, now very eroded of a Roman (based on the Toga he’s wearing) leading several Camels. Once pointed out – you can’t miss it.

The pass thru the red rock canyons – colored magnificantly by nature in Red, White, and Black – curves and winds. This was the way Camel teams – 100 camels long – would get into Petra. Their goal – as ours is now – was the city. It’s an Oasis in the middle of the desert – right on the crossing of numerous trade routes North, East, and West.

Pictures simply do not do it justice.

Nah – not good enough. It is absolutely the most amazing thing.

And it’s not just the Treasury – although that’s staggeringly beautiful. There is so much more. Some of it easy to get to, some of it a lot more challenging. For example – there’s the Monastery – so named because folks who originally lived in the Siq and knew no archology – didn’t realize it was a tomb. Ed and Todd galloped up and down the 900+ steps, and could easily have done more. Me – not a chance!

Compared to the Tombs and Temples of Egypt, the city of Petra is relatively young – only about 2300 years old, compared to 4000 to 5000 years for the Egyptian Monuments – but the beauty can’t be understated.

It was a popular spot for 270 years (170 BC to 106 AD) for Camel Carvans because it had water year round. And it had water year round in the middle of a desert with maybe 14” of rain a year because the Nabataeans – a Bedouin Tribe out of Saudi Arabia – were amazing water engineers. They managed to get so much water to flow year round into the city that the Romans when they took over the city actually built a Nymphaeum, a quite elaborate public fountain.

In addition to the basic 3 mile walk – from the Entrance to the Treasury and on to the city of Petra itself, I’m considering a slight detour. It’s an easier walk amoung the options – up to what are called the Royal Tombs – although there are no records of any Royal folks living here. Then my phone bings – I get a message from Victor to let me know he’s feeling a lot better.

Osama says – we’ll do lunch down here as planned – it’s a magnificant buffet of Egyptian delights, you will love it. Then I’ll go back, pick him up and take him down to the Treasury in a cart. Odessey has already paid for the ticket so it’s just the cost of the cart extra. Naturally – I’ll go with Osama – and that means everyone else is on their own after lunch.

Plan made – I let Victor know that Osama and I will pick him up at around 3:00 to go see the Treasury.

After a deliciou lunch I hoof it back up the path (yes – 3 MORE miles) from the city of Petra, past the Royal Tombs, Past the Treasury and up, up, up to the Monument exit. Meanwhile Osama gets everyone else organized and then probably runs up to the Exit. Sigh – Oh to be young again.

I stumble back into our hotel room at 2:15 – quite proud of myself if a bit sore, and when Osama calls us at 2:30 PM – he’s ready to head back down – both Victor and I are ready to go. We enter the park again, and thank goodness – this time we are taking a cart down to the Treasury. I’m not at all sure I had another 3 miles in me. Victor admires the carving, the colors of the rocks, and some of the additional carvings, and then we take a cart back up the hill.

In addition to the expected hustle of ‘ride my camel’ – we are treated to a wonderful display of tourists behaving badly. To take the cart back – you have to line up and wait your turn. On large group of about 8 tourists – with their guide – ignore the line and try to push their way ahead of folks – including Victor and I – who have been waiting our turn to get on a cart very politely. I’ve having none of that I tell you – so I explain to them – there’s a line – and they are NOT getting ahead of my husband’s trip back to the hotel. And they aren’t getting ahead of those people who were waiting with us – or that guy that was also lined up before they so rudely decided to stand on our right rather than wait their turn.

To applause from the other folks patiently waiting – we are seated in the next cart to make the journey back thru the canyon. On our way up – we spot at least 5 carts heading back down empty – I guess the word got to the Powers that Be that folks were getting unruly at the cart stop.

Victor goes back to our room to rest – I do the Petra Museum. It’s actually a lot larger than it looks and covers the entire history of this part of Jordan. As I enter the museum, I run into Andrea who tells me to be sure and see the introductory movie. It’s all about water – and how the Nabataeans ruled for 270 years because they understood how truly important it was!

Just FYI – (I had to look this up on a map) – Petra is in the middle South of Jordan – well below the end of the Dead Sea and about 1/2 way from the Dead Sea to the Red Sea. Definitely in the middle of the desert.

It’s easy to imagine 100 long camel carvans going up and down – destination Petra and water. The high period of Petra ended when the last of the Kings died without an heir and the Romans decided they would rule Petra.

Fortunately – they improved, not destroyed the carvings in the soft Limestone done by the Nabataeans. But they did force them to stop carving tombs, and eventually they were absorbed into the Roman culture. In the city of Petra there are huge Roman ruins including a giant Temple which had it’s own swimming pool and garden, a multi-story building, traditional entrance arches, and of course the Nymphaeum.

I suspect that the Siq even impressed the Romans as they didn’t really widen it – but left it as this magnificant entry way into another world.

Dinner is a group affair – more mezze for me – and we are fairly early to bed. Thank goodnes. My watch is very proud of me – I did over 24,000 steps – and I’m pretty well done in. I just hope Victor continues to feel better in the morning.

Signing off to pass out – the Soup Lady