I’m up at 6 and ready for a hearty breakfast (as my guidebook recommends) before heading down to the ancient city of Petra. However, no restaurants seem to be open, and none of them seem to be appealing anyways. So I purchase a fresh roll at a bakery and start walking the 2 kilometers down the hill. I get to the entrance at around 7:30 and head for the visitors’ center to arrange for a guide to Petra. Although my guidebook says guides can be acquired for about $25 for a full day, according to the visitors’ center, the going rate is $100. So I decide to wait outside to see if I can join up with another individual or small group to share the expense. Soon I see an elderly British woman alone and ask if she wants to share the cost of a guide. She agrees, we make the deal, and off we go. It turns out that she is from the Bahamas and is touring Syria and Jordan. We head down to do the 1 ½ kilometer walk through the Siq to the ruins of the ancient city. It’s a narrow passageway through a cut in a huge mountain with an eerie sense of mystery to it. Along the way we see a carved waterway along one side of the wall and several places with hieroglyphic writings. Eventually we see an opening up ahead, and soon the Treasury building comes into view. It’s hard to describe, although it was filmed in “Raiders of the Lost Ark”. It looks like a giant façade carved into the sandstone mountain with a large courtyard in the front. At this hour, it is not too crowded. Time for coffee while we just gaze at the magical view. From there we continue heading down, amazed at each turn to see even more giant facades, which our guide describes as either tombs, temples, homes, or other things. There is even a huge outdoor amphitheatre built by the Romans. Although the guide gave us all the obligatory, detailed historical background, the best I can remember is that several successive peoples occupied this place, including Phoenicians, Byzantines, Romans, Arabs, not necessarily it that order. Our tour includes the ascent of 1200 carved steps up a mountain to the monastery. Our guide recommends we rent donkeys for the ascent, which I really don’t want to do. But our guide insists, so up I go on this poor mangy little donkey, led by a donkey guy, and I hang on for dear life as the donkey bounds up the steps, walking precariously close to the edge of giant cliffs. I’m pretty sure I’ll die, but what the hell. If it’s so hard to climb on foot, why can the donkey guy do it? I finally realize that this way up is faster and the guide is in a hurry to finish our tour and get on with the next one, the bastard. We finally get to the top, I’m still alive but residual terror is still with me. The monastery is impressive. We decide to walk up above the monastery for a panoramic view of Petra and the surrounding mountains. We stop at a Bedouin tent at the top and are offered some sweet tea. From here we can see what is allegedly the tomb of Aharon (Moses’ brother) on a mountaintop across the way, a full day’s hike that I will not do.
From there we walk down the 1200 steps back to the bottom, say goodbye to our guide, who gets no tip. I invite the Bahamian woman for lunch, which she declines, and I’m off on my own. It is already past 2 PM and I am very hungry, but enjoy slowly wandering back the way I came, although very crowded with large busloads of tour groups doing a mini-version of what we just did. Outside of the old city of Petra I find a little restaurant and have some mediocre Jordanian food, basically rice with tomato sauce. I then take a taxi back to my hotel to rest and figure out what to do for the rest of the day. I’m much too tired to walk much more. So I decide to go to the sister hotel, Al Anbat I, for a Turkish bath and buffet dinner. The Turkish bath, my first one since Istanbul in 1968, is great. Alternate times in a steam room, then a scrub down by Mohamed, then a rinse, then an intense massage, then another rinse, then some time in a whirlpool bath, then wrapped in heavy towels, served tea, and I’m renewed. And the dinner is quite good, lots of salads, fish, vegetables, Arabic sweets for dessert. Back to my hotel to sleep and get ready for a big travel day.
