A Long Weekend in Jordan – Travelogue Day 3 & 4
The Monastery Hike – via the back door
Hello and welcome to my Jordan travel diary. This is day 3 & 4.
I was fortunate enough to spend a long weekend in Jordan. I hope you enjoy peeking into my travel journal.
I wake up earlier than the alarm, which was hugely disappointing, but i am able to fall back asleep eventually and I sleep right up until the alarm. I feel refreshed, although a little sore.
I look out the window and the sun is only just beginning to rise. We get up and shower and get ready for the day. Firstly, breakfast beckons, so we go and have a delicious and hearty meal. There is an onsite chef who cooks fresh omelettes, which is a lovely bonus.
With our tummies full, our bags packed into the car, we drive back to the Petra car park, 100m away, and we go to meet our guide. Yes, I know I could have stayed parked where I was, but I knew that at the end of the day I would curse myself for having to walk that extra little bit if I didn’t have to.
Mohammad, our guide, is waiting for us. We meet him and he organises our receipt for the day. He takes us to the free shuttle bus as our our is starting with Little Petra today. Once upon a time, it was free to visit this site, but now it is controlled along with the rest of Petra. Our visa included two days at Petra, so we were already set.
I have to be careful in the shuttle bus so as not to get motion sick on the winding roads. I make it ok, but I am grateful that the drive wasn’t particularly long.
Little Petra is older than the other Petra sites. It was where the wealthy traders would live and it was a place of worship and gathering. What’s also interesting is it is one of the oldest places in the world that made wine. We didn’t have time to see the wine making cave, though.
Our guide shows us the different buildings and features, such as the water reservoirs. He describes how we can tell the difference between if a cave was used for worship or gathering. Firstly, a place of worship had a niche for the deity. Now, some of the deities are built into the carvings and buildings, and others have a void. The ones with a void is because people would place their own deity there to worship.
The caves where people would meet had more pronounced places to sit. There would be no niche, but there might be a washing basin that would be used before going to worship. It’s very interesting once these things are pointed out because it all makes perfect sense! But unless you are told, you may miss these small details.
We then continue to ‘the best view in the world’, which is a claim you see very often around these parts. And I must admit, the viewpoints are usually beautiful, but I can’t say for sure what is the best one I’ve seen.
Along the way, Amy befriends a super cute kitten. There are so many cats around here. I joke that the traders should charge 1 dinar per pat and they would make an absolute killing. Everyone seems to like the cats and kittens.
We climb up a set of stairs and through a good stall where a man is selling drinks and souvenirs. The viewpoint is conveniently located through the other side of his business, and it is pretty. The rock formations are beautiful. There is another cat here and the stall owner says Amy can keep it. Ha, but seriously, no.
The climb back down is almost as hard as going up as the stairs are worn and slippery in spots. We walk back through Little Petra to the entrance where we purchase our ticket for the car ride to the start of our Monastery hike. The tickets are 5 dinars each.
There is a little bit of a wait while other visitors arrive and purchase their tickets, so we check out the souvenir shops. I buy a string of camels that are made by local Bedouin families that have been moved on from staying in the caves here. It has five camels along a length of ribbon that hangs down with a bell attached to the end. That’ll do just nicely as my art piece.
The car arrives and it has an open seating arrangement. There are about 18 seats on the back of the ute. It’s a great way to move a moderately large number of people. We take our seats and patiently wait for the car to go.
Once we start moving, the guide points out the cave where wine used to be made. It is one of the earliest winemaking artefacts in the world. It would have been interesting to see inside the cave. It is open to the public, but we didn’t have the time to visit it.
The car takes us into the archaeological park further than a private guide could take us. The first boom gate we are stopped at is the furthest we could go with an unofficial guide. A bunch of guys hop on the car asking if we are interested in riding a mule to the Monastery. Of course I would prefer to get to the Monastery by easier means, but it’s the journey, and all that blah blah.
So, the car continues on and we finally come to the end of the road and the beginning of the trail. The trail is quite exposed at this point and I really wonder about the ethics of the private guides leaving people to wander through the desert with no shade for about an hour from the last boom gate to this location. I am glad we have an official guide who navigated us to the point of least walking.
We commence walking on the Monastery trail. I am glad we chose to go this way as I haven’t completed this trail before. Additionally, walking back and forth another time through the Main trail can get a little tedious. At least this way there will be new sights to see and new vantage points to check out.
The guys on the mules continually follow the tourists offering their services. As tempting as it is, I prefer the torture, I mean fun, of completing the trail myself. The beginning of the trail has us basically climbing stairs to the top of the mountain and then we follow a more meandering path around the various mountaintops.
We stop along the way at various viewpoints, looking out over the desert towards the border with Israel. It’s amazing to see the change in rocks from sandstone to limestone. The limestone is quite dark and was used during construction of buildings.
The path starts to head downwards and then we are walking along a sandy trail. At this point, I’ve given up on trying to keep my new white shoes clean.
After 1 hour and 8 minutes of walking and taking in the amazing sites, we see the top of the Monastery. It is peeking out over the top of some rocks. It is such a beautiful sight.
We reach the Monastery and I am surprised by the lack of people here. It is so quiet. We get some front row seats at the little shop and grab some drinks and a date biscuit and soak up the view of one of the most beautiful buildings I’ve seen.
The Monastery is much older than the Treasury. The architecture is a lot heavier than the Treasury, as it looks stronger and tougher. At one point there would have been a large enclosed columned portico coming off the front of the facade.
The niches are empty because it is believed that the religious artefacts would be placed there based on the current day customs and religions.
It is unfortunate to see some of the lower half weathering away. It makes me wonder how many years it will take until some of these facades are completely lost.
After about 40 minutes, we start the walk back down to the main trail. This way has about 900 steps we need to descend. Unlike the path leading here, the steps are all in one go. There is no meandering path, just steps.
It takes about 35 minutes to reach the bottom. Along the way, I am very surprised by the lack of stalls selling souvenirs. I know what UNESCO is trying to achieve, it does feel a little less touristy and a little more authentic.
The guide has completed his duties for the day and he leaves us here to continue looking at the buildings. We first visit Petra Church which was built around 450 CE by the christian community living in Petra. In 600 CE parts of the church were destroyed in a fire. The mosaic floors were not destroyed and they displays scenes about the season and agriculture in the region. The fire assisted to preserve some papyrus scrolls dating to 537 CE which detailed legal happenings at the time, such as real estate transactions, disputes, contracts, and inheritances.
From the church, we head to the Royal Tombs.There are four grand tombs dating from 60 BCE to 50 CE. The four tombs have been given names: Urn Tomb, Silk Tomb, Corinthian Tomb and Palace Tomb.
It is a sad time, but we then start to walk towards the exit. We get to the Treasury for the final time and we decide to sit for a bit and have a drink and take in the sights one last time. As we start walking through the Siq, with our backs to the Treasury, it feels sacrilegious to be walking away from this magnificent place.
I point out the fish looking rock to Amy and we have fun trying to get a photo of me kissing it. I think it turned out ok!
We make it back to the car and our time at Petra has finished. We now have a three hour drive ahead of us to reach our hotel in Madaba. The drive was fine except for all the shitty cars who drive with their high beams on. Won’t somebody spare a thought for those of us who are sight impaired coupled with astigmatism?!
After hours of concentration and frowning to keep out the glaring lights, we finally make it to the hotel. My boss at work is Jordanian and when I told him my plans he commented that Madaba was a christian city. I didn’t think much of it, until I pulled up and saw four bottle shops in a 100m stretch of road. This may feel common for us Australians, but not so common in a Muslim majority country.
The hotel restaurant is closed, so the reception recommends a restaurant just down the street. We make our way there and find it has Lebanese cuisine. I order the fried fish and Amy orders a shawarma. The sauteed vegetables that mine comes with are delightful. They are so good. The fish has an interesting spice mix in the batter. It is a bit sweet. I like it, but I just can’t place the particular spices.
We leave the restaurant with full tummies. We go straight to bed as we are tired. I am especially tired after the drive.
Bye Jordan. It’s been delightful.
I slept like a log. We eat breakfast at the hotel before making our way to the airport. We drop the car off and go to check in. Everything goes smoothly and soon enough we are boarding the plane to head home.
My legs are sore but my phone is full of amazing photos and my heart is happy with the last few days. I am so glad I took the opportunity to travel to Jordan for the long weekend.
More journal entries from this trip
A Long Weekend in Jordan – Travelogue Day 1
A Long Weekend in Jordan – Travelogue Day 2
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