Jordan – Petra

Petra, Jordan

I have always wanted to see this hidden city, carved out of the mountainside rocks and hidden from the world unless you knew where it was, down the huge gorge. This should be one of the new Wonders of the World. Massive tourism appeal but it’s so, so worth any effort to get here. Walk the ravine with hundred metre tall edges and coloured rocks, explore the carved houses and climb the exhausting steps to get a view over the site and beyond.

I can’t express how special and enchanting this place is. I have never been to a similar setting. Look at my pics and you must want to go ! You can get there and back on a day trip bus from Amman to the entrance or stay overnight just outside. Adorable place !

My visit to Petra was part of my trip to Jordan where I also visited:

Mt Nebo and Madaba, (Click here for review)

Amman, (click here for review)

Jerash and Ajloun, (click here for info)

On this same trip to The Middle East, I also visited a total of 10 other locations in Egypt and Lebanon. Find the places I went to under those countries on my destinations page.

I was based in Amman for my week long stay in Jordan and used it as a base to explore parts of the rest of the country. Jordan is not a large country so most cities are reachable from Amman for a day trip except the far south.

Petra was about the furthest I could go comfortably in a day but it still meant catching a 6:30am coach to arrive there around 10am.

Use JTT tours for Petra and Jordan travel.

I used JTT tours (often called JETT) quite a bit as I found them cheap, reliable and with modern, comfortable coaches. They are about the nearest Jordan has to a national coach company and are geared more towards tourists as they pick up and drop of at the tourist sites.

Often you can see several places in one day on a day trip as they drop you off at the gates of an attraction, you self-guide yourself around it for the 1-2 hours it takes to see it, re-board the bus and then whizz off to the next place.

I loved them. Click here for more info on JTT

This one however, due to the long distance involved, was a trip to the very entrance of the Petra mountain site, 7 hours at the site (just about enough as it is huge) and then re-board to come back to Amman. Return was around 5pm to get back into Amman at 8pm and costs 18 JD return.

You can see it is thus a long day, but feasible.

Stay overnight in Petra?

The alternative was to spend a night at Petra for a more relaxing trip but one night in Petra was incredibly expensive. Even a cheap B&B wanted twice as much as a one-night stay in my 4-star Amman city hotel. It is clear the area has a niche, captive audience and can charge these prices, that many will pay.

There are a range of hotels outside the site from top range Marriott to low line guest houses and quite a lot in between. Check where the hotel actually is, as I have seen many advertised that then involve a taxi drive from the hotel to the site entrance, due to the distance from the site, despite Petra town being small.

Due to the exorbitant price of a decent Petra hotel, I decided to bite the bullet and do the day trip. The next day I had free time to get up late for my afternoon flight to Beirut, Lebanon so an exhausting day for once would be fine.

Catching a taxi from the hotel at 5:45 for the 15 mins journey into town (so I would arrive well early and not miss the bus), proved more difficult than I imagined it would. It was raining and I needed to walk out from the hotel to hail a cab in the main road in front. Reception didn’t have numbers to call for a cab so it was up to me to work it out.

At that time of the morning there were few cabs passing and those that were just went straight past me, despite my arm waving. All were taken and just whizzing past me. Maybe I was doing it wrong, so ! went back to the hotel and explained my lack of success.

A waiter took pity on me, stepped outside, saw a cab, whistled loudly and waved and one pulled over – amazing! – how come it didn’t work with me?

Maybe it was the whistling or that he was clearly from the hotel by his uniform. Anyway, it now meant I would get to my pick up point at the Intercontinental Hotel with 5-6 mins to spare. The coach arrived on time and off we set for the long journey.

Views on the way to Petra.

The first part through Amman is interesting as it goes by what must be the new modern skyscraper district. I hadn’t seen this before and to pass by these structures after days of traditional Arab houses or more modest modern 4-5 story buildings was weird.

Amman is not a tall city and these were the first buildings of this height (25 storey glass blocks) and type that I had seen here.

Outside the city it turns to scrubland, small farms, then rocky land and some fields. From that it turns to complete desert, with nothing but sand on either side up to the horizon. Interesting to see this transformation and actually feel that I am at last in a desert kingdom.

The next couple of hours was just a pure desert vista, yellow sand to the horizon but the road was super modern and well maintained.

The arrival at Petra was pretty much the same in reverse except the buildings are obviously smaller, less modern and with small streets that the coach actually felt too big for. The town is also in a set of hills so be prepared to walk up and down hills, if you are staying in the centre.

Should you buy the Jordan Pass?

My Jordan Pass(costs 70JD), had Petra included, which would normally cost an eye watering 50 JD to get in, so I was saving money already – click here to read about the Jordan Pass.

Get informed on the Jordan Pass, do the maths for the cost and if it works for you, you must buy the Jordan Pass in advance of arrival in Jordan to get the free entry visa.

This pass, costing 70 JD, gets you free entrance to 40 sites around Jordan (most charge 3-7 JD entrance). It includes the Petra one day entrance (50 JD) or longer for more cost, and also gets you a free visitor’s entry Visa to Jordan (40 JD), assuming your passport allows you visa on arrival status.

It easily saved me over 50 JD on my 6 days in Jordan. Click here to read more in my Amman, Jordan post about how the Jordan Pass saved me loads on my visits to sites around Jordan.

Main entrance to Petra site.

The coach station is literally across the road from the big entrance area to Petra archaeological site with a small shopping/eatery development that is clearly fairly new. Here is where you buy your tickets.

I had to simply present my Jordan Pass and a ticket was issued to me for free.

Quick history of Petra.

Once through the gates the excitement began – but first a little history in appreciation of this site.

It is believed to have been inhabited since 9000BC. It was the capital of the Nabataean Kingdom and a flourishing and vibrant trading city. The Egyptians knew of its existence and the Greeks unsuccessfully tried to conquer it.

It was taken over by the Romans in 106 AD when it was still a flourishing city of 20,000 people. Decline then set in, the earthquake of 363 destroyed large parts of it and the Muslim conquest of it in the 6th Century did not help it regain itself. It then slipped into the unknown, with only rumours circulating of the existence of this secret mountain city.

Bedouin nomads used it but it was only rediscovered in 1812 by a Swiss explorer.

It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and described as “one of the most precious cultural properties of man’s cultural heritage”

In 2007, Al-Khazneh (The Treasury) was voted as one of the New 7 Wonders of the World and Petra is seen as a symbol of Jordan itself. It is also Jordan’s most-visited tourist attraction with a peak of 1 million visitors in 2010.

Ok, history lesson over – back to today.

Donkeys/carts at entrance to Petra.

Near the entrance there are lots of men with donkeys or horse and carts encouraging/pestering you to hire them. I make a point of not taking animal rides as invariably I have found them badly treated or have seen a poor donkey totally overburdened and struggling while carrying a fat lazy tourist – and I saw this here too !

The donkey handlers even tried to trick people by saying that the ride is included in the entrance fee to get you on and then scam you – it is not included.

Yep, the walk is a long 1.2km to the first major building, but any average fit person can do it if they pace themselves. It is on flat ground through to the famous Treasury Building and the Temples. If you go Further than this part (and you should!), it requires climbing up hundreds of steps if you want to see the monastery or mountainside churches etc .

You must however see the monastery as the route also gives you a fantastic view over the whole area from atop a mountain. It is however around 850 steps to climb from the main area inside Petra to The Monastery, so come prepared.

Bring a water bottle, wear sturdy trainers /boots, cool clothing in Summer and not carrying stuff.

The Siq, Petra.

Anyhow, the first section (Siq) is down a wide, obvious, well-trodden walkway with carts, donkeys etc going either way. If you arrive before 11am (the site opens from 6am) you will see everyone heading one way along the route as few people will have reached the end and are doing the return trip back yet.

The sandy walkway is very spacious and the well weathered semi-cliff tops, small buildings carved out of rocks (think The Flintones styled houses!) and a few ruins seem easy to take in.

This is called the Siq and is just the beginnings of an hour’s walk through a ground level, flat mountain passageway. There is little shade from the sun on this part of the walkway so just enjoy the walk, stop and look over things once in a while. However, be careful of the carts etc that at times whizz by dangerously, as they share the walk space too.

At the beginning they have their own racetrack runway but that peeters out as you approach the curved walkway into the mountains. Sometimes the smell of donkey/horse droppings can be intrusive but I actually noticed attendants going along, sweeping it up, as it would otherwise clearly be a big issue.

The sandy walkway turns into a flagstone, sand covered walkway as it narrows, so becomes easier to walk on, and then the first chasm appears at a turn in the walkway. Hard to describe the initial views as it looks as if you are walking into a mountain, slightly downhill and thinking how you are going to get through the rock face.

As you approach the winding walkway and the rocks start to rise above you, you are led into what feels like a route hacked into the mountain but with an open rooftop.

The canyon walkway narrows and the people nearby now come together and you feel you are definitely in a swarm gathering together. The rockfaces are angular but worn and each step takes you deeper into a split in the mountain (still open topped so light is there).

The edges look more worn, and yet further in, the colours of the rocks change every few feet from dark purples to sandstone, to dark yellow and then back to browns and even some black. They even changes shade as the light intensifies or wanes on them.

Petra (Greek for stone or rock) is called the “Rose city” due to the pinkish shades of the rocks often found here.

Presumably these are the colours of the different rock types that have melted into one another over the years. Often, they remined me of those tubes of different coloured sands that are sold as a memento in famous rock locations back home. The coloured stratas were becoming more intense and added a wonder to the vista.

As the walkway narrowed the walls became taller, the sun less able to shine through and then it opens into a wide area – a mini oasis in the slit of rock and you can stand in the sun and look at the towering cliffs on either side. The walkway gets wider in places i.e. about 10 metres wide and sometimes reduces to 3 metres.

Some parts are actually huge open hollows with the rock formations going 100 metres up almost sheer cliffs.

I stopped several times in amazement at the sights. I had never been in a place like this. A slit cut through a mountain range with coloured stratas of rock lining my walkway. The walls are often curved and sculptured and clearly worn into shape by the wind, and presumably rain, over thousands of years.

The passageway continues, seemingly endlessly, and it is hard to know when it will finish, as there is no signage or info at all on the route.

It is a totally amazing environment, completely surrounded by towering weather sculptured walls with a walkway between. So many different shapes and colours as you walk through. Everyone was looking up at the rock faces, taking in the colours and stopping to look back and forward.

The pics here are many but notice how different each vista is in colour, height, shape and weatheredness of the walls. The rocks changed colour depending if was catching bright sun or shade at the time.

The floor of the walkway was really well maintained ie no potholes or dips and there was often the remains of the water channels from ancient times running along the side of the walkway.

There is a small tomb and a few carved out hollows on the way that were once residences or monuments. I continued wondering when I would reach the end and see the famous first building – The Treasury. The walls became so tall I wondered how far into the mountain range we were.

Just when I thought it was getting a bit too narrow, up ahead through the chasm I spotted some horizontal lines with perfectly straight, vertical shading that was at odds with the curvaceous rock formations. This indicated man-made shapes further along the passageway.

This was my first glimpse of The Treasury building, through the thin slit of the walkway sides!

The Treasury.

Excited, I quickened my pace and could see the building ahead of me grow larger and more defined as I approached it. Suddenly the cliff edges that formed the walls of the walkway fell away and I was in a big open hollow.

There were tall mountainsides all around, a carved structure ahead and lots and lots of tourists, camels and my first site of a wooded refreshment area to one side.

This was the famous Treasury building in a huge, flat, natural, open-to-the-skies area. The building and others nearby are carved out of the rock face and set into the cliff wall with hollowed-out rooms inside.

Why is it called The Treasury, when it is actually the tomb building of an ancient 1st century King ? Well, according to local tales, Bedouins thought it used to be used for storing treasure or bounty. They actually thought the carved urn on the rooftop was hollow and filled with treasure and took gun shots at it to break it open, which can still be seen.

It is not hollow or has treasure!

It was amazing and it felt the long walk of about an hour had been worth it. I got my photos and watched the camels resting and saw the donkey rest station to one side and people dressed as Bedouins for paid photos. There was a cleverly designed wooden open-air café/gift market over to one side.

No doubt on a hot day this would be needed but I had my own water bottle. There are steps going up to one side for the more adventurous who want to scale the cliffs and see the various small tombs etc further up that side of the mountain.

At first, I could not work out where I go from here on the ground, as there was not a clear opening. This is one of the reasons it had been difficult to find the site in the 19th century and no doubt helped in a defensive role

I looked around for a continuation and could only see a tall narrow slit in the rockface .

Thinking that could not be the way on I scanned the area in vain. Eventually I opted to follow the crowd who were heading to one side towards the tall crack in the rockface – someone must know where they are going, so off I went with them!

Carved cave houses and main road, Petra. 

The narrow slit in the rock opened out and I was once again in a chasm walkway through the next mountainside, with the sun streaming in from above. This led down to yet more houses and buildings carved into the rock face. Now it was really beginning to feel like a town road with buildings on either side.

Some taller carved edifices stood out, while some smaller, less obvious ones, raised the question what they were for. The walkway widens and widens and eventually comes out into a curvy, hugely wide, continuing walkway. It eventually opens onto the other side of the mountain, in what is an open plain, with massive views to the distance.

Here there was the theatre and masses of huge holes in the cliff faces along the route. These were once dozens of windows or entrances to carved out inner areas (houses, shops). They often had Roman triangular lintels and porticos.

Petra stone Theatre.

Further along here lies the 1st century Theatre. Although Roman in its design, like most of the city, it was carved directly out of the mountainside by the Nabataens who inhabited Petra at the time.

It is actually bigger than the Theatre I saw in Amman and holds 8500 people.

It, in fact, faces the tombs to the side and you can see the entrances to them just beside it. You can almost touch the stage area andthe  original columns have been reset. However, entry into the structure is not allowed. There is a wide walkway down the hill, to an extensive plain surrounded by mountains.

The Great Temple and colonnaded street.

Ahead lies the ruins of the old waterway, fountain and massive Great Temple. Much of the Temple still exists and you can clamber amongst its walls and toppled columns but to get a view of its enormity climb the hillside on the opposite bank and look down on the structure.

The Temple complex was completed in the early 1st century AD, under the rule of Nabataean King Aretas IV. It occupies a massive central position in the town but it is unknown to which deity it was dedicated.

It is suggested that it was actually a theatre and even just an administrative building, so its exact use is uncertain, despite its name.

The main road of the city lies in front of the Temple and you can still walk its length, see the remains of the shops that lined it and walk through what’s left of the gateway arch at one end.

Next door is another smaller temple, The Temple of Dushares, but just as well preserved, with almost roof height walls.

Nearby is a modern restaurant and café and you may well need this rest-spot, as the next part requires a certain amount of fitness and stamina. The walk from here passes cave houses and hollowed out rock facades and yet again felt a bit like the Flintstone show, due to the basic round shaped windows on ground level cave houses.

850 steps to climb to The Monastery.

The walkway now inclines towards the far mountainside and all the guide books say the number of steps to the next stop is around 850. It certainly feels more and several people were doing it on the backs of donkeys. The poor animals struggled on the somewhat slippery stone steps and the handlers did not spare the stick in hitting them to get them moving upwards.

The steps can be steep and several were over 30cm deep. It got me wondering how the original inhabitants navigated steps that were 30 cm deep (some even more) – how did children or the elderly climb these steep steps.

The route has a few, quite nice souvenir shacks and cafes along the route and the hawkers were not too persistent. The route twists and turns, with different small platforms and even gaps between rock faces that had collapsed, and gives marvellous views back to where you have just ascended from.

Rest every 200 steps or so as it can be steep in areas and there are views worth stopping for. At one point is a viwing area with a huge Jordanian flag flapping in the breeze. The view back down the mountainside and the craggy cliff sides is photogenic, so have your camera ready!

Just as the steepest part seems to be never ending it begins to flatten out and you arrive at an opening in the cliff sides, through which the plateau ahead comes into view. Go further and you will  now be met with a side view of The Monastery – you have arrived at the top!.

The Monastery.

Again, another incredible structure, quite complete but empty inside. It was built in the 3rd Century BC as a Tomb to a local King. Carved out of the solid rack face this edifice cannot fail to impress as it’s bigger than The Treasury and looks taller.

The flat plateau shows the well-known café nearby where people rest, drink and take in the view of the Monastery and vista down the route you have just come up.

Monastery Plateau and mountain views.

Walk further in any direction and you will come to cliff edges with views over the lower mountains, that stretch towards Israel and over to the deserts in the background. The natural landscape here is incredible, so rocky, mountainous and full of gorges running off into the horizon.

I actually enjoyed the views so much I travelled further round the rocky tracks almost alone, to see the horizons and the lands beyond.

There is a small mound of stones at the start of one of the walkways that encourages each passer by to place a stone there too in a sense of accomplishing the trek here.

Having rested well, it was now the long trek back along the same route. The only consolation from knowing I was just going back the way I came, was that it was downhill and I would divert off at one point to see another set of rock carved buildings.

Well down from the mountain, into the open plain and having passed by the huge Temple, I diverted left and up a hillside, to what was more Tomb buildings.

Royal Tombs.

These were much taller than others I had just seen, had flagstoned walkways and walls built up against them for access and you could actually go inside several of them.

The Royal Tomb building had a multi strataed ceiling and walls and felt like a real deep cave dug into mountain – which it was, effectively.

The tombs and houses were on multiple levels, so a lot of climbing and descending stairs was in order but this place also gave a great view across the plain, over to the Temple and main road.

Suddenly I had an impression of the lower layout of the city that was not obvious from the ground.

The ceiling of one of the tombs was a kaleidoscope of colours. Strata’d layers of blacks, purples, pinks, and browns intermingled with whites and formed a melted sea of shapes across the ceiling. It was almost an abstract modern painting in its form.

It was entirely formed from millions of years of rocks of many colours, that had intertwined and were now dancing across my head. These tombs in their day must have been even more impressive than they are today.

Well, effectively now the visit was ended.

I still had the walk back, past the theatre and back down the Siq passageway to the entrance. My bus was due to leave in an hour and at a steady pace I would get back there with 10 mins to spare, as having already walked the route I now knew the timings to get back.

The crowds were all going in the opposite direction to this morning, as we all retraced our steps back. I was now filled with awe and satisfaction at seeing and taking in the splendour that is this site.

I had wanted to come here for many years, ever since I first learned of it when I visited Israel 35 years ago. It is truly one of the wonders of the world. How someone thought to carve a city out of rock beats me. They must have had inspirational vision to build this. The fact that it lay for hundreds of years undiscovered since it was mainly forgotten about and abandoned, is amazing.

Am so happy they found it again! If you ever get to Jordan (or even Israel as packages from Jerusalem etc exist by coach), this must be on your list. It is a day’s visit, as you have to walk kilometres to see it all and exert energy in the climbing of steps but is so, so worth it. There are tickets for more than a one day visit if you want to take it at a slower pace and see it over a period.

There is also a ticket to re-enter in the eve (you can’t stay on in there after around 7pm. This event involves a walk under the stars to The Treasury and then a candle-lit viewing of the building at night. It is supposed to be spectacular too, but today I did not have the time see more of Petra. There are also more walks that divert off to see ancient churches, monuments and Tombs, so don’t think there is only what I have described, as the site is much bigger.

The memories of Petra will stay with me a long, long time.

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Feb 2019