35 Hours of Petra

Here is a long overdue post... my visit to Petra.


Yes, I went to Petra a couple weeks ago with my Livnot friends Matt, Mike, and Tim. What an amazing trip! You can check out all of my pictures from that trip on my Facebook photo album "35 Hours of Petra" or click here. So here's how everything went down:

Al-Khazna, or the Treasury

We left Tel Aviv on a Tuesday evening and took a direct bus to Eilat then slept over that night at some Christian hostel (the owners were really nice and offered us free New Testaments). The next morning, we got up at 7am and finally crossed the border at 10am. While doing that, we met a few Israelis who were on their way to Petra, too. We talked while each one of the eight of us was getting our passports checked. Matt, Mike, Tim, and I then took a cab up to Petra (two hour drive) for 50 Jordanian Dinars. Our driver was this really cool Palestinian-Jordanian who was a bad driver and got lost on the way because he missed the sign for Petra. Eventually, we saw a cab for the Saba'a Hotel, the one we were planning on staying at, so we just followed that car all the way to the hotel (what a lucky break!). We dropped off our bags and went straight to the park (for anyone who doesn't know, Petra is an archaeological park and currently one of the 7 Wonders of the World). We bought two day passes which cost 55 Dinars ($75-80). If you ever go, make sure you're staying at a hotel at least one night because otherwise, you will get charged 90 Dinars instead (it's much cheaper to stay at a hotel or hostel for at least one night).

The four of us walked around for a bit, often getting asked if we would like to ride a horse or donkey for a few dinars, always turning down the offer. We first walked through Bab el-Siq, the path that follows the course of the Wadi Musa (in Arabic, "Valley of Moses"), a riverbed that once flowed into Petra. Once we walked through there, we came upon Al-Khazna, or The Treasury (right), and it was a beautiful sight. Can you imagine how the Nabataeans of 2000 years ago carved this thing out of just rock. Such amazing skill! Al-Khazna is supposed to be the mausoleum of King Aretas IV. After taking a few pictures, we went along the main path in the park, visiting the Siq, the Street of Facades (which contains mainly neatly-cut rock tombs), and a small stadium. On our walk, we went in to have tea at 4pm (no joke, just for Tim because he's British) and we met this really cool Bedouin, Athman (pronouced Aht-MON, and no he is not a Pokemon). He invited us to join him for dinner later in the neighboring town of Little Petra, where a friend of his lives. We told him we'd think about it.

Left to right: Athman, Matt, me, Mike, and Tim at dinner

After walking around a bit more, we decided to take Athman up on his offer, despite our worries. Instead we went to have dinner behind a cave just outside the city of Petra, a closer and quieter area. Athman put up the chicken on a fire with two bags of coal. It took about an hour to cook, but by adding some vegetables to the dinner and a few spices, it ended up tasting absolutely wonderful and was worth the wait. The five of us enjoyed dinner with Athman's friend, Muhammad, and some great conversation. We hitchhiked back into town and parted ways. Matt, Mike, Tim, and I decided to end the night by going to a narghile place and relaxing.

Far to near: Tim, Matt, and Mike
looking out from the High Place

The next day, we got up at 7am and went straight to the park after a quick breakfast. We wanted to get a whole day of hiking and exploring in so we could see as much as possible (Petra is way too big to see, probably even in three days). We saw some pretend soldiers do a really cool routine while Mike pretended to not know it was going on and walked right in front of us for part of the time. We again stopped by Al-Khazna to take a few more pictures. Then we took a hike up to the High Place of Sacrifice, which is one of the better-known high places for the Nabataeans worshiped their gods. From here, you can see all of Petra, Wadi Musa, and Aaron's Tomb (Aaron, the High Priest and brother of Moses). What a breathtaking view! After seeing the High Place, we climbed down and made our way to the Garden Hall. This monument is thought to have had a beautiful garden planted in front of it a long time ago. We also stopped by to see the Colored Triclinium, the Soldier Tomb, and the Lion Triclinium (a cool looking lion is carved into the rock but I unfortunately lost that picture).

Bedouins climbing and playing

Ad-Dayr, or the Monastery

Lastly, we took a journey up 950 steps. On the way, we ran into a group of Duke University students with whom Matt and I got into deep conversation, making the trek up the stairs much less painful and very interesting. For much of the time, Matt was engaging with a girl from West Virginia who happened to know a couple of his good friends from his home in Chicago. I talked with this girl, Esther, who was really cool. The Duke kids told us they were in Petra just for the day, but had been in Jordan for the past two months teaching English to kids in the capital city of Amman. They were really enjoying their time and learning a lot of Arabic. We finally got up to the top of the steps and saw a beautiful wonder before us. Ad-Dayr, or the Monastery, was the amazing gigantic sculpture we had our eyes fixed on. Back in the time of the Nabataeans, it was supposedly used a biclinium for the meetings of religious associations and certain rituals. It also may have been built in memory of King Obodas II. While Matt and I were hanging out, catching our breath and getting to know our Duke friends better, a few Bedouins decided to climb up the side of a giant rock and jump onto the top of the Monastery. They then jumped, climbed, and played around on the top for a while. It was amazing to see such acrobatics, something I'd be too scared and not flexible enough to do (white men still can't jump!).

Me and Matt with our Duke friends

Afterwards, we all went down the steps and walked out the park. We said goodbye to our new friends before we went back to our hotel to grab our stuff and go. We got a cab and went straight to the border, but not before we'd have a very interesting journey on the way back into Israel. First, the driver who brought us back got into the cab and immediately gave us some free sodas, a very unexpected and welcomed gesture. Then we decided we wanted to sleep in Eilat that night instead of in Aqaba, so we asked the driver to pick up speed, at about 100km per hour, to get us back to the border by the time the border closed by 8pm. I made the difficult decision to use my phone while roaming and call the border to ask them to stay open an extra 15 minutes for us. I called the Israeli side and they said they wouldn't mind, but it wasn't their decision. I then called the Jordanian side. I said, "Hi, we are three Americans and one Israeli and we are about ten minutes from Aqaba and would like to cross the border tonight. Could you please keep the border open an extra 15 minutes?"

To our surprise, they said, "We'll keep it open until eight and a half."

"Really? 8:30? Thank you so much. We'll be there very soon!" I declared.

As soon as I got off the phone, the four of us cheered and rushed the rest of the way to the border. We got there at 8:10pm and got escorted through very quickly in a span of about 15 minutes. While we were walking through, I asked a woman if they ever keep the border open for anyone. She gave me a quick no. The four of us realized we were a special case, and we felt REALLY good about that!

We finished crossing the border and walked our way to a gas station, where we called a cab to take us back to Eilat. We stayed over that night at a hostel and got a good night's sleep. The next morning, while Matt and Mike slept in, Tim and I walked down to the mall and got breakfast. Then Matt and Tim took a bus straight to Jerusalem while Mike and I stayed a couple extra hours to go snorkeling. It was very fun. At 3pm, Mike and I took a bus back to Tel Aviv, getting there an hour early. What a nice way to end the trip!

If you ever have a chance to go to Jordan, take a trip to Petra. It will be worth it to see one of the most beautiful groups of rocks and a wonder of the world. Any questions, please feel free to ask me.