October 6, 2019 - Petra

In order to get from our room on the 6th floor, we have to take the elevator UP to the 11th floor and go across to another elevator which we take to the 2nd floor!  It’s not really any easier than it sounds;  but it makes sense when you realize that the hotel is kind of built into the mountain.  There’s a breakfast buffet that is supposed to open at six o’clock, but doesn’t quite.  We’re among the first ones in the door because Ammar is picking us up at 7:00.  He doesn’t want us caught up in the crowds nor out in the mid-day heat.

He drops us off at 7:15 and our guide for the site, Mohanned, is there to meet us.  Before we set off I ask Mohanned to show me how to tie my head gear! 

He gets our tickets and see us to our horse-drawn carriages for the first part of the tour, through the siq. He runs behind us and doesn’t get there must after us.  We all meet at the Treasury, which really doesn’t have anything to do with money!  A group of later inhabitants thought the urn on top contained treasure, so they smashed their way into it.  There was nothing inside!

Mohanned told us that the site was probably first inhabited around 9,000 BC, but that the Nabateans were the builders of what we see today.  After them came the Romans, the Crusaders, and the Arabs.  The treasury is what most people associate with the name;  but there is an entire city hidden away behind the gorgeous, swirled red sandstone. There are homes and tombs and temples.  There is a main avenue which was lined with shops and even a monastery (but it’s up 1600 steps!).

Horses, donkeys, carriages - many ways to get around

The magnificent Treasury, carved right out of the rock!

One of the tombs in front of the Treasury.  When the steps were added, the entracnes to the three tombs had to be modified.

Of course there are vendors all along the way.  They are much quieter that those in Egypt, but they also like to bargain.  One vendor is pretty unique.  His mother was from New Zealand and married a Bedouin.  She adapted to the Bedouin way of life and raised their children in the camps.  She has written a book and her son was selling copies of it.  He looks like his father but sounds just like a Kiwi!  They also sponsor local women who make jewelry, and sell it in their shop.

Four-hundred year old tree!

Indiana "Ginger" Jones!

Stairways everywhere;  some lead to Heaven

Mohanned takes us to the end of the main thoroughfare and turns us lose to wander at will, as long as we’re back to the Treasury by 11:30, in time to meet our carriage for the return trip. We climb up to see the Temple of the Winged Lions and run into an archeology professor and two of his students.  They are conducting a survey about the temple and we all try valiantly to answer their questions.  I score points by reasoning that since the goddess being worshipped was al-Uzza, the builders must have been Nabateans!  Ginger scored, too, because she was able to offer a concrete suggestion for improvement.  There is a famous sculpture from this temple whose picture is everywhere and she asks how big it is.  The prof tells her and adds that most photos by archeologists contain a scale graphic, so Ginger suggests adding one to that photo.

Reconstruction underway at the Temple of the Winged Lions.

More modern church, also being reconstructed.

There is even a Coptic church, the Church of Petra!

Part of the Royal Tombs

We climb up and over to the series of structures referred to as the Royal Tombs.  Then it’s time to head for the carriages.  Marilyn and I find our Number Seven pretty quickly and jounce our way back up the twenty-five minute ride.  We wait for Ginger and Juan, but don’t see them.  After about fifteen minutes Marilyn goes to tell Ammar what’s going on.  Eventually I go back to the car, too, and Ammar and I come back to look for them.  Ammar spots Juan who says he’s lost Ginger!  Ah, there she is but she sure looks tired and frazzled.  It seems their carriage never showed up and they walked back!  No wonder she looks tired!

She’s annoyed and Ammar is really ticked!  This should never have happened!  Anyway, we’re all safe and together and Ginger would like to go to the Museum, so we all troupe over and up and into the new building.  It’s only been open a few months and it is really well done.  The exhibits aren’t too wordy and there is a good balance between realia and media-rich presentations.  There is even one in the floor!

We learn more about the Nabateans, but never find Ginger’s sculpture.  We had been told that it might be out for restoration and I guess that was right!

Everyone is now safely back in Ammar’s van and safe keeping!  And now it’s time for lunch!!  Ammar has found us another special restaurant.  This one looks a bit like a cave, with the main entree being prepared outside and the rest of the buffet inside.  As always, everything is so fresh and inviting!  (Someone commented that we seem to eat all the time;  but, really, we usually just have two meals because we eat lunch late and it is quite large!)

When we’ve finished making pigs of ourselves, we mount up and head back to our hotel.  Along the way, Ammar stops at the best place to view Petra from above and everyone hops out for the obligatory “you are here” shots, either with the Seven Wonders background or # <3 Petra! There are two tiny puppies sleeping in the shade and some kind person has left them some water.

The archeological site on the left;  the town on the right.

Petra through the "P"

“The Girls” are going to a Turkish Bath House!!  Juan is most definitely not interested; but we’re pretty excited!  There’s some discussion about what we’ll select from the menu and it’s Marilyn’s turn to enter the inner sanctum.  Ginger follows shortly and then me!  Woohoo![ First strip down and wrap up in a sarong.  Then enter the steam bath to wait for the masseuse.  And there’s entertainment!!  There is a lady in a bikini getting slathered and massaged with some sort of salts.  She is on a large marble platform and the strong young man in a bathing suit is doing the honors!  If it weren’t so gosh darn hot, it would be fun to sit and watch!!  

Finally I get called into the back room where a young woman is waiting for me.  Marilyn is on the table across from me and we are both getting the thirty-minute back, neck, and shoulders massage and the fifteen-minute foot massage.  And along with those there is a lot of sloshing of soapy or oily or I don’t know what water, and, of course, the steam which is piped into the entire area.  My lady has great fingers!  Then she sits me up and starts to shampoo my hair!  Who expected that??  When she starts to pour a basin-full of water over my head I have to stop her long enough to take out my ears!  But where to put them?  Everything is wet and steamy!  She finally takes them and stashes them in a little niche above my head.  I wonder how they will react to all this steam.  It might be the world’s most expensive massage!  :)

Wadi Mousa means Moses' Valley

When she’s finished she point for me to leave and a young man then points me toward a shower, and then back to the dressing area.  The floor is, as you’d imagine, wet and slick, kind of like ice skating!  I navigate successfully and get dry (ish) and dressed and realize I didn’t get my ears back!  Now I have to negotiate the entire path again and try to get my need across!

Done!  Only thing left now is to pay and let Ammar transport us home.  Mmmmm.  That was a very different kind of massage experience!  Bed will feel so good and sleep should come easily to our relaxed bodies and minds.