Petra!

We woke up bright and early at 5:30 (Monday, February 17, 2020) to have breakfast at 6am and head to the Petra visitors center at 7am. Breakfast was delicious and had so many options from cold items, hot items, pastries and breads, fruits, juices, and an egg station. We ordered eggs benedict and then picked things from the huge spread of food. It was so delicious and the view from our table was amazing.

Delicious eggs benedict

After breakfast, we took a quick walk outside to enjoy the view. We then headed back to our room and got our things together for our adventure into Petra. We packed lots of water and snacks as well as a battery pack for charging our phones.

The hotel from outside

The entrance to Petra starts at the visitor center which was a short, but intense, drive from the hotel. Once we parked, relatively close, we walked to the visitor's center and got our tickets by showing our Jordan passes. We then walked into the park.

The free museum before the visitor's center

There are four trails in the park, the main trail which is 4 km, the monastery trail, which is 1.6 km and includes 800 stairs with a climb of 186 meters, the high place of sacrifice trail, which is 3.5 km and has an elevation gain of 159 meters, and the Al-Khubtha trail which has 600 stairs and a climb of 156 meters. We decided to walk the main trail and then the Al-Khubtha trail.

Upon entering, many people are there to try and sell you a horse ride to the start of the canyon. Supposedly it's included in the ticket price, however, they often demand a tip of 10JOD which is about 14USD. They do haggle here, which before Hunter and I agreed to ride, we tried to do, but they rushed and never confirmed my offer of 10JOD for both of us to go. Nonetheless, we wanted to do it, so we got on two horses and were lead towards the canyon. They stopped during the walk and took pictures of us too. It was quite nice. When we got close to the end, the person walking me was quite aggressive in wanting 10JOD each, but I was firm and said no, at the start they said 10 for both, but we settled on 15 total which is about 20 USD. Honestly, it's not a bad price for a horse ride, it's just a little frustrating not having a set price at the start and getting into a haggling war at the end.

We walked on into the canyon after getting off the horses. There were quite a few tour groups with lots of people and we tried our best to avoid them and find the quiet spots between groups. This is the low season and it felt a little crowded: I can't imagine what high season crowds are like.

Water distribution system trough

Lines in the sandstone

About 10-15 minutes later, we came across the famous Treasury. It was quite the sight! It is the most elaborate and intact temple in Petra.  It is called the treasury because the Bedouins believed it contained the treasures of an Egyptian Pharoah. We spent about 30 minutes here taking pictures and enjoying the magnificent structure craved into the face of sandstone rock. We climbed up a little trail off to the side to get some pictures with fewer people in sight too.

The first view of the Treasury

The Treasury

Camels!

Below the Treasury there appeared to be a tomb

  

If you are interested in seeing all of Petra from home, check out this amazing website: https://zamaniproject.org/site-jordan-petra.html

It has incredible documentation of the park including videos, 3D models, and Panorama tours. 

After taking a billion photos, we continued walking the main trail. Along the way, there are booths of people selling all sorts of random things including souvenirs and snacks/drinks. We passed the Tomb of 'Unayshu,  Nabatean Theather, Nymphaeum, and took a break at the Great Temple. The main trail continues a bit further, however, we decided to backtrack to the start of the Al-Khubtha trail and begin our long journey of stair climbing.

Can you see me?

Columns from the Great Temple

We first stopped and took a side trail to see the four royal tombs. The colours in the sandstone rock were beautiful! They were perched on a cliff up a near-vertical wall. We then continued climbing the stairs up Al-Khubtha trail.

Close up of the colours in the roof

If you look closely you can see the sandstone swirls on the roof

It was a long journey to the top, when the stairs finally stopped, but well worth it. The top had a beautiful view of the theater and open area around the Great Temple. Gorgeous but not what we were here for. We then had to walk down a bit of a trail to get to the place that was the whole reason we picked this trail - to see the Treasury from above. It was surprising when we arrived to find a little hut at the lookout with signs that said: "if you want to see, you must buy a drink". We didn't want to buy a drink, but it seemed like we didn't have much of a choice so we just went in anyway. Thankfully it was a little busy so we managed to not have to buy any drinks and drank our own instead. We sat for about 30 minutes, enjoying the view and playing with a soft gray cat who was in the tent. When a large group of people came into the tent, we decided it was time to leave. We headed back out, but not before snapping a picture together with the Treasury behind us.

Sandstone swirls in the stairs

Some of the stairs were not in the best shape

Looking at some of the stairs we climbed from above

Hunter was terrified when I did this!

Desert cats like me

They are very small and soft

our first view of the Treasury from above

Sitting in the tent at the edge to view the Tresury

Hunter was not a fan of being so close to the edge

Another cat!

Such pretty eyes

The walk down was much easier, but still exhausting and we often took breaks. By the time we were at the bottom, both our legs were more than a little jiggly. We still had quite the hike out which was a slight uphill walk. On the way in it hadn't felt like much but going out it sure did! We took it pretty easy on the way out.

We found out hotel while hiking

The climb back to the top of the stairs

Way up there is where we were on our climb to the lookout

  

It was about 3:20 when we made it back to our car, thoroughly exhausted. We had planned to come back tomorrow to trek to the Monastery, but after 600 steps, we're not sure if we can manage 800 more so soon!

Driving back to our hotel

When we got back to our hotel, we were exceptionally hungry as we only packed snacks and not a full lunch. We decided to eat at the bar restaurant at the hotel. It was quite reasonably priced. Hunter ordered a burger for 7.50JOD (11USD) and I ordered an Arab style chicken wrap for 5JOD (7USD). The wrap was prepared with a local type of seasoning which was quite delicious.

This was in the lobby of our hotel

Our dinner

Sunset

After eating we went to our room and debated taking a nap. We had about 2-3 hours until our next nighttime activity and sometimes taking a nap is a dangerous game with us (we don't always like to wake up). We decided to watch some TV which worked for a bit, but our eyes grew heavy. We set an alarm for 7pm and took a nap. When the alarm went off, we jumped out of bed trying to wake up. While we were still quite tired, we powered through and got ourselves ready.

What are we doing at 7pm at night you might ask? Well before leaving the Petra park, we bought tickets to Petra at Night! Petra at Night is an event that runs on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays only where after sun sets you get to walk to the Treasury via candlelight. When you arrive at the Treasury, Bedouins are playing songs and instruments and tea is being passed out. Seeing the treasury light by candles was spectacular and I'll let the photos take over now to show how magical it felt.

Note: All of these photos are taken with my phone which is a Pixel 3a. I am seriously amazed with its camera, especially night sight mode. If you need a new phone, I highly recommend getting a Pixel!

This was taken with my Pixel 3a phone. I am so amazed at its capabilities 

It was about 10:20 when we got back, exhausted but pleased. We took showers and then got into bed. It was not long before we were asleep from our incredible day in Petra.