Petra

We wake up. It's only five degrees Celsius in our tent, but our sleeping bag is comfortably warm. While wearing all of our winter clothes we start cycling after having breakfast and packing our things. Via Rasnadiyya, Qadisiyya and Manshiyya we cycle over the beautiful King's road southwards. We don't know how it's possible, but we never see Dana or any sign of it. The road keeps undulating, the temperature rises when the sun is higher in the sky, layer for layer we peel of our clothes. The King's road turns out to be partly impassable and the detour is quite unclear. An English-teacher shows us the right road and after 70 kilometres we dive into the valley of the village of Wadi Mousa. For the time being this is our finish; behind the village the ancient town of Petra lies hidden in the rocks of Jebel al Khubtha.
We take up residence in Hotel Petra Gate and drop exhausted on the bed, giving in to the weariness of the last days. I don't even want to eat, just want to lie on the bed. Peter eats our last bread and looks forward to the treasures of Petra. Suddenly someone bangs very loud on our door. Reluctantly Peter gets out of bed and opens the door. He can't believe his eyes: it's Nigel!!! There are at least 25 hotels in Petra and he turns out not just to stay in the same hotel as us, but even on the same floor, together with Elijah, Romano and Shariff. Coincidence doesn't exist!! Our bicycles, that are parked in the dining room, betrayed our presence. Instantly I am full of life again and ten minutes later Elijah, Nigel, Peter and I are eating and chatting together with Romano, Shariff and a few bottles of illegal whiskey they 'found' somewhere. Party-time!

The next day Elijah accompanies us into the ancient town of Petra. This town, that has been hidden under the sand for thousands of years, is a heritage of the Nabateans. The Nabateans were a rapacious and industrious Arab tribe of nomads. They conquered strategic places on the trade route to the Mediterranean See, where they levied toll on the caravans loaded with incense, spices, silk and ivory. Petra became their capital, many caravans passed here. The old town can be reached by the Siq, a 1,2 kilometre long narrow chasm. In the walls they hew narrow gullies out of the soft sandstone through which they led the water needed for the town. The Nabateans were masters in water management by constructing ingenious dams and water canals. They've cut dozens of tombs, temples, an amphitheatre and place of sacrifice out of the high rock-walls. The soft sandstone was a perfect material to do so.
Petra became a threat to the Roman Empire and was conquered by the Romans in 106 AD. Slowly everybody forgot the place ever existed. Earthquakes in the fourth and eight century helped to cover Petra in sand.

With Elijah we walk through the Siq into the old town, whose exact whereabouts has been kept a secret for ages by the Bedouins. The entrance-road to the chasm already is quite impressive thanks to monuments and tombs with pyramid-shaped pillars. The colours of the rocks vary from brown, yellow, red to pink and even blue and white. In the rock-walls of the chasm we see a camel that's cut of the rock thousands of years ago. The legs are so eroded that complete parts are missing. Twenty minutes later we hold our breath when we catch the first glimpse of al Khazneh, the most beautiful tomb with a gallery of Corinthian columns. It dates from the first century BC and was cut out for a Nabatean king.

From here we walk to the right between dozens of facades with Mesopotamian step-motives; a bit further classic Hellenistic and Roman motives predominate. The most luxurious tombs were made for kings and other dignitaries. The simpler tombs were meant for the lower classes. Not a lot has changed those past millennia. Behind every magnificent facade one finds one or two very simple square rooms where the dead were placed. The further we walk on direction amphitheatre, the more facades with tombs we see. We can't believe our eyes; it's hard to comprehend that people so many thousand years ago could accomplish such extraordinary feats of engineering and could create such beauty in the building of tombs.

Peter in front of the entrance to the monastry

 

The next day we visit the old town again. This time we walk the 800 steps to the monastery that lies a few hundreds metre further high in the mountains. We also visit the restored church with its beautiful inlaid mosaics. On the ground we search in vain for nice and small statues and coins.

Today it's very cold and rainy. A group of English tourists that just arrived by from the nice and warm coastal town of Aqaba stand there teeth chattering in their shorts and tops, although their guide warned them about the different temperature. We can't get enough of all the monuments, could easily spend another day here. After trudging for kilometres on end we call it a day. We say goodbye to the most beautiful historical attraction we've ever seen.

Together with Romano I prepare a delicious dinner in the indescribably dirty hotel-kitchen. We survive.