Petra (Sam)

(Sam)  I am sitting in Aqaba now, after having spent 3 days in Petra. Petra was amazing. It was the ancient Nabatean capital and competes with Angkor Wat and Machu Pichu for the title of “Greatest Lost City”. After the Nabateans abandoned it, it was inhabhited by local Bedouin tribes for nearly 2000 years before being rediscovered by the western world in 1812 by the Swiss explorer Jean Louis (“Ibrahim”) Burckhardt.

Petra is situated in and around a valley, the mountains around it are a great red colour and are smooth. They look like they are dripping because the wind has carved out the sandstone.

The “Siq”, the entrance to Petra is nearly as dramatic as the city itself, it is a narrow gorge with walls up to 200 m high. At the end of the Siq is the Treasury, a huge tomb carved into the rock. Due to it's protected location, with high cliffs all around, it is very well preserved. The first glimpse of the Treasury from the Siq is magical and leaves you wondering what else you will see in Petra.

Although the ruins may be great, one of the best parts of Petra is the hiking and nature. It is a very beautiful area and there are many climbs you can do, usually finishing with spectacular views. My favourite hikes were the one to the Ancient City Centre via the High Place of Sacrifice and the one up to the Monastery. The hike to the Ancient City Centre passed many tombs and rocks with candy swirls of colour that looked as if they were painted. The High Place of Sacrifice had great views and also a few cats who kept jumping onto my lap. The hike to the Monastery passes through dripping, wind-carved valleys and finishes at the Monastery, the second most famous sight in Petra. The monastery is similar in design to the Treasury, although less detailed and far bigger. It g down through the hills to Isreal and the Palestinean Territories.

is really is massive. If you climb an extra 10 minutes you will reach some spectacular viewpoints lookin

Some other good things in Petra were... The Royal Tombs, The Ancient City center, looking down over the cliff to the Treasury beneath you, the staircase up to the Treasury viewpoint, the tea stall that charged the normal price of half a dinar for tea rather than the 2 dinar they charge elsewhere, the ancient pottery shards littering the ground and the lizards running around.

Some of the bad things... “Want a Donkey?”, “Tea, coffee?”, “You want to ride a camel?”, “ I make you good price” etc.

We had been planning to head to Syria after Jordan, although they're having a bit of a revolution at the moment so we decided it was best to head into Egypt instead. We have met lots of Egyptians telling its safe now and there is no need to worry. We took the 1 AM ferry to Nuweiba from Aqaba (I wonder if they could have thought up a more inconvienient time?) and took a minibus to Dahab from there. Dahab is famed as a backpacker beach hangout and it also has some great coral reefs. Our hotel is cheap and we found a good restaurant serving up Egyptian specialities. In the back of the restaurant there is a wall covered in photos of people eating their food, there is also a sign reading “If you want your photo on the wall, you must have our food in the photo and you must pay us 100 US$. Unless you are a beautiful woman, in which case you can put up your photo for free.”

Tomorrow, I hope to do some snorkelling, and some serious R n' R in preperation for the infamous scams and touts in the rest of Egypt.