After a quick pit stop, where Adhib is really surprised that all 10 of us are on the van before he even told us to be back, we travel the last 10 minutes to Petra. Since Adhib is from Petra, he knows the shortcuts through the town to avoid the congestion of the main road – so off Mussah (our driver) goes onto these little steep winding roads that cut across the face of the steep hills of the city.
We do cut off time with these maneuvers, as the Bus A of our group was in front of us at the pit stop, but we beat them to the Petra entrance by about 5 minutes.
It is a total zoo at Petra. With the Queen Mary 2 in port, there are hundreds of buses. And Celebrity tours haven’t even arrived. This will be crazy – unfortunately. But, fortunately, Adhib knows the secrets to showing us the best of Petra in a short amount of time while dodging the hordes. First, Adhib makes sure we know his full name (in case we get lost – everyone knows him and they can help us find him) and exactly where the van will be when we leave. Then he begins to expertly guide us into the throngs in Petra.
The first thing we pass as we leave the visitor center are the stables and the horses that we can ride –either down to the Siq – the narrow gorge that leads to the excavated site - or back. We figure if we need it, we’ll ride them back. For now, we just rush by the bored mares and the carriages on the way down to the Siq entrance.
Adhib stops us quickly at the Djinn blocks, which are squared off monuments on the side of the path, and then points out the first of the many tombs we will see today, carved into the limestone, with bas relief statues.
Soon, we are navigating our way to the narrow entrance of the iconic Siq, that passageway created by the natural splitting of the mountains thousands of years ago that leads to the Treasury building, made famous by the Indiana Jones – Last Crusade movie with Harrison Ford and Sean Connery. At 1.2 km long, the Siq is one long, narrow space filled with photo opportunities at every turn. The walls tower up above you – some 300 feet high – and can be 30 feet wide or narrow down to 10 feet. Adhib masterfully leads us through the throngs – getting us to areas he wants to highlight easily, then gauging the crowds to move us along. We stop at tombs, carvings and sacred stones.
He points out the original cobblestone like pathway, that ends before we get to the Treasury building, as well as the ancient water system that the Nabataeans created to funnel drinking water into the city. There are two water channels that run along both sides of the rock wall with smaller and larger tubes that helped keep the pressure up to get the water down to the city. There is also a dam that was built to help divert flash floods. The Nabataeans were incredibly expert in hydrological engineering.
As we walk through the Siq we are constantly on the alert for the horse carriages, which I name “Killer Karriages,” because these guys come flying through this little narrow gorge without a care in the world for the pedestrians. Oh sure, they’ll yell and announce their presence – “open up,” “coming through,” “move, move, move.” But they don’t care if you move or not – they are coming through. We wonder how many tourists have been smashed to a pulp against the walls or under the carriage wheels every day!
Halfway through the Siq, Adhib shows us the Petra Fish, a natural rock formation that does indeed look like a fish.
Right next to it is something Adhib says he is the only who can show us: The Petra Monster. It’s like the Loch Ness monster, he says, only a few people have ever really seen it.
We continue on down the Siq, taking far too many photos, but every step brings a new and more interesting vista into view. You could spend hours here just gazing at the rock formations.
We’re lucky Adhib is navigating, because we actually end up between crowds and get a few shots of an “empty” Siq. Nice timing.
Almost through we find the Marriage Rock – where marriages took in ancient times. We all get our turns to play bride and Groom with Adhib being the minister.
Finally, the long, dusty, death-defying (from the Killer Karriages) downhill walk rewards us with the most iconic Petra sight: The Treasury.
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