We actually volunteered to get up early on our second day in Jordan, and it totally paid off. Our driver met us at the hotel at 7, and down the hill we went again into the Wadi Musa valley. Wadi Musa loosely translates to the Valley of Moses, making this our 2nd Moses encounter of the trip. It is said that in this valley Moses drove a stick into a rock to find water, and also here is
Mount Hor, where Moses' brother Aaron is said to be buried. When we arrived at the
visitor center we marched right in and signed up for a tour. It turns out that 6 grad students from Stanford were waiting there for a tour to start and we made their group big enough to leave. We bought two day passes, thinking that we might go back in the morning the next day, since the second day is only about $7 more than a one day ticket. There's only one way in, so it starts by covering the same ground that we had the night before on the Petra by Night to
ur. You could tell as you were walking there were probably things to see on the way to the treasury, but the luminaries only lit the path nearby, so it was all dark and mysterious. On the way through in the morning, you see all the vibrant colors, and all the carvings along the way. Walking through the Siq and first laying eyes on the Treasury is truly a powerful experience, and our guide had us go through one by one to make it more personal. Our tour was informative, learning about who lived in Petra, and how they built it and survived sieges and takeover attempts for long periods of time. The Romans finally managed to take over by poisoning the water supply. My two tips for the would-be traveler to Petra are: 1 the gates open at 6, get the
re as early as you can before the tour groups arrive and the vendors set up, it makes it a completely different experience. 2 Make the effort to go all the way up to the monastery. The views are incredible, and there is a little place to rest with a drink stand built right into a cave. It's really interesting to listen to the
Bedouin vendors switch seamlessly between English Italian french and Arabic to make a sale. I felt painfully under educated knowing only how to speak English, Spanish, some German and hello and thank you in a few other random languages. After the official part our our tour got done, we were free to walk around and explore. You have the choice of climbing up to the Monastery, or the high place of sacrifice, or to just turn around and go back. We spent some time at the museum and
gift shop, and then began the trek up to the monastery. As the crow flies it's not that far, and you could pay for a donkey to get you there, but it's a lot of stairs, over some narrow areas that didn't make it look like it would be a very comfortable donkey ride. We walked, and took lots of breaks in the shadows where a cool breeze would frequently blow, and were rewarded with a beautiful monaste
ry structure, some goats, and incredible views down over the valley. We sat down in the cave and had a coke to recharge and then went on our way. Our original plan was to go back and walk up to the high place of sacrifice, but we'll just have to save that one for a return trip, because after getting back from the monastery, we were pretty beat. There's a couple of restaurants down in the valley and we settled on the buffet (ugh) at the basin restaurant. The food was acceptable, and helped refresh us after our hike. After lunch, we wandered back out to the front gate, where our cab driver said to go to one shop and the owner would call him to come pick us up. Of course he wanted to look around while we waited, and when he and W couldn't agree on the price of a camel wool and silk blend scarf, she said, "I'm sorry I'm cheap", and he said "not cheap, just... difficult" a good line, but
$25 for a scarf that we could load up on in china for under $5 per didn't make a lot of since. Our driver arrived, and back to the hotel we went. Back at the hotel after a shower we sat at the bar and enjoyed a beverage and a chance to get off of our feet. W went to the spa to get a foot massage, while I read some more about Petra and our next destination. We met some other Americans at the bar, told them a little about what to expec
t on their Petra tour tomorrow, and recommended the Jordanian wine to them. We compared Egypt war stories with them since that's where they'd just come from too, and had some good laughs about our experiences. There was another beautiful sunset right outside the windows, and we eventually went right back to dinner at the Italian place just because we'd enjoyed it so much the night before. Our wine was right there where we'd left off, and was just as delicious with my rack of lamb as it was with my steak the night before. My one complaint about the whole experience was the tiramisou, it was
just not right. But that's minor in the grander scheme of how amazing our Petra experience was. We stopped by for one more drink at the bar and then went back to the room before we fell asleep in their chairs. We decided to let our 2nd day at Petra go, neither of us having the energy left to get up early and go for a hike in the morning.
We actually volunteered to get up early on our second day in Jordan, and it totally paid off. Our driver met us at the hotel at 7, and down the hill we went again into the Wadi Musa valley. Wadi Musa loosely translates to the Valley of Moses, making this our 2nd Moses encounter of the trip. It is said that in this valley Moses drove a stick into a rock to find water, and also here is Mount Hor, where Moses' brother Aaron is said to be buried. When we arrived at the visitor center we marched right in and signed up for a tour. It turns out that 6 grad students from Stanford were waiting there for a tour to start and we made their group big enough to leave. We bought two day passes, thinking that we might go back in the morning the next day, since the second day is only about $7 more than a one day ticket. There's only one way in, so it starts by covering the same ground that we had the night before on the Petra by Night to
ur. You could tell as you were walking there were probably things to see on the way to the treasury, but the luminaries only lit the path nearby, so it was all dark and mysterious. On the way through in the morning, you see all the vibrant colors, and all the carvings along the way. Walking through the Siq and first laying eyes on the Treasury is truly a powerful experience, and our guide had us go through one by one to make it more personal. Our tour was informative, learning about who lived in Petra, and how they built it and survived sieges and takeover attempts for long periods of time. The Romans finally managed to take over by poisoning the water supply. My two tips for the would-be traveler to Petra are: 1 the gates open at 6, get the
re as early as you can before the tour groups arrive and the vendors set up, it makes it a completely different experience. 2 Make the effort to go all the way up to the monastery. The views are incredible, and there is a little place to rest with a drink stand built right into a cave. It's really interesting to listen to the Bedouin vendors switch seamlessly between English Italian french and Arabic to make a sale. I felt painfully under educated knowing only how to speak English, Spanish, some German and hello and thank you in a few other random languages. After the official part our our tour got done, we were free to walk around and explore. You have the choice of climbing up to the Monastery, or the high place of sacrifice, or to just turn around and go back. We spent some time at the museum and 
gift shop, and then began the trek up to the monastery. As the crow flies it's not that far, and you could pay for a donkey to get you there, but it's a lot of stairs, over some narrow areas that didn't make it look like it would be a very comfortable donkey ride. We walked, and took lots of breaks in the shadows where a cool breeze would frequently blow, and were rewarded with a beautiful monaste
ry structure, some goats, and incredible views down over the valley. We sat down in the cave and had a coke to recharge and then went on our way. Our original plan was to go back and walk up to the high place of sacrifice, but we'll just have to save that one for a return trip, because after getting back from the monastery, we were pretty beat. There's a couple of restaurants down in the valley and we settled on the buffet (ugh) at the basin restaurant. The food was acceptable, and helped refresh us after our hike. After lunch, we wandered back out to the front gate, where our cab driver said to go to one shop and the owner would call him to come pick us up. Of course he wanted to look around while we waited, and when he and W couldn't agree on the price of a camel wool and silk blend scarf, she said, "I'm sorry I'm cheap", and he said "not cheap, just... difficult" a good line, but
$25 for a scarf that we could load up on in china for under $5 per didn't make a lot of since. Our driver arrived, and back to the hotel we went. Back at the hotel after a shower we sat at the bar and enjoyed a beverage and a chance to get off of our feet. W went to the spa to get a foot massage, while I read some more about Petra and our next destination. We met some other Americans at the bar, told them a little about what to expec
t on their Petra tour tomorrow, and recommended the Jordanian wine to them. We compared Egypt war stories with them since that's where they'd just come from too, and had some good laughs about our experiences. There was another beautiful sunset right outside the windows, and we eventually went right back to dinner at the Italian place just because we'd enjoyed it so much the night before. Our wine was right there where we'd left off, and was just as delicious with my rack of lamb as it was with my steak the night before. My one complaint about the whole experience was the tiramisou, it was
just not right. But that's minor in the grander scheme of how amazing our Petra experience was. We stopped by for one more drink at the bar and then went back to the room before we fell asleep in their chairs. We decided to let our 2nd day at Petra go, neither of us having the energy left to get up early and go for a hike in the morning. 
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment