Day 69
Sleeping location: Some sandy rocks near Petra, Jordan
Distance (km today/total): 21 / 5833
Estimated climb (m today/total): 100 / 51900
Impressiveness of Petra: high
Day in three words: Down to Petra
We woke to find dozens of moths snuggled up in our possessions to shelter from the wind. It took ages to expel them and I was still finding random ones tucked away hours later. After sleeping at such altitude we had a long descent down to Little Petra. We went through increasingly beautiful scenery as the high scrubland gradually changed to desert with huge rock formations in every direction. It was deceptively steep and at one stage I accidentally hit 80kph, a new record for Maggie. We left the bikes at Little Petra and got a celebratory ice cream, which really hit the spot despite being wildly overpriced. LP was a nice “amuse bouche” for the main event, as it was (like the name suggested) a small version of it in every sense - smaller temples, less dramatic rock formations, less overtourism. It was a short but surprisingly tough cycle to the main visitor centre, where we locked our bikes and swallowed the £65 price for a two day ticket. Initial impressions were not great as the shops/restaurants in the entrance were total rip offs, and it was full of other tourists, but we did enjoy the museum as it was well done and gave some interesting context for what we were about to see*.
On the walk to the site we were accosted by a young guy who “just wanted to give us some advice”, then offered a “free” horse ride to the entrance. Obviously there was something going on but a horse ride sounded fun so we went for it. It wasn’t until we were up on the horses that he mentioned that “the ride is free, but tips are not included”. Classic stuff. The ride was only about 10 minutes but unfortunately the smallest note we had was £6 so we gave that for him and his friend; the cheeky fucker asked for double and was given the shortest of shrifts. This was a pretty representative of Petra, which initially seemed to be a combination of ruined city and bazaar. Everyone shouted out to you, saying things like “half price” and “happy hour”. I asked one guy if everything is always half price, and he said yes, and was confused when I found this funny. Only Bedouin people are allowed to operate shops in Petra, and a lot of the Bedouin guys wear kohl and have long hair, so the impression is of a horde of Jack Sparrows who all want your money.
Thankfully the site is so big and magnificent that this (and the masses of other tourists) is only a minor distraction once you start exploring properly. The only way in goes through a deep canyon called the Siq, which was the way the camel traders used to enter when Petra was a major trading city. This abruptly brings you out to the Treasury (aka the incredible rock-carved structure from Indiana Jones), which is an amazing introduction and probably designed this way to impress the pants off visitors. After a bit more canyon everything opens out and the true extent of the city becomes clear, there are carved rock structures everywhere and the mountains themselves are spectacular. The rock here is pretty soft which probably explains why everything is carved into it, even the amphitheatre (which is the only one in the world done this way). We wandered down to the other end of the main drag, then I went on a solo hike as Rebecca wasn’t feeling up to it. This revealed even more city (I guess the suburbs) as well as some stunning views of wadis and cliffs, and even better it was deserted.
By now it was getting late so we headed out to find somewhere to camp. In the visitor centre we got stung for some wildly expensive soup - £7 a bowl plus a 20% service charge. The gouging continued at a shop where our dinner time shop cost probably twice as much as it would have at the corner shop in Brixton. In a bit of a grump about this, we headed for the earmarked camp spot, which turned out to be unideal. Despite having a wonderful view, it was full of litter and had quite a few people hanging around. As there was nowhere else around we decided to stick it out. A lot of the people left but one pickup truck stayed quite near us for the whole night, which made me a bit uneasy, so we slept with the tent outer on and brought most of our stuff inside. A shame as it would have been nice to sleep under the stars.
*It was also absolutely empty, I guess because learning things doesn’t get you any likes on instagram
Distance (km today/total): 21 / 5833
Estimated climb (m today/total): 100 / 51900
Impressiveness of Petra: high
Day in three words: Down to Petra
We woke to find dozens of moths snuggled up in our possessions to shelter from the wind. It took ages to expel them and I was still finding random ones tucked away hours later. After sleeping at such altitude we had a long descent down to Little Petra. We went through increasingly beautiful scenery as the high scrubland gradually changed to desert with huge rock formations in every direction. It was deceptively steep and at one stage I accidentally hit 80kph, a new record for Maggie. We left the bikes at Little Petra and got a celebratory ice cream, which really hit the spot despite being wildly overpriced. LP was a nice “amuse bouche” for the main event, as it was (like the name suggested) a small version of it in every sense - smaller temples, less dramatic rock formations, less overtourism. It was a short but surprisingly tough cycle to the main visitor centre, where we locked our bikes and swallowed the £65 price for a two day ticket. Initial impressions were not great as the shops/restaurants in the entrance were total rip offs, and it was full of other tourists, but we did enjoy the museum as it was well done and gave some interesting context for what we were about to see*.
On the walk to the site we were accosted by a young guy who “just wanted to give us some advice”, then offered a “free” horse ride to the entrance. Obviously there was something going on but a horse ride sounded fun so we went for it. It wasn’t until we were up on the horses that he mentioned that “the ride is free, but tips are not included”. Classic stuff. The ride was only about 10 minutes but unfortunately the smallest note we had was £6 so we gave that for him and his friend; the cheeky fucker asked for double and was given the shortest of shrifts. This was a pretty representative of Petra, which initially seemed to be a combination of ruined city and bazaar. Everyone shouted out to you, saying things like “half price” and “happy hour”. I asked one guy if everything is always half price, and he said yes, and was confused when I found this funny. Only Bedouin people are allowed to operate shops in Petra, and a lot of the Bedouin guys wear kohl and have long hair, so the impression is of a horde of Jack Sparrows who all want your money.
Thankfully the site is so big and magnificent that this (and the masses of other tourists) is only a minor distraction once you start exploring properly. The only way in goes through a deep canyon called the Siq, which was the way the camel traders used to enter when Petra was a major trading city. This abruptly brings you out to the Treasury (aka the incredible rock-carved structure from Indiana Jones), which is an amazing introduction and probably designed this way to impress the pants off visitors. After a bit more canyon everything opens out and the true extent of the city becomes clear, there are carved rock structures everywhere and the mountains themselves are spectacular. The rock here is pretty soft which probably explains why everything is carved into it, even the amphitheatre (which is the only one in the world done this way). We wandered down to the other end of the main drag, then I went on a solo hike as Rebecca wasn’t feeling up to it. This revealed even more city (I guess the suburbs) as well as some stunning views of wadis and cliffs, and even better it was deserted.
By now it was getting late so we headed out to find somewhere to camp. In the visitor centre we got stung for some wildly expensive soup - £7 a bowl plus a 20% service charge. The gouging continued at a shop where our dinner time shop cost probably twice as much as it would have at the corner shop in Brixton. In a bit of a grump about this, we headed for the earmarked camp spot, which turned out to be unideal. Despite having a wonderful view, it was full of litter and had quite a few people hanging around. As there was nowhere else around we decided to stick it out. A lot of the people left but one pickup truck stayed quite near us for the whole night, which made me a bit uneasy, so we slept with the tent outer on and brought most of our stuff inside. A shame as it would have been nice to sleep under the stars.
*It was also absolutely empty, I guess because learning things doesn’t get you any likes on instagram
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