TRAVEL: Petra, Jordan - the worth it wonder of the world

Before you start, make sure to read my last Jordan blog here! 

Upon arrival in Petra, we stopped briefly in the town to pick up our tickets for our upcoming activities before driving along some very treacherous and scarily narrow streets up and up to get to our hotel, the Marriot. Offered complimentary Arabic coffee and freshly squeezed orange juice on arrival, we settled into our rooms before running outside to catch the end of the sunset. It was absolutely spectacular, spreading right across the mountain range in front of us with stunning colours, and rays of light unlike anything I'd seen before. Only being on Day 1 of the trip, and I was already content. 

As we were half-board, dinner was served buffet style with a good selection of salads and starters, including hands down the best hummus I have ever tasted, a few mains and a plethora of desserts. What more could you ask for? When I had become more hummus than human, it was time to head back into Petra. 

We had booked something called Petra By Night, again recommended to do before seeing Petra in its full capacity to build up the excitement. We arrived at the visitors centre at about eight o'clock for our quarter past eight booking. I don't think we'd quite realised just how many people would be on the tour with us, as there must have been at least fifty people in our group with only one guide, and everyone trying to push to the front before we'd even started for reasons unknown to me. 

When the clock struck eight fifteen, chaos broke loose and everyone kept clamouring to get to the front of the group in spite of the guide telling us to walk in twos. After about ten minutes, I think he just gave up, and then it was every man for himself. We got caught up in the racing, still not knowing quite what we were racing for, as all fifty of us scurried along in the darkness, the route lit only by candles in paper bags lighting the way. Quite frankly, this was not enjoyable at all - we should have been gazing up at the stars as we wandered along, but instead were desperately watching our footing as we tried not to break an ankle. 

I don't think people quite realised the length of the trail either, as it was about two kilometres before we reached the Treasury, aka the building in all of the photos when you search 'Petra'. Out of breath from our journey, we took in the sea of candles in front of us before finding somewhere to sit on the carpets laid out around. I think this had been the reason for all the scurrying - finding somewhere to sit, but honestly even at a normal rate you'd have found somewhere, leading me to believe we'd kind of just wasted our time and energy on the way in. 

Hundreds more people pored in, and then the night began, with a man off to the side playing some kind of wooden flute for about ten minutes, followed by some Arabic singing, and back to a tinny flute type of instrument. We could see nothing of this, so it made just as much sense to close our eyes and listen, interrupted only by servers with massive trays of sweet tea coming round to everyone. 

Our guide from the beginning took to the centre to tell a short poem/story about Petra being 'the dream he didn't want to wake up from', a short pause, and then the Treasury was lit up with coloured lights, and off went the camera flashes. It was pretty and all, but we only stayed for about five minutes as once we'd had our pictures sorted we were keen to make a move before the hordes descended, and enjoy our walk back.

All in all, I'm not sure I'd recommend this experience. I found it frankly quite stressful, and all for about twenty minutes of music and some lights. Writing this in retrospect having seen Petra in the daytime, you're much better just going in the day as you'll see all the same and more (considering it's light out rather than pitch black!) so I wouldn't say it was worth the money. 

The next morning was an early start with a pleasant breakfast of mostly Western fare (tis the case when you're staying at places like the Hyatt and Mariott) before we hopped in the car and headed back to Petra to be there for eight. Getting our tickets stamped, we were met by a local guide, Eid, as private guides are not allowed to take visitors around and we headed back into Petra, this time by day. 

Our tickets technically included a horseback ride to take us a short way down the trail, but having heard how the animals are treated (or not, as the case may be), we opted to just walk instead, which was actually more pleasant as there were certain sights you would have missed had you been on horseback. 

The guides work on the basis of distance, rather than duration, and so we had Eid to take us pretty much throughout the whole site, up to the stairs to the Monastery, although I've heard not all guides will take you this far. We sauntered along at a much more pleasant pace than the previous evening, Eid stopping to point out various buildings or shrines carved into the rock. I was glad we had a guide with us, as otherwise likely we wouldn't have had a clue what everything we were passing was. 

The winding alleyway through the canyons was pretty busy even at this time in the morning, made all the more difficult by horse drawn carriages tearing their way at breakneck speed past us, and not really seeming to be bothered stopping even if there were tourists in their way. Waiting at the treasury were a number of Bedouin traders, known colloquially as 'Jack Sparrows' due to their resemblance to Johnny Depp's famous character with his kohl-lined eyes and bandana around the head. We were constantly asked if we wanted donkey or camel rides, but again wary of the way they were purported to treat their animals and the fact that a 'ride' could literally mean walking around in a small circle, we declined. 

Petra is a lot bigger than we had imagined, going far beyond just the famous Treasury and including plenty of smaller buildings carved into the rock face and more impressive tombs as well. Eid offered to take us up to see some other tombs not on the usual route - we had been warned about being offered 'extra' trips by Ra-ed as usually the guides will then charge you for these extra excursions. To be frank, it really wasn't clear, as Eid kept going on about doing it as a 'gift' with no mention to any added cost. Either way, we decided to go for it, and he didn't ask us for more money at the end, although that may have been because we gave a reasonable tip which most likely would have covered any extras anyway. 

Regardless, our extra journey was worth it, as we clambered up rocks Indiana Jones style (part of which was filmed in Petra) to see tombs with nobody else around, and offering a great view over the theatre and its surroundings. However, please do be wary that other guides may very well count anything beyond the agreed tour as extra and charge you handsomely for it. 

We had a few more impressive buildings to see including three royal tombs with impressive views over the surrounding sandstone landscape, similar to that of the Grand Canyon, before Eid dropped us at the foot of the stairs up to the monastery. All in all, our tour through Petra to this point had taken us about three and three-quarter hours, and we still had more to do! 

There were 815 steps up to the monastery, so certainly not a trek for the faint of heart. Some people chose to take a donkey up instead of walking, although I'm sure this would have been even more disconcerting as the donkeys had a habit of teetering on the edge, occasionally slipping on the uneven rock. However, it seemed worse for those who chose to donkey down, many of whom looked like they weren't enjoying themselves!

Thoroughly puffed out, we made it to the top after about forty minutes. The monastery itself is very similar to the Treasury, although with slightly less decoration and much less crowded as fewer people opt to take the trek up here. This was pleasant to catch our breath and enjoy the scenery from the top of the world. There were two panoramic viewpoints up here, both claiming to be 'the best view in the world'. Most people were heading up the closer (and steeper) of the two, which I presume offered views of the monastery from higher up, but we remembered someone mentioning a view with a large Jordan flag, which looked like the other one, so alone, we headed to that view.

And boy, what a view. You really did feel like you were on the edge of the world, especially since it was literally just us within eye view. As we approached the edge, a small tea shack was perched there with a Jack Sparrow to greet us. I can't imagine he gets much trade up there!

After a few photo opps, it was time for the return journey down which certainly felt a lot easier than the way up. With no guide with us for the way back, we were able to walk at our leisure, pick up a jar of sand with some camels etched into it, and an ice cream at the Movenpick hotel before we headed back to our hotel. It was the perfect time for a quick dip into the freezing cold pool to recover from the days heat before watching the sun go down again before dinner (and a lot more hummus). And then - off to the desert, coming soon to the blog! 

I hope you enjoyed today's travel blog! I'll be back with more very soon so make sure to stay tuned on my Twitter @CiarasCountry, and drop me a message in the comments below with any comments or questions you may have about my adventures - thanks for reading!