Amman to Wadi Musa & Petra

After another large breakfast on the roof terrace and the morning Amman traffic had died down, I bought a couple of bottles of water and got in the Kia for the 3-hour drive to Petra. The hire car was pretty much empty when I picked it up and by the time I got to my hotel in Amman it was running on fumes so I found a petrol station. Petrol stations in Jordan have attendants, you tell them how much fuel you want then pay. I wanted to get an idea of how much fuel id be using so I asked him to put 50 jod in (about £55) but surprisingly the car was full to the brim and only took 30 jod. I headed out of the city onto the motorway, there seems to be 2 main roads that run the length of the country and driving is pretty easy here once you’re out the city, lots of signs, in Arabic and English. After an hour or so I see a sign for Umm Arrasas which is an old roman settlement. I turned off the motorway onto a single lane road through the desert with nothing for miles around except some more unmarked speed humps and isolated green areas in the middle of nowhere with some sort of crops being grown. After 30 minutes or so I arrived at Umm Arrasas and started walking through the pathways of the roman town. Again, there are no barriers here so you can get inside the old ruins and see how they lived and built their homes, further up under a protective roof there is an old roman church with some of the most amazing mosaic flooring I’ve ever seen! After more climbing in and out of holes into bits of old buildings I sat for a while looking back at the town and just kicked through the dirt where the ground had been pushed aside to make the path and found bits of roman pottery and bits of mosaic pieces so keep an eye out! I enjoyed exploring here and I’d say 1-2 hours is a good amount of time here. Back on the road and the exit for Petra comes up which involves doing a u turn from the fast lane into the oncoming motorway traffic, luckily, it’s not a busy motorway lol. Google maps took me to Petra through mountains and some little villages then in the middle of nowhere the mountains that hide the ancient city appear. I drove straight to Petra as I wanted to buy my ticket for the night time entry when it’s lit with candles and being a limited number of tickets, I wanted to get mine before they were full. I drove to my hotel in Wadi Musa and could see how badly tourism had been hit, I was the only person staying in the hotel! I dropped my bag and drove back to the free car park a couple of minutes’ walks from the visitor centre. Being about 2pm now it’s very hot, I walked between the colourful mountains either side of me for about 30 minutes. Through years and years of wind rushing through this gap it has created some amazing shapes and all the layers of rock can be seen, from yellows to reds to purples. Getting to the end of the Siq and round the last bend I see the treasury for the first time, I’ve seen pictures of it and on tv but when standing in front of it you can’t help but just stare at it. How was this over 2300 years old and with very simple tools did the Nabateans create such an amazing structure. There is so much more to Petra but today I just planned on climbing to the high bits for a better view and with the heat becoming overwhelming I walked back the long path to my car. As you get near the visitor centre there are horse rides which are included in the entry ticket but the men leading the horses were quite overwhelming and demanding tips from people, roughly they wanted about £15-£20. He got 5jod out of me for a 5-minute walk and told in no uncertain terms to go away and I was left alone but you could see some people feeling intimidated and just paying to be left alone. I had a drive around Wadi Musa to see what was going on in the town and look for places to eat then headed back to the Petra Visitors Hotel. I ate close to my hotel that night for ease as I had to be back at Petra and the entry bit for 8.30 to walk down at 9pm. The walk down was very pretty and the candle light that lit the way bouncing off the colourful rock really was a sight. As I got to the end of the Siq and the last crack between the rock was a Bright blue line of colour, a little further and you see the treasury changing colours. Once seated Arabic music is played by flute and then the show begins. It’s the story of Petra and its history told in English with an amazing laser show lighting up the treasury itself. The show went on for about 15 minutes then people came round with small cups of Arabic tea and that was it. Was it worth £35? No! Was I gIad I saw it? Definitely 100%!!

Next morning and another huge amount of food for breakfast on my own I was out early before the sun got too hot, I got to Petra and starting back at the treasury I wandered most of Petra over the day. There is a roman style theatre, churches, amazing carvings, every wall seems to have holes carved in them for homes and the tombs of the Kings and so much more, everything can be entered and climbed to except the treasury. Near the tombs of the kings on a higher walking path I stopped for a water break and where the dirt had been pushed back to clear a path with a quick dig about, I found the top half of a roman clay jug, a clay handle and lots of bits of plates and bowls, to think these things were still here after 2000 years really got hold of my imagination. With the amount of walking and so much to see a day and a half to 2 days here and you should have seen most of what Petra has to offer. There are little buggies that will take you to the treasury but seemed a lot of money. That night I tried Jordans most well-known dish, Lamb Mansaff. This was probably my favourite thing I ate in Jordan; the lamb came served on the bone and was so soft I could just pull the bone straight out the middle, it was served on rice with a very thin bread underneath and a loose fermented yoghurt cooking sauce to pour over. Delicious!!