The Abraham Hostel helped me to get onto the trip to Jordan. Again, I highly recommend this hostel and the tours it provides. All the guides were excellent! Even though the company is Israeli, the guides are purely local with purely authentic views. My guide to the West Bank/Palestine was a Palestinian who is in charge of governmental PR work. His view of current events was very “Palestinian,” which offers me a unique perspective. Check out the specifics on my West Bank/Palestine post. This quick tour through Jordan, we were accompanied by a Jordanian guide who actually was on National Geographic on the children’s episode on Petra. Excellent and funny guy.
Note: We chose to cross the border of Israel and Jordan using the northern checkpoint. Overland, there are two checkpoints. Please check the related posts and local authority announcement for further details. Sometimes it could be easier to cross via one than the other.
The first stop is the Roman ruins at Jerash. Pretty much every country around the Mediterranean has Roman ruins. This one at Jerash is said to be one of the best-preserved Roman sites outside of Italy. Well, I suppose you can see for yourselves here.
The famous rock and canyon city in the middle of the desert harbor many tales. Petra is something you likely never seen before. The entire city was carved in the stones of the canyon. This Nabatean complex tells the story of a civilization of mixed culture and people. You can see the Roman influences, the Egyptians influence, and the nomad influence. Its sophisticated culture is still not well understood today.
Overlooking parts of the central avenue through Petra and the Roman theatre
You should definitely come here early as the crowd increase throughout the day, so is the temperature. Following the main trails in through the Siq will lead you through the narrow canyon pathway to the world-famous view of the Treasury.
It is worth noting that the famous Treasury is not the only sight worth seeing. The entire city of Petra occupies a very large area. I would you to advise one or two days here. Some tours take you to see the sunrise and sunset at Petra which I could only imagine how delightful the views would be. If you do indeed spend at least a day here in Petra I would recommend you take two trails in addition to seeing the Treasury. The first trail is to the Monastery which is a structure similar to the Treasury plus views to the fantastic canyons nearby. It does involve some stair-climbing, but the reward is totally worth the extra effort.
The Monastery
The other recommendation also consists of some exercises as well. This climb is up the Treasury Viewpoint on the right when you are facing the Treasury. Alternatively, you can choose to take the left trail up to the High Place of Sacrifice on the left when facing the Treasury. The reason I would recommend the trail on the right is that you can see more of the cave-like structure that Petra offers, plus the trail is well marked. This right trail to the Viewpoint is also less populated with tourists and vendors. The experience is more intense. If you choose to go up to the left, you will meet crowds. Some local shepherds may offer to take you up via a shortcut to the High Place of Worship. Be aware, we have heard that this “shortcut” is quite dangerous, which is another reason I recommend avoiding the trail up to the Hight place of Worship. The trail on the right also has a catch: the actual Viewpoint was occupied by a juice and tea shop. But trust me, when you hike all the way up there, you want to spend that 2 dinars(roughly 2 USD) to take that drink. Plus, the juice is squeezed right in front of you without added sugar.
I elected to lodge in one of the Wadis. At this campsite, ours was a simple wooden frame tent structure. If you choose to stay in the famous Wadi Rum where the movie “Mars” was shot, you can choose to stay in the Martian dome tents. You can choose to take a tour around Wadi Rum and visit the local nomads, albeit, they are probably the permanent nomads that stall around the tourist area to sell souvenirs. No shame in that, though, whatever to make a living.
