In early December, Scotch and I decided to get the heck out of Dubai for a few days since we had 3 days off due to one of the Eid holidays. After considering a few places like Maldives, Eqypt, Turkey, we settled on Jordan. We flew Emirates from Dubai to Amman (3.5 hours) and then drove from Amman to Petra which also took about 3 hours.
Petra is greek for “stone” and is one of the new “Wonders of the World.” Almost all the structures in Petra were carved out of the existing sandstone. Since we arrived at night, we took part in the “Petra by Night” tour where you get to walk through the archeological site from the entrance up to the Treasury (photo below) guided only by candlelight. It was pretty cool:
The above photo is the Treasury by candlelight and the organizers had laid out carpets on the ground where we could sit, enjoy some piping hot mint tea, and listen to 2 musical solo performances. I enjoyed it all but it was a bit chilly when we stopped moving and with the time difference between Dubai and Jordan, I was pretty beat and was struggling to stay awake since it was 11pm by this time (1 am Dubai time).
Here is what the Treasury with its Hellenistic facade looks like by day. You can see the scale of this amazing archeological feat by comparing it to the size of the people at the bottom of the photo:
Royal Tombs (remember this was all carved out of the existing sandstone):
Only 5% of Petra has been excavated and that 5% could take days to explore. Besides the touristy areas that we visited, there are also a few off-the-beaten trails that would be great to hike if Scotch was the hiking type and if we had more time.
Instead we just did the hike up to the Monastery which probably took about an hour or so but was great fun and the views up top were worth it. Here is the Monastery:
Here is Scotch almost to the top of the hike:
Here I am on the top of the world with some man that jumped into my picture:
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
hi there! i love your blog as i can relate much to your experiences as an expat in dubai.
my hubby and i would like to visit jordan as well some time this year. i’d like to know if you got a package tour and if so which travel agency did you use? which hotel would you recommend? appreciate your helpful tips! thanks!
hi reggie – my husband planned the whole trip on his own. we did not use any travel agency. we stayed at the Movenpick in Petra which was literally right next to Petra and the hotel arranged our Petra by Night tour as well as our driver to Wadi Rum. We then moved to the Four Seasons (a rare splurge for us) in Amman and again our hotel arranged for a driver for the 2 days that we stayed there.
Hope this helps!
Hi, would have loved an Expat assignment in Dubai – well, even more I would love to visit Jordan. have read so much about Petra. Love to follow your blog – from Expatter to Expatter
Paula
I love your shots of this amazingly gorgeous site. I am writing a paper on how the Nabateans actually carved these beautiful structures. With facades I know, but what else. Thanx
Hi
Lovely write-up and photos, I’ve always wanted to visit Jordan. I’ve linked to this blog posting from our website so that more people can enjoy your writings – see our Dubai – Amman flights page.
Thanks for adding more colour into the world.