Dahab to Petra

Although we'd been thinking about the possibility of traveling to Petra for some time, we didn't make our final decision until the day before we went there (financial and visa issues were the main constraints). What a great decision it was.

Petra is in Jordan, a short ferry (across the Red Sea) and cab ride away (well, short is relative... it took us 13 hours to get there from Dahab). It is best known for its rock-hewn tombs, which are magnificent (if you remember, in a previous entry about Lalibela, Ethiopia, I mentioned that the churches there were known as the Petra of Africa). The tombs are found in a mountainous, barren region blessed with some astounding views. The rock there is mostly sandstone.

Petra was built by a civilization known as the Nabateans. They "carved" most of the tombs into the rock during their golden age - between the first century B.C. and the first century A.D. Something I especially liked about the Nabateans is that they did not have slaves - the people who worked on the tombs were salaried employees. Only the rich, who could afford to pay the workers, had tombs. Also interesting is the influence of other cultures in the architecture of the Petra tombs. Our guide mentioned the influence of Greek and Egyptian architectural traditions, as well as some Roman buildings (after the Nabateans were gone, the Romans occupied the city). The Nabateans were big traders, so I imagine they learned about other civilizations' architectural traditions through their commercial interactions.

But returning to our visit, we bought a two-day entrance pass on the day we arrived. On the first day we did the main route, with a guide. The route includes the most famous Petra tomb: the Treasury. Featured in Indiana Jones and the Holy Grail, the Treasury is a regal, Greek-looking tomb carved into a reddish wall of rock. You approach it through a two kilometer gorge flanked by 20 meter high rock walls. Remains of Nabatean pavement are still visible in the gorge. Built for a Nabatean King, the Treasury (named like that because in the old days people thought treasures lay inside. There was no treasure, though) consists of two floors. On the first you have a columned entrance and three large, empty rooms. On the second floor you have a facade with some Nabatean gods, as well as some references to Greek culture (for example, they have depictions of the Amazons. Apparently, the King was a great admirer of the Greeks).



On our first day we also visited dozens of tombs. One that we especially liked is called the Monastery. Perched on a mountain (it took us over an hour to hike up), the monastery affords some of the most dramatic views of Petra and the mountains beyond. Like the Treasury, it resembles Greek architecture, with large columns greeting visitors.





On our second day in Petra we chose to do an "off-the-beaten-track" route. Petra is located between mountains, as I explained before, in what looks like a large canyon. Most of the tombs are found near or on the bottom of the canyon, but a few others are set up in the walls and mountains surrounding the canyon. Different paths lead up the mountains to the more isolated tombs. We followed one of the paths up the mountain on a gorgeous, undisturbed (lots of tourists in Petra, so getting away from the crowds is always welcome), 3-hour hike. We got great views of the barren, rocky mountain and visited a few, well-preserved but totally tourist-free tombs.