Finding the Lost City

Day 24: Aqaba, Jordan

Another bucket list day! We were going to see the Lost City of Petra in Jordan. You know, the one in the Indiana Jones movie with Sean Connery. It’s also one of the Modern Seven Wonders of the World, making this our second of the trip. This stop was one of the stand-out, can’t-be-missed items on the itinerary that initially drew us to this cruise, and we’ve been looking forward to this day since the day we knew we were going.

We didn’t have to get up as early this morning, the weather was expected to be cooler than yesterday in Egypt, and the bus ride won’t be as long. Even with all of that going for us, this was by far our most difficult day physically.

Jordan is 95% Muslim, so we had to carefully choose our outfits again today. Because we were only going to a tourist area though, and no religious sites, the dress code wasn’t quite as strict as Oman. We didn’t know that for sure until we were on the bus with our local guides, but we guessed that might be the case so I did wear short sleeves and just brought a scarf to cover up.

So the 2 hour bus ride was interesting in that we passed a number of Bedouin camps along the way, typical with their long tents and livestock. The rocky mountains lacked any vegetation and had black stripes running through them that are ash flows from ancient volcanoes.

We found out we could get free Wi-Fi on the bus which is always exciting. Whenever word gets around about Wi-Fi it’s like giving water to someone dying of thirst in the desert. Everyone whips out their phones and immediately starts checking emails, etc. That’s about the only time I can check comments on my Facebook or Instagram posts or send Lynda pictures without using up all of my data on the ship. It’s pretty much the first question everyone asks whenever we get somewhere, “Is there free Wi-Fi here?”

We had one shopping stop along the way that was disguised as a comfort stop. Lynda bought a cute top and had her scarf wrapped in the Bedouin style by a local. We also passed Wadi Rum desert which became famous in the old Lawrence of Arabia movie. We climbed to about 2000 ft. above sea level to the town of Wadi Moussa, which sits at the entrance to Petra (wadi=valley, moussa=Moses. It is said he traveled through this area at one time.)

The main reason this was such a physically challenging tour was the 6 miles we knew we would be walking in the heat. Lynda and I are used to that kind of weather, so we weren’t too concerned, but we were definitely tired by the end of the day. We walked on stones that were set there thousands of years before, so the path was uneven, but not difficult to walk on.

Petra is a city that was basically built into the rocks a couple of centuries BC. It’s called the “Lost City” because the Bedouins kept it a secret from the outside world until it was “found” by a European man who had heard stories of it in 1812. He disguised himself as a Bedouin and tricked them into taking him to the site. Even then it was little know until years later. It’s also known as the rose-red city because of the color of the rock.

We first walked about a mile through a narrow gorge called The Siq that reminded me of some of the slot canyons in Southern Utah. You could take a horse drawn carriage operated by the local Bedouins if you didn’t want to walk, but they really had a system working. The carriage took you through The Siq, at which point you would have to pay another guy if you wanted a camel or donkey ride farther along the path. Coming out, once you were out of The Siq, you could buy a horse ride to the entrance. I noticed at no time did the different animal species overlap. The horse carriages raced through the Siq, and you had to get out of the way when you heard them coming as they definitely had the right of way.

At the end of walking through The Siq, the rocks opened up and the famous Treasury was there in all its glory. It was beautiful and amazing. It’s what everyone comes to see, and even if you don’t go one step beyond that spot, your trip was worth it.

At each one of our stops I try to pick a spot to just stop moving and really be present in my experience. Sometimes I get so caught up trying to take pictures of everything and running around to make sure I see it all, that I don’t stop and really breathe in where I’m at. Like, “Hello! I’m at freaking Petra! Take a minute and just let that soak in.” Later, I will always remember those few minutes. Anyway, The Treasury is definitely the spot for that.

So previously, whenever I thought of Petra, I always equated that to The Treasury. What I didn’t realize is there is sooooo much more to Petra. There is an amphitheater, tombs everywhere, a temple, and exquisitely carved entrances to the king’s tombs all through the valley. (In fact, The Treasury is actually a tomb built for one of the kings.) All but one of the free-standing buildings have long since perished because of earthquakes, but the structures in the rocks have stood the test of time.

Lynda and I ended up walking the length of the city, but didn’t go up into the hills to the tombs there. They looked amazing, and later heard they were, but we just didn’t have the time to do it and get back to our bus on time. If we had been on our own schedule we would have stayed longer. In fact, just as we were leaving, the light was getting better and the crowds were thinning, and it would have been fun to take advantage of that.

The only disappointment of Petra was the ever-present trinket sellers. They weren’t in The Siq, but just about everywhere else. This isn’t unique to Petra though, just about every place around the world that draws tourists also attracts those who are trying to get into those tourist wallets.

In the end we had a day to remember and I’m so thankful I was able to visit this incredible place. If my trip ended today, it would be the trip of a lifetime: The Taj Mahal, Luxor, Petra. But it’s not over, and we still have some amazing places coming up.