Couldn’t have ordered better weather for our day at Petra. It’s clear, sunny and although cold enough for winter coats now, the sun will warm us as the day goes on. Per the hotel staff, the prior few days had been cold and overcast with intermittent showers but today there was not a cloud in the sky! We met our guide in the hotel lobby and walked across the street past several shops to the official site entrance.
Petra is a magnificent ancient city believed to have been established in the 4th century BC as the capital city of the Nabataeans. The Nabataeans were some of civilization’s earliest entrepreneurs; formerly a nomadic people, they recognized the importance of commerce, so settled and established a trading hub at the crossroads of important caravan routes between east and west. Spices, fabrics and precious stones from India and China passed through Petra on the way to the Mediterranean as well as bitumen from the Dead Sea. Nabataean traders organized transport of these goods on dromedaries and held custom rights over goods in transit. They earned lots of money and used this wealth as well as their expertise in rock cutting to sculpt the amazing city of Petra from the surrounding sandstone massifs.
We started our tour of this UNESCO world heritage site by walking through a wide valley surrounded by rocky bluffs. We saw many caves carved out of the mountainside. Per our guide, these served as both homes and ultimately tombs for the inhabitants of Petra. The more ornate the carving, the higher status one had in Nabataean society. The Nabataeans worshiped multiple gods and goddesses and believed in the afterlife so funerary customs and tombs were an important part of their culture.
Beyond the valley, the rocky walls form a narrow passageway. Called the siq, this is the official entryway and easiest route to Petra. We walked the .75 mile passageway. marveling at the beautiful colors in the sandstone walls. It was cool in the siq – it is too narrow and its walls too high for sunlight to penetrate. Along the route, we saw channels for water management as well as remains of shrines to various gods.
As we neared the end of the siq, we caught a glimpse ahead of a beautiful sculpted facade framed by the rocky walls. Al-Khazneh, the Treasury, is one of the most magnificent, well preserved edifices in Petra.
The siq ended and opened into a wide passageway. To the immediate front was the ornate frontage of the Treasury, sculpted from the sandstone mountainside. This building was not really a treasury but was called this in later years because of the Bedouins’ belief that the Nabataeans hid money here. Archaeologists still debate whether this is a royal tomb or temple. Regardless of its purpose, the Treasury is an amazing feat of art and engineering.
Petra still holds true to its roots as a hub of commerce. There are shops throughout the site and those who don’t want to walk can rent buggies, dromedaries. horses and donkeys. The passageway in front of the Treasury is a major center of commercial activity.
We left the open space of the Treasury and walked the Street of the Facades, called this because of the carved faces of tombs that adorn the mountain adjacent to the street. Construction of these tombs date to the first century AD and are believed to be for craftsmen and merchants of Petra’s flourishing middle class.
There were many merchants along the Street of the Facades selling scarves, jewelry, ceramics and even spices. One of the more unique vendors was using different colored sands to create pictures in a bottle.
We began the climb uphill to the Royal Tombs, one of the most impressive areas of Petra. Enroute, we had great views of the theater across the main road, estimated to seat between 6000-8000 spectators and entirely carved out of rock.
The Royal Tombs refer to a complex of five structures believed to be tombs for the Nabataean kings. Our guide indicated that these ornate buildings were likely more than tombs and served as palaces and religious sites for Nabataean royalty and religious elite. The sandstone in this area was gorgeous – layered with red, orange, yellow, white and even black and created the natural decor of the interiors of these tombs.
From the plaza of the Royal Tombs, we could look out over Colonnade Street. This street with its multitude of columns is thought to have been constructed in the 2nd century AD once the Romans occupied Petra. Colonnaded plazas were typical in Roman cities and served both ceremonial and commercial purposes.
Across from the Colonnade is the only free standing (not carved from the mountainside) Nabataean building remaining on site. The Qasr al-Bint is one of the oldest and most important sanctuaries in Petra dating from the later half of the first century BC. It is believed to have been dedicated to the most important Nabataean god, Dushara but was damaged in an earthquake in 363 and never rebuilt.
Our final stop before lunch was the Byzantine Basilica. After the Nabataeans and Romans, Petra continued to thrive under the Byzantines in the 6th century AD. Many of the tombs and temples were converted to churches. An example that best illustrates this conversion was the basilica discovered in 1973 and currently being excavated. Several of the columns are still intact and beautifully preserved mosaics decorate the floor. Archaeologists believe that an earthquake and subsequent fire destroyed the basilica in the later half of 6th century and ironically it was the collapse of the roof that ended up protecting the mosaics for the next 1400 years.
We ate lunch at the Basin Restaurant on site, then prepared to make the 1.6 mile climb to Jabal ad-Dayr, the Monastery. The path starts along the bottom of a narrow gorge and then follows multiple flights of steps carved into the rock. Some people take donkeys to the top but the path was narrow and the rocks were slippery so we opted to hike. It was amazing that no matter how narrow or steep the path, merchants had booths lined up end to end along the edge. We thought prices would get cheaper the higher we climbed, but not so! Eventually the path leveled out and we walked into a large open plateau and saw the beautiful carved edifice of the Monastery.
This building got its name because it was used as a monastery during Christian times. In Nabataean times, ad-Dayr was thought to be a place of worship where ceremonies and banquets were held and possibly a commemorative monument consecrated to the memory of a Nabataean ruler deified after death. The structure was likely carved sometime between the mid first century BC and late first century AD.
From the monastery, we followed another short path and then scrambled up several boulders to a rocky precipice. This gave us a 360 degree view with the monastery to the front and the rift valley created by the crashing of two tectonic plates millions of years ago, to the rear.
We hiked back down to the Colonnade Street and decided to ride a dromedary back to the Treasury. From there we walked back though the siq and to the hotel. We returned about 5:30 pm exhausted (my fitbit showed we’d walked 13 miles) but exhilarated by our time at Petra. Only 15% of Petra has been excavated so this wonder of the world will continue to surprise and delight visitors as archaeologists continue their work!