Petra, the lost city

* All pictures on this post by la elfa

Last weekend Mona and I decided to take a short, and cheap, trip to discover the lost city of Petra. Little did we know that it would end up being a terribly long, and expensive, adventure. However, it was such an awesome discovery that it was worth all the pain, problems, delays and money.

To begin with our bus to Amman, the capital of Jordan, was delayed and once we finally left the driver decided to take a rest after just 30 minutes driving (the trip is supposed to take just 3 hours). At the Syrian border a very corrupted, selfish, arrogant guy confiscated my passport saying my visa was expired, when he realized that wasn’t true he argued I had overstayed in the country, another lie, and then he had an issue with my residency…. It took an hour and a bribe from the bus driver for the guy to let me leave the country!

When we finally made it to Amman, over 3 hours late, we discovered there were no buses or shared taxis (very common way of transport in this part of the world) to go to Petra that night, it was too late. We had a 5 star hotel paid in Petra and hated the idea to have to spend the night in Amman, not only because of the money, also the waste of time involved! To make the story short, hotels were expensive in Amman and someone offered to arrange a car and driver for us. After discussing the pros and cons (many more cons btw, taking into account we were two girls, foreigners, we were approaching midnight and had to drive 3 hours across the desert) we finally decide to take the risk.

I’ll tell you something funny before I keep going. The few times I am scared being home alone in Madrid I sleep with a bottle of wine next to my bed. I always tell myself a knife would be useless as I would be too scarred to use it, however I would not hesitate to hit someone in the face or head with a bottle of wine, and I am sure it would be painful for the one being hit! So I told Mona this story and since we had bought a bottle of wine in the Duty Free, we put it in the seat, between our two bodies, just in case. Needless to say we didn’t need it. The driver ended up being a very nice and sweet old man who actually has a son studying in Petra and he was happy to spend the night there with him.

I must admit the first 30 minutes of the trip I was so scarred I prayed whatever prayers I could remember from my childhood, while I kept telling Mona it would be ok. The driver seemed a bit upset to see us so scarred!! And as soon as we relaxed he started chatting a bit with us. The sky of the desert at night is absolutely gorgeous and all those stars in the sky made me and Mona feel much better. Then we saw hamsters and foxes along the road, and that was a nice excuse to chat with the driver, who ended up becoming our “guide’, telling us stories about the few towns and villages we drove through.

We arrived to the hotel at 3am, we had left our office at 3:30pm, and we were exhausted but so happy to be there! We woke up early the next day, and that was tough, we both love to sleep, but we had to since the sun goes down at around 4pm this time of the year and by five it is pitch-black outside. We had a nice breakfast and drove to the entrance of the ancient city of Petra, where a 70USD entry fee has to be paid. Yes, it is expensive, but part of that money goes to preservation of the site, which as you will now discover is breathtaking (both literally and figurately). Here begins the real story of our amazing trip to Petra, the lost city (even though it covers hundreds of square miles, Petra was completely unexplored, lost, and hidden by the Bedouins, from 1189 to the 1812.

As you enter the site you can ride a horse for 5 minutes to the beginning of the siq, which we did. Little did we know that this half mile doesn’t represent much compared to the 15 miles we were about to walk…

The siq looks like a crater but actually it was not created as the result of time and water like most people think, but by tectonic forces. The siq is almost a mile long and it is in itself a masterpiece of nature. You might remember it from the Indiana Jones movie, I didn’t. To be honest I didn’t know much about what to expect in Petra, I just knew I would love it.

The siq offers the most amazing and dramatic landscape ever. Its walls can reach over 600 feet up, and its wide varies from just 6 feet to 60 in some places. The colors of the rock go from golden to pink, from red to black, sometimes even blue.

The shapes of the rock and walls also vary in so many ways that they are sometimes difficult to understand by just looking at them. I found myself touching the rock many times, the texture kept changing as well.

I wish I could describe better what I experienced then, and even though pictures are not as impressive as reality, I hope the ones posted here convey the message.

It gets to a point when you are completely stunned and absorbed by the siq, and then the most surprising and shocking image appears: the siq suddenly narrows to around 4 feet and the two walls seem to be about to touch each other, but they don’t, and that is when you realize just in front of you lays the Treasury. You discover it almost by coincidence, what a magnificent surprise, with its golden color and grandiose size. It is like a mirage caused by the heat and the hike.

The Treasury was built by the Nabateans, like the rest of the city, and it is one of the most famous, better preserved constructions of Petra. Actually, it is not a building itself, since it is carved in the sandstone rock of the mountain!! The Nabateans soon realized that there land tended to suffer many earthquakes and thus buildings didn’t last long, thus they came up with this remarkable technique. They would carve the rock from top to bottom to do the façade first, and then they would excavate the inside of rooms.

This is another reason why in Petra there are no remains of houses. The Nabateans lived in tents, just like Bedouins still do today. So the main buildings we find today were the Treasury, the Theater and Great Temple and hundreds of tombs, including the Royal Tombs. There are so many tombs that for a very long time visitors assumed Petra used to be a Necropolis.

To be honest, the majesty of the Treasury and the uniqueness of the siq were so impressive that I couldn’t expect to be even more impressed by what was to come. As you keep walking down what used to be the main street of Petra, then a quite important city for traveling merchant caravans, you reach the Theater. It was built over 2,000 years ago by the Nabateans and it could host 3.000 people. Then the Romans rebuilt and expanded it, to host 8.500 people, one third of Petra’s total population! The Theater is also carved on the rock.

A little later are the Royal Tombs. To be honest the façade is the most impressive part of the tombs, even though once inside you do wonder how they were able to excavate those huge rooms in the rock of the mountain.

I won’t tell you everything about Petra, you probably don’t want to read all about it, and it is better if you just decide to discover it yourself. However, let me tell you just a few more things. About 15 years ago archeologists started working on the Great Temple, and so far their discoveries are fascinating. My favorite is probably the capitols of columns shaped as elephants. Elephants! I had never seen anything like it, and for all I know they might just be unique to Petra.

After the Great Temple you need to decide if you are a conformist tourist, or an adventurer. We like to believe we are adventurers and thus decided to make it to the Monastery, the most amazing place in Petra. To be honest, it takes a huge effort and loads of energy, of which we were starting to run out, and many people just decide to finish their visit here.

The path to the Monastery is steep; it has over 900 steps rock-cut and climbing them takes around 50 minutes, thus many choose to ride a donkey. We refused to use a poor old and tired donkey for obvious reasons, and also because it didn’t look too safe (Susan, if you are reading this, imagine ten times worse than that volcano in the Philippines!!).

The hike is absolutely gorgeous, the views are breathtaking most of the time, and if you can manage to bargain and walk at the same time you will find Bedouin kids and women along the way selling all kinds of souvenirs.

When you finally make it to the top you will find, magnificent, splendid and glorious, the Monastery. The place deserves every drop of sweat, every breath, every bit of energy you have used on the way.

And if you still have some leftover energy, save it, or recover having a tea or a coke in the bar that is strategically located there. Then walk an extra mile to the lookout that promises views to the end of the world. It is absolutely striking and peaceful since very few people make it all the way here. It might not be the end of the world, but it is fabulous and impressive, and from here you can see Israel and the Palestinian territories!

  

And now, after walking all these miles, get ready to turn around and walk back through the same path because the entrance to Petra is also the exit! It is as if you had to go back and make sure you erase your footprints from the sand of the desert.

Petra is certainly one of the most exciting, unique and magnificent places I have ever visited.

Surreal Bosra

Traveling around Syria is like taking a (fun) History class. Actually it is more of a combination of History, Art and even Religion.

A couple weekends ago my friend Mona and I had the chance to visit Bosra, a town 100 miles south of Damascus, near the border with Jordan. I had heard wonderful things about it and I must admit I was worried about being disappointed. The main attraction of Bosra is its Roman amphitheater, and I have seen so many already….. However, Bosra definitely is special. Take my word for it, this place is amazing.

As usual in Syria location was key to the development and success of this city. It existed already in the 14th century before Christ, but it was probably only 20 centuries ago when it flourished the most due to the construction of a mayor road that linked Damascus with Amman (Jordan’s capital). This road is actually quite different that the one that goes to Palmyra. You actually see vegetation here, plenty of it. There are plantations nearby the road, and there are dozens of stalls selling all kinds of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Another difference between Palmyra and Bosra is the color of the stone used to build each city. While Palmyra is very light, almost the same color as the sand of the desert, Bosra is made of a much darker stone, almost black. The city was built by the Romans following their traditional grid design, but all that remains of the city are ruins, except for the amphitheater, but I will talk about it later on.

Like I said before, Syria is a lesson of Religion, and as such Bosra has taught me a few interesting things. One of them is that the city was an important stop for religious and commercial caravans that would travel around the region and to the two holy cities of Islam: Mecca and Medina. As such, Mohamed, the Prophet, stopped in this city when he was 12 during a trip with his merchant uncle. In fact one of the oldest mosques in the world is built here, in the place where Mohamed’s camel knelt. But the most significant event that happened here is that apparently it was here that his future was revealed to him: a local priest, Bahira, was having a theological discussion with Mohamed when he announced to him his future vocation as a Prophet.

Bosra also hosts the ruins of what was one of the largest Cathedrals in the region, a masterpiece of Christianity because it was one of the first buildings that combined a square base with a round dome, back in the 6th century. There isn’t much left of it.

Going back to the amphitheater, main reason for my trip, it is said to be the best preserved in the whole wide world. And it seems true, at least to a non expert such as me. Like I said before, I was afraid this place wouldn’t really impress me too much, come on, I have seen so many Roman ruins before that I am almost bored of them. OMG, seriously, you cannot imagine how magnificent the place is. Above all, you need to understand these are not ruins. The amphitheater is still used for concerts and there is even an annual festival that takes place in it.

As soon as I walked into the stands I felt like I had traveled back in time to the 2nd century, when it was built. I felt like a spectator about to watch some ancient drama, or gladiators. I felt like an artist about to perform, like a choreographer in the backstage following the moves of my artists... It is impossible to describe with words what it felt like, but it was grandiose, dramatic, impressive.

To give you an idea the place could sit 15,000 people, the city had no more than 80,000 citizens. Thus one out of 5 citizens could attend a show at the same time. Imagine a theater in New York City that could host 1.7 millions spectators at once. Amazing.

I wish these pictures could illustrate better the magnificence and splendor of this place, perhaps you will have to visit it yourself to understand it.