Petra: yesterday like today.. Jordan trip

content:
photos:
Vote this travel review

Dug in a huge, hidden, as it is, in those rocks in which it is carved, the legendary Petra, the jewel of Nabatei, kept intact over the centuries all of its charm. Its wonderful treasures have remained unknown for entire eras. Until 1812 no one knew of the existence of the city and its monuments. The Bedouins of the area jealously guarded the ruins that used as warehouses and stores for their merchandise. To discover the legendary "pink city" was the young Swiss traveler Johann Ludwig Burckhardt. thanks to his tenacity. Traveling between Damascus and Cairo he heard tell, the people, the existence of an extraordinary city, hidden in the mountains. The explorer of his character led him to seek it, but only his tenacity, the conversion to the Islamic faith and knowledge of Arabic enabled him to easily confused with the indigenous population. All this, however, still not enough. He had studied to be a trick to accompany the scene and breaks, so for a Muslim pilgrim who had to sacrifice a goat, for a vow made to Aaron. So to hire a guide and accompany you did.

Due to long isolation Petra retains many of its monuments, despite the centuries, the wear of time, earthquakes and storms of sand. Petra continues to live, yesterday destination for pilgrims and merchants, today the hordes of tourists. The caravans, dall'Oman leaving with their precious cargoes, transported on the backs of camels, spent three months long and tiring before reaching the city of Petra, after overcoming many difficulties such as raiders of Yemen or the hell and sunny sand dunes of Saudi Arabia. For the traveler of that time was equal to Petra winking reference to a distant comet and its sudden appearance in the middle of the desert was not so that the mystic. After two thousand years, Petra, continues to have a reminder and an equally irresistible charm, but the journey to reach it, though it may be unusual, it is accompanied by all other perils than those in the caravan of the past.

We arrive in Petra for two days. We leave from Malpensa airport and in about four hours we arrived in Sharm el Sheik. The next day with a bus, walk down the coastal road of Sinai to Nuweiba and go Sailing on to Aqaba, Jordan. Having explained the customs formalities at the port being attacked by a cloud of taxi drivers and literally beaten to the right and left in order to penetrate into their taxi rather than another. Action by the customs police, as well as favorable, it is decisive and makes us sit on the taxi's oldest. Will be the only annoyance procuratoci by the kind and cordial Jordanian population. Arrived in the city of Aqaba we rented a car and immediately depart for Petra, although it is now dark. When we get the majority of premises have already closed. On the main street, a vendor of kebab still turn the mutton on the grid. Proud that two tourists can consume your kitchen, invites us to sit on two large stones on the edge of the platform, and c'imbandisce table, with a tablecloth, on top of a box upside down. In addition to eating two tasty kebab a head we will make friends with Mohamed, Amman.

What indescribable relief should try the travelers reached when Petra. Paying the toll for entry to the city, the high walls of a magnificent canyon, known as the siq, the main access route to Petra, was a cool oasis of shade. The channels dug in the walls contain the water with which it could be cool and drink. In November the sun sets and rises to 16:30 to 06:30, we must therefore make maximum use of daylight hours. The early morning, while in the mild autumn in the Jordanian siq cold. The sections of the channels here and there destroyed, are still clearly visible. The walls extend up to 200 meters high and 5 meters shrink in their narrowest point. Just when one begins to wonder if they ever finish the siq - the canyon is 2000 meters along well, but walk the walk - that appear at the bottom of the narrow gorge the unmistakable silhouette of the monument and most beautiful of Petra, the Treasury ( Khazneh). Like all the monuments of Petra, carved into the rock, the most fascinating is the 40 meter high facade. The caravans of merchants came in long lines in India. Botto passed by the solitude of the siq all'affollata square outside the khanazet where the market was held in the city, the rumors of the people and the smells of spices and food were burned in the air. Such a bustle of tourists, we are also expecting us, but we do not find any of that. It will be the morning hours, will be the period, but Petra and the Treasury seem to our entire exclusive.

Walking between the rocks and ruins you understand why you are selling tickets valid for three days: Petra is huge. To date, the monuments surveyed are 800 and still the work of archaeologists is not over. For those who had a one day climb to the Board at least one of the many hills in the city is not so much for the tombs, the most beautiful are in the lower part, and for views that you can see during the walk. The trails are spectacular and the most difficult facilitated by steps carved into the rock. Petra is beautiful. Scervellatevi not read the tombs which are most deserving, but put them aside and tour guides to walk apprestatevi only. There is a monument that must not fail, the Monastery. It 'a sumptuous and impressive as the Treasury, but unlike the Treasury must, so to speak, guadagnarselo. The ascent (from Qasr al Bint) requires at least 45 minutes and a drop of two hundred meters. The monastery is even larger than the treasure being 50 meters wide and 45 high. Hence, a short walk leads to a magnificent view of the Wadi Araba well 1500 meters down, mostly in Israeli territory.

Visit Petra early means you can see the Bedouins prepare for the new working day. In 1985 it was declared a World Heritage Site the Bedouins left the city at the request of the Jordanian government with the agreement that could work in Petra as laborers in the service of archaeologists, vendors, or continue to graze their goats in the countryside. The only prohibition was that of not stopping to sleep at the site overnight. So every morning the mountain Bedouins still tending their goats wool black people to sell cans of coca cola or pepsi, who crafts items such as bottles of sand from the different colors, terracotta or ancient coins. They are the ones who most benefited from state aid, but there are those who still swears by the soul nomadic Bedouin and loves camping and outdoor grazing, few indeed. The army guards turn a blind eye and let them live irreducible. It will meet in the areas along the paths less beaten away from the city's main attractions is the case of Sharif. We hope the meeting with one of them. Sharif many wander for Petra. Men linked to their origins and who love their land. They do not offer as a guide rather be you'll have to insist on them as guides and in the end will be rewarded even more difficult.