You may have heard of the movie "Queen of the Desert" starring Nicole Kidman as
Gertrude Bell - the woman who worked alongside T.E Lawrence in the establishment of modern day Iraq and Transjordan (now Jordan). Throughout her career she crossed Arabia six times over 12 years; as far north as Palmyra, west into Beirut, and south to Karak.
My one day being Gertrude Bell was a trip to Petra, "discovered" in 1812 by Johann Ludwig Burckhardt when he requested the local people to take him to the the lost city of the Nabataeans.
Thank goodness he did!
In one day, my friends and I managed to climb up to the High Place of Sacrifice
and the Monastery - I seriously recommend
not doing both sites if you're only down for one day - instead focus on first climbing up to the Monastery, and then on the way back exploring the Tombs and if you're up for it going to the High Place, which can take you back to the Treasury. We took the JETT bus from Amman in the morning, arriving at 9.30am in Petra, and back to Amman on the same day at 5pm; whilst there was so much more exploring I could do, I feel like my quick one day jaunt was good for the weekend, as anything more would have made my legs useless for work the next day. If you're an expat in Jordan, I recommend waiting for you to get your residency card, as the entry price drops from 50JOD to 1JOD... (basically saving $98AUD).
It was actually very "quiet" considering it's the perfect time to be visiting Petra; the weather is amazing right now - not too hot, with a cool breeze, but a strong hot sun giving a nice sunny glow. But I guess everyone is scared off because of what is happening
over 300km north! That would be like people not visiting Melbourne because of what is happening in Wagga Wagga, or not going to London because of what is happening in Paris. Seriously, Jordan is safe - it's the "Switzerland of the Arab world" and as a white, blonde woman I feel safer here than a lot of other places I've been in the world. So seriously, visit Jordan.
Words fail to describe the awe and majesty of the sight, so here are a whole bunch of pictures I took; please don't steal them, but instead enjoy!
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| Walking the Siq (entrance) to Petra |
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| The Siq was carved out by water |
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| The majestic view at the end of the Siq - The Treasury |
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| Off I go on a crusade to find the Grail! |
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| Why hello there! |
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| The Street of Facades |
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| Trail to the High Place of Sacrifice |
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| I am so a cat lady... |
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| I made it to the Monastery! |
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| Walking back down |
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| Tunnel |
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| I took a donkey for a small portion of the climb back to the Treasury as I had hurt my leg and it was hot |
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| Royal Tombs |
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| I think this is my favourite picture of my whole trip - Petra Cat. |
