Map of Petra Site

Here’s a map of Petra.

If you are visiting the site, I suggest you print this map out. They didn’t have any in English when I visited.

Map of Petra - The sites to visit at the Petra UNESCO siteMap of Petra
1 Djin Blocks10 Corinthian Tomb19 Qasr Al-Bint28 High Palace of Sacrifice
2 Obelisk Tomb11 Palace Tomb20 Unfinished Tomb29 Lion Monument
3 Al-Siq12 Sextus Florentinus Tomb21 Al-Habees Museum30 Garden Temple Complex
4 The Treasury13 House of Dorotheos22 Petra Archeological Museum31 Triclinium
5 Street of Facades14 The Nymphaeum23 Lion Triclinium32 Renaissance Tomb
6 The Theater15 Colonnaded Street24 Al-Deir – The Monastery33 Broken Pediment Tomb
7 Aneisho Tomb16 Byzantine Church25 Turkmanian Tomb34 Roman Soldier Tomb
8 Urn Tomb17 Winged Lion Temple26 Conway Tower35 Snake Monument
9 Silk Tomb18 The Arched Gate27 Moghar Annassara36 Crusader Fort

Main Sites

Here’s the best of the main sites from Petra, Jordan.

You’ve got refreshments along the way, so don’t worry too much about water.

Obelisk Tomb

Once 7 metres tall. Standing at the entrance caves to Al-siq.

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Obelisk Tomb

AL-Siq

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Name for the channel running through the mountain. Used to carry irrigation pipes and there is evidence of the Nabateans building and harnessing water through a number of dams as you pass through.

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Entrance to Al-siq

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Al-siq

Al-Khazneh or ‘the treasury’

Named the treasury as Bedouins believed there was ancient treasure buried in the urn’s which decorate adornments.

Bedouin settlers have routinely taken pot-shots at trying to release the treasure they believed was within. Although that was not possible,  the site is actually a tomb.

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The ‘treasury’ Petra

Palace Tombs

A large number of tombs on the south-west face of the Siq mountain.

Probably the largest and most spectacular site in Petra when viewed from the opposite hill, the Palace Tombs are a tribute to the opulence of the nobles who built them.

Standing around 40-metres high they can be easily reached, and there are Bedouin stalls along the way to get refreshments, mint tea, sit down for five minutes.

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Palace tombs

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Outside palace tombs

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Inside palace tombs

Colonnaded Street

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Passing the Amphitheatre, you’ll  reach this the colonnaded street. On the left you have the remains of a Greco-roman style walkway leads from the Amphitheatre up to the site of the Temple, currently being excavated by Browns university.

On the right is the old river with a number of channels leading into it.

At the base of the Colonnaded Street you have the museums and restaurants.

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Route to Crown Plaza buffet

If you want a cheap buffet, I recommend the Crown Plaza. KML

The Bedouins will try and sell you stuff. It’s up to you what you buy.

Petra Jordan

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Recently ascribed Wonder of the World status, Petra is a city carved entirely out of limestone rock.

The Nabateans who used to run camel trains from Egypt to India had their empire based here, once numbering over 30,000 inhabitants.

The city lay undiscovered up until the 1812 when Swiss explorer, Johann Ludwig Burckhardt,  conned local Arabs into letting him into the sacred complex to visit the tomb of Aaron. Dressed as an Arab, he returned with news to the western world and the rest is history, as they say.

Now I’ve been to a lot of these wonders, I can say the best thing about this one is the weather, because it’s built entirely below ground level, you can explore the complex fairly comfortably depending on how much time you’ve got.

I’ve got one day, so here’s the main sites.

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Petra Jordan

No Rocks for Mikey

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No rocks for me.

After some credit card overheating problems, I’ve decided to cut my loses and move on to the site of Petra, which is one of the main sites and named one of the 7 wonders of the world.

Currently stationed at the Marriott, Petra after a 3-4 hour dolmus trip costing 5JD Jordanian Dinars.

1JD = 0.75GBP So that works out pretty cheap, about £4.

Tomorrow I’ll be exploring one of the most exciting sites in the middle east.

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Marriott Petra Jordan

Jordan border crossing

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Am now in Aquaba Jordan after a slightly prolonged stay in Israel.

Border Problems

Got delayed which led to a late arrival at the Jordanian border, which is pretty close about 8KM from Egypt.

I was delayed and the border closed @ 8pm.

I had to wait till 6am the next morning on the benches outside the border crossing.

The border crossing itself was like something from the iron curtain; all landmine strips, watchtowers and dogs.

Made for a memorable crossing, got to wonder through Elat prime Israel resort, visit Herod’s or the King’s Resort a cultural head ducking for a Christian. The fact that the Jews celebrate this King who almost destroyed our King and Saviour as well as murdering a load of his own, innocent people in the process seems slightly alien, to say the least.

I’m sure many Christians would be outraged by the existence of a Herod’s, and is really not something to celebrate. Still, we’ll be back in Israel and we can delve into that deeper later.

Monkeys bar

Took this picture from outside the Monkeys bar Elat, on the promenade you can find top hotels, eateries, stalls with candy floss, designer goods, bits and pieces and lots of Jewish youths wandering around.

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Monkeys bar – Elat, Israel

Aquaba

Have eventually reached Aquaba.

Have to arrange a tour for tomorrow, to a site know as Wadi-rum, a geo-wonderland explored by camel incorporating some spectacular rock formations in desert climate which should be fun. I’m into my rocks.