Here’s a couple of pictures to remind you what I look like!
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Petra – Crazy Camels
Had good chance to have a look at these strange and amusing creatures.
I suppose the Arabs love their camels like the south Americans love their Alpaca, long neck, big ears, dopey yet amusing faces.
These two camels have stopped for a rest, one of them stands whilst the other sits.
Crazy Camels 1&2
One on the left spreads it’s rear legs, [pictured].
As it struggles around in this stance, I wonder whether it has a version of mad camels disease. It’s austere looking friend remains seated.
Sitting camel has a regal look as it checks out passers by.
No doubt these camels are friendly, but I don’t get any closer as they are a bit smelly.
You will come across these camels on your travels, you can easily ride them, but take it easy with the crazy one is it might dump you off the back.
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 | |||
| 1 Djin Blocks | 10 Corinthian Tomb | 19 Qasr Al-Bint | 28 High Palace of Sacrifice |
| 2 Obelisk Tomb | 11 Palace Tomb | 20 Unfinished Tomb | 29 Lion Monument |
| 3 Al-Siq | 12 Sextus Florentinus Tomb | 21 Al-Habees Museum | 30 Garden Temple Complex |
| 4 The Treasury | 13 House of Dorotheos | 22 Petra Archeological Museum | 31 Triclinium |
| 5 Street of Facades | 14 The Nymphaeum | 23 Lion Triclinium | 32 Renaissance Tomb |
| 6 The Theater | 15 Colonnaded Street | 24 Al-Deir – The Monastery | 33 Broken Pediment Tomb |
| 7 Aneisho Tomb | 16 Byzantine Church | 25 Turkmanian Tomb | 34 Roman Soldier Tomb |
| 8 Urn Tomb | 17 Winged Lion Temple | 26 Conway Tower | 35 Snake Monument |
| 9 Silk Tomb | 18 The Arched Gate | 27 Moghar Annassara | 36 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
