The theater is not the typical Roman theater built stone by stone, this is a Nabaeatean theater meaning that it has been carved out of the rock completely.
The Royal tombs used to be separated by gardens and a waterfall
By the time we finished visiting the Royal tombs it was mid-day and the temperature outside was close to 40C so we got inside one of the tombs, ate our lunch and drunk lots of water. Then we came out again and resumed our walk...
We found this sign
and then some stairs going up from the back of the Royal tombs
So up we went... this, we learnt later is the Al-Khubtha trail and it goes up...
At first when we started climbing we were talking about how strange it was that with all the people that were everywhere we could barely see anyone around... after 15 minutes of relentless stair climbing we saw a lady in her 50s all red and looking like someone just about to faint and fall down the stairs as she was walking down the stairs moving from right to left ...
Must have been the heat we thought... 15 minutes later as we were still climbing stairs we started to think that it may not have been the heat after all...
But we just kept climbing and climbing and I can't remember how long it took us to get to the top but the views were magnificent... I thought it was worth it just for that...
Little did we know that there was a much bigger reward for our efforts just a little bit ahead...
Right at the top we found a sign saying "treasury" and nothing else... first we thought... would that go to the "Treasury"? Nooooo... there would have better signs.... and surely there would be more people going...
As you can imagine, with a punishing heat of almost 40C and hundreds of stairs...there weren't many people around who to ask... but we saw a couple of Americans that looked as cluless as ourselves, asked them and they didn't know either but we all decided to go and try the path to see where it went anyway...
And oh my! What a treat of a view!
I suspect that 90% of people visiting Petra doesn't know about this "secret" view or perhaps nobody is crazy enough to climb all those stairs in the middle of the afternoon. O:-)
Apart from the Treasury we also saw a blue lizzard. :-)
Unfortunately there wasn't any shortcut to take us down to the Treasury from here and we had to retrace our steps all the way down...
Once we got to the bottom of the stairs we went to one of the shops and got a lemonade with mint (very popular in this lands) and then we headed for our hotel for a good shower and dinner as today we also booked "Petra at night" so we would be walking all the way back to The treasury this evening.
On the way out I've managed to snap a quick picture of the only monument I couldn't take a picture of on the way in as some idiots where jumping and hunging from the rocks while someone was taking pictures of them.
This temple is on your left hand side when you walk towards the Siq
Something that I think it's worth mentioning is that walking by the Siq can sometimes be a risky business due to all the horse carriages going full speed through the narrow cannyon... specially when it gets really hot... then it becomes more popular as people are less inclined to walk.
We booked a small hotel near the visitor's centre, economical but not too shaby.
Once we got to our hotel, we had a shower, cleaned up good (you can't imagine the amount of dust and dirt you end up with)... re-hydrated and went for dinner...
We found a restaurant with a good menu nearby our hotel so we sat down just to realise the table cloth wasn't exactly a table cloth, it was a very furry table cloth... with lots of ashes from cigarrets and some other unidentified bodies on it...
We only had to look at each other to know we wouldn't be having dinner in that restaurant so we stood up and walked away as the restaurant owner was running after us trying to bring us back...
Then we stopped on another one, a lot cleaner and ordered some water while we decided what to eat just to realise they only had one set dish and it would take an hour to cook, as we had to be at the vistor's centre to see Petra at night in one hour, so we had to leave that restaurant too... we paid the water and walked away as the owner stared at us in total consternation.
Finally we found another one that looked clean... nobody inside and a chinese looking women at the door inviting people to come in... It wouldn't have been our first choice but we were getting a bit desperate so we went it... and I'm glad we did because the food was fantastic. The chef came to talk to us and told us how he prepared the spices himself every day, the humous was nice and fresh, everything had a really nice presentation... sorry I didn't take any pictures that would make it justice but I was way to hungry to take pictures and dug in almost as my plate touched the table...
Then with a full stomach we went to the visitor's centre and did the walk to the Treasury again but this time it was pitch dark and the whole trail was iluminated by candles...
Once at the Treasury we were asked to sit down as we were offered a complimentary cup of tea.
You'll have to forgive me for the lack of picture quality but between the darkness and the amount of dust from everyone walking around on that sand it was almost impossible to get a decent picture so what you are about to see is the best of the very best.
Due to the total darkness you can't see the person sitting in the middle with a bedouin musical instrument.
As you wouldn't be able to hear the music either I made a small video for your viewing pleasure where you won't be able to see anything but the candles but at least you'll be able to hear the music.
After that, another musician came in and played the flute and that was all... not exactly the highlight of the day. It was nice to see all the Siq and the Treasury iluminated by candle light but whether that's worth 12GBP to you or not it's another matter.
On the way back almost at the end of the trail we found this
A scorpion!!
It was dark and it looked like a stone in the path... everyone was walking by (literally hundreds of people)... I wouldn't be suprised if someone ended the night with a nasty sting. I kept my distance just in case... that's why it's showing so small on the picture... O:-)
And before ending this post I thought it would be worth mentioning something I found interesting in the hotel rooms everywhere in Jordan...
Rooms have a sticker somewhere indicating the direction to Meca. :-)
Tomorrow another walk in Petra although this time we'll start earlier, 8 am instead of 10 am like today that should keep us away from the strong sun for most of the day.
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