With the goal of beating the crowds we're at the gate as it opens. Venturing down the now empty gorge is a completely different experience to yesterday. Rounding the last bend to emerge in front of the treasury I can't believe we have the whole place to ourselves...Now this is the way to experience Petra!!!
Heading straight for the monastery it isn't long before we hit the steps...
One, two, three...
No...I'm not really counting them :)
The colored cliffs and gorges in the morning light are spectacular, it feels like we're in a different world as we make our way skywards. But the steps keep going and going and going...
Seven hundred and eighty three, seven hundred and ninety four, seven hundred and ninety five...
Finally rounding a bend there it is...the monastery! Easily as impressive as the treasury my guess is the only reason it's less popular is because of the climb. But well worth the effort.The local cafe owner is just rising and I harass him for a tea...
"Of course, one minute..."
Mosa owns a souvenir shop a bit further up the hill and sits down for a chat. Another local who has hardly traveled yet speaks near perfect English and is a pleasure to talk to...
"If you feel like having a look when you've finished your tea my shop's on top of the hill here and you can see as far as Israel"
"Really, Israel...from here?"
"Yeah"
"Sure, let's go"
Gulping down the last of our tea we join Mosa and his donkey for the trek to the top. With a slight haze around we can't quite make out Israel but the view is stunning anyway. The position of his shop could not be more spectacular, perched barely meters from a hundred meter drop-off Mosa and his mate Muhammad enjoy their whole lives gazing out onto the world below. Magical! No wonder they both have a very relaxed and carefree air about them...The walk down is much easier and slowly the tourists start filling the gaps where hours earlier there was nothing but rocks. Glancing up to the stalls above I get a big surprise...
"Ha! There's the "Married to a Bedouin" woman" :) I realize I yelled that a bit too loud and that it's probably not the "Married to the Bedouin" woman because we've just been told she's over in Australia. But now I've got her attention I better go say hello...
"Hi"
"Hi"
"Is this you?" Pointing to a poster of the book...
Smiling "Yes"
"I thought you were in Sydney"
Laughing "Yes, I was. I've just come back"
I have to laugh. What a difference writing a book must have made to her life. One minute she's an obscure anomaly in a mountain cave and the next every passing tourist seems to know what she had for breakfast :)
I can't resist buying her book and don't believe I didn't get a photo...but oh well.
Fighting our way back to the entrance through the sea of people flooding in we jump straight in the car and head for Amman. The drive takes a little longer than expected and we arrive just in time for peek-hour. Brilliant :) The plan was to find a hotel near the Roman theater so we could start walking first thing in the morning but the traffic starts doing my head in...
Spotting a couple of hotels to the right "Let's stay here. This is just silly!"
"Sure"
Steph runs in, checks them out and being well impressed with the foyer of the Toledo decides it's a goa. Sounds perfect to me :) After checking in I rush off to drop the car back before returning to put my feet up for the afternoon.
Meeting up with David, the guy we stayed with a few nights ago, and a couple of other Couchsurfers we go for tea and nagile in the city. By midnight I figure I better get home, it's going to be a 4am start tomorrow to avoid the heat...
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