Hiking in Petra, Jordan: how to experience one of the seven wonders of the world 6/2023 (Stop 2)

11 June 2023 After staying a night at Madaba, I drove to Petra the next morning. The land turned browner and more hostile. Even the sky looks unhappy; covering the sky from end to end with murky grey.

Petra is the name card for Jordan. When a hike combines history with nature, it has to be a superlative one. I took a taxi to start from the top, near “Little Petra”. For more than an hour I hiked around the rocky mountains, formed by nature to excite. No tonic will make any decent follicle grow here. There were many climbs, but the steps were accommodating. The walk was easygoing, although I was made to pant and puff. The air was cool in the morning while the sun started to prick. The paths were marked with rocks, and the donkeys also tried to help – they laid their poo.

Hiking in the mountains of Petra, from the top, downward towards The Monastery

The mules are always at your service in Petra, without complaint

Then, I arrived at The Monastery, an enormous façade carved in the face of the rock. I used my knuckle to test if it was solid; I think it will last at least thousands of years unless hit by a meteoroid.

From here, at the top, I descended. Halfway down the trail, I came to the Great Temple and Colonnaded Street area. Many more facades were carved into and tombs were dug out of the rock walls. Visitors were climbing all over, creating mayhem like monkeys.

Al Khazneh (the Treasury), tombs carved out of a sandstone rock face, near the long walk through Siq, in the Petra Archaeological Park in Jordan

The Obelisk Tomb, a burial complex with unique Nabataean architecture, constructed in the first century BCE, is located at the beginning of the road to the ancient city of the Nabataeans Petra

I was soon dwarfed by the mountains that split in two at The Siq. The sun shone through. The two sides open up like enormous doors to the blue sky outside. The sun was still radiant, but had lost its sting late in the afternoon. It was a very pleasant walk to end a surreal day of wandering in historical times.

The long hike took me about 8 hours. My legs were complaining; I wasn’t.