You want a donkey?

The Treasury

Petra might just now be my favorite ruin site ever.  It is beautiful and vast and interesting from every angle.

We got there early, so glad that we did.  The whole valley was almost empty- it felt like we had the city to ourselves.  First there is the Treasury, and it is as perfect as is seems- on the outside...remember that most of these structures were tombs so the insides are almost all just big empty rooms.

Then we climbed to the High Place of Sacrifice- it was a brisk walk up some ancient stairways and a few narrow rock bridges.  The view from here was my second favorite part of the day.  It feels like you're on top of the world, a beautiful rose-colored world.  Walking down from the High Place has its own rewards: the Temple of the Roman Soldier and a ruined lion shaped fountain.

From the high Place of Sacrifice

This all took us about 3 hours and we were getting a little cranky from the effort and the heat.  A couple of boys on donkeys came up and offered us rides to the Monestary- a steep 45 minute hike up an ancient stairway on the other side of a mountain.  I said no, but Ryan really wanted to see this Monestary.  The boy (Mohammed) kept asking "You want donkey ride to Monestary; other side of mountain?" in the funniest voice...I eventually said maybe later and he and his brother rode off.

We stopped to have a lunch of peanut butter, crackers, olives, and chips that we had bought in town.

I did so want a donkey

The postcard man said that the Monestary was the best thing to see in Petra,  Ryan gives me this "I told you so" look and I say let's go...but then the postcard man tells us about the climb and I say "Where is Mohammed?  I'm riding a donkey."  This was my favorite part of the day...the donkey was hilarious, the boy (not Mohammed but his cousin, also named Mohammed) leading it was extremely fun to talk to, and I didn't have to walk.

desert kitty

We sat up there (Ryan walked really fast, almost ran, to keep up with the damn donkey) and had some water.  Walking down we noticed that all the Bedouin vendor children had balloon animals- an American service man on vacation had brought balloons and was making animals/flowers/hats/swords for all the kids.  Genius! 

After this we were really tired.  We saw everything else on the way back to the Treasury (one way in and one way out)- the Ampitheater, road of columns, more tombs up on another mountain...our legs were dying.  In all we walked Petra, and literally saw almost everything, for 7 solid hours.  It is awesome...