Petra

After arriving at Eilat we settled in for a well deserved night’s rest. In the morning we headed out via bus for 2 days in Petra , the ancient red stone city. We booked a bus tour that includes one night lodging in the town of Wadi Musa and even 3 meals to boot! Since we are used to planning our own routes and schedules, traveling on an organized bus tour was a little bit foreign to both of us. Fortunately we settled in nicely for the 100k ride into the Jordanian mountains.

By late morning we had arrived at the entrance to the hidden valley that guards Petra and began our hike into the canyons. The first day we had a hired guide (part of the package deal, not our idea for sure…) who told us about the history of Petra and all the symbolism of the facades.

The second day was all ours and we made the most of it. After having met Daniel, a rather nice Swedish guy who was on our bus, for breakfast at the hotel we continued into the canyons and up the ridges and valleys that we hadn’t gotten to the day before.

After hiking, the 3 of us were treated to a personalized ride back to Eilat by one of the guys who works for the tour operator since no one else was booked for that day. Stopping in Aqaba along the way for a traditional Jordanian meal of falafel, hommos, salad, pita and tea we arrived back at our hostel stuffed and satisfied.

Spectacular. That is really the only word to describe this place. What a wonderful time we had.

My words could never do justice to such a magical place, so perhaps my pictures of Petra can help illustrate just how impressive it was. Enjoy!