On our third day in Petra, we finally managed to get away from the crowds without violating the signs like the following, which actually seem mean you’re forbidden to go that way at all.
We walked in through the Siq (the long narrow passage way), as usual, and continued to the Colonnaded Street. The Romans updated a Nabatean street, adding the colonnades, when they took over Petra in 106 AD.
Then we went west, up behind the Temple (Qasr al-Bint), past the single standing pillar (the Pharaun Column) to hike up Umm al-Biyara (meaning the Mother of Cisterns) mountain, which is in the picture below.
The Path
The trail was almost entirely stairs, meaning that it was very easy to follow. The fact that they were ancient (repaired as you can see) was really exciting.
There was also a pair of symmetrical ceremonial ramps on the path.
We took a bunch of pictures and caught our breath frequently but I would estimate that one could reach the top in 2 – 2.5 hours from the park entrance.
Aside from a Bedouin family living at the base of the mountain, we didn’t see any other people on the way up or the way down. It was Friday (the Sabbath) and it seemed like there were fewer tour groups. It also drizzled a little bit.
The Top
From the top there were spectacular views of the mountains, the High Place of Sacrifice, the Monastery and a lot of the ancient town of Petra. On a clearer day, we would have been able to see Egypt and the Dead Sea.
The highlight was seeing the ruins of some a 7th-century BC Edomite buildings on top of the mountain. They looked partly excavated and vaguely rebuilt, but they were still the oldest man-made thing we have seen on the entire trip. This is me figuring out how old they are…
According to the Lonely Planet (Jordan 2006), “On top of the mountain are the ruins of the 7th-century Edomite village [which] …may have been the Edomite capital of Sela, from where the Judaean king Amaziah (who ruled from 796 to 781 BC threw 10,000 prisoners to their deaths over the precipice.”
Even better were the water cisterns and gutters (same time period) dug into the top of the mountain.
If you click on the picture below, to get a larger image, you’ll see part of the old city below us.
do you think you could have stood further apart? Cari looks very stylish - all black. You both look a little cold. It is so very fabulous -again!
ReplyDeleteThe idea was to frame the ruins between us but they're pretty hard to see.
ReplyDelete