Petra and Paradise

Day Three [Part 1] - The Red Rose City!

I awoke with an air of excitement, Claire woke with a grumble about unhumane hours and evil cocktails as we dressed and headed up for breakfast. Unsurprisingly, neither of us had fruit for breakfast that morning - infact I think both of us visibly paled at the site of it - instead we headed for toast with tomatoes and an egg to see us through. After forcing it down our throats and almost regretting the idea of having breakfast at all, we ran back to the cabin to pick up the bags and disembark.

As we waved a weary goodbye to the staff on the ship we were woken up rapidly by the overly cheerful and awake staff on the dockside who were handing out white bags - what they were? who knew, what we did realise was that the faster we got one and got on the coach, the faster it would be to napvill! So grabbing a bag, we all but ran to our coach and claimed the first available seats before settling in for the 2 hour journey to Petra. Even my excitement couldn't over-ride the physically drained state I was in and as there was no way I was dropping out half way down the valley due to sheer exhaustion, a couple of hours of kip was going to be required.

Having just dozed off, I felt the engine fire to life and the coach move off, putting it out of my mind I focused on returning to sleep and I was just there when........ our guide decided that it was time to educate us on Egyptian history and the importance of Petra! *groan* now there was no way of getting to sleep and normally I'd have just given in and listened - praying that enough energy tablets would see me through - but I didnt have any tablets and I already knew everything he was saying. Claire looked even worse than I did and soon her eyes glazed over and she managed to nod off again (I suspect its a skill learned whilst been oncall in a hospital). Sadly I had no such luck and I just prayed that sooner or later our guide would take a break and leave us to rest........ well the break turned up about 1 hour in, it just wasn't the break any of us was expecting! With no warning the coach pulled over to one side and the driver, followed by the guide, jumped out and were on their mobiles within seconds. Well by this point, the whole coach was awake and discussing in hushed whispers what they thought the problem was and whether we were actually going to make it to Petra. As for me and Claire, we settled back to wait it out - by this point, we'd figured out this wasn't going to be the calming, carefree, restful holiday we had planned, so why fight it? whatever was going to happen could happen and we'd deal with it when it came.

It was the right attitude to adopt as, not 10 minutes had passed since we stopped before a replacement coach had turned up and we swapped over, rapidly racing towards the back of the convoy of coaches who had passed us as we sat waiting. Preparing ourselves for another hour of chatter from the guide, we were shocked, but not displeased when he announced he was going to leave us to rest as he was required to make some phonecalls and check in/report the problem that had occured. Jackpot! one hour of blissful sleep later and we were woken to the announcement that we had arrived in Petra! Now the fun began.

The start of the path into Petra and the trade route through the hidden valley

We checked in, grabbed our tickets and started down the path - everywhere we looked there were carvings in the stone; tombs and temples which had long predated the Nabataens who made Petra so famous. As we continued on down into the valley we saw how occupations of the area throughout history had left their own mark on this unique place - roman archways soared over bedouin carved camels - syrian symbols etched into greek temples.

As we ventured further into the valley, the rockfaces suddenly soared above us and light became limited, highlighting small areas of rock after each turn and making the whole area come alive with mystery. The steady desent gave way to better surviving elements of the valley, including its unique water aquaduct system which had allowed Petra to survive hidden and prosperous for so many years.

The Aquaduct system carved into the rockface

Then, before we knew it we were there.... you know how something just clicks? and as we looked around I knew we were not 5 minutes from the Treasury - this path was exactly as it had appeared in Indiana Jones, although it was far more populated now then it had been during the movie - barely able to hold back, I grabbed Claire and dived through the slow moving traffic until it came into view, when I came to a speedy stop - causing Claire to crash into the back of me and some of our fellow passengers to burst out laughing at our antics! but who cared? this moment, this view, THIS was the reason for the holiday as far I was concerned and I was going to soak it up.

The First View of the Treasury [Al Khazneh]as you come out of the pass.

Now don't get me wrong, I could ramble on and on about Petra and its importance and how wonderful it is, but nothing can compare to being there - so instead of boring you with how Claire and I walked around in awe, taking far too many pictures and getting annoyed with tourists who like to walk infront of you just as you take the photo i'll try and share some of the wonders of this, one of the seven wonders of the modern world through a small selection of my favourite pictures from the day.

Did anyone spot the camel?

Petra was the experiance of a lifetime and I have just short of 500 photos from that day alone. It was probably the only day Claire and I also didn't pull any pranks on each other, or do anything too stupid whilst we were out and about. This day was all about the history and the memories - and they are memories which will last a lifetime.

Lunch was a late affair this day, about 15:00 - it was (as all our lunches were when out an about) in a 5* hotel, open buffett lunch, where we ate too much and spent most of the time drinking as much bottled water as we could possibly cope with! We headed back to the boat tired but happy and spent the two hour trip back napping and refreshing ourselves for yet another funfilled, manic night onboard.

We arrived back at the Celebration to be greated by a ships band made of the the waitstaff/cabin crew - who were awsome and totally mad! Oh! and those little white bags? they had snack boxes in them - just to keep you going if you failed to have breakfast. They were really cool, but little used by either of us as we always made sure to get breakfast- even when we had barely made it to bed.

And so the night onboard began and..... well you'll have to wait for part 2 as work calls!

Next time: Cocktail confessions and Food, glorious food!