Petra Part II: Getting Around in Petra

There are all sorts of ways to get around inside Petra.  The obvious one is on foot.  The vast majority of visitors to Petra see it on foot. However, if you don't want to walk, there are plenty of animals to make your journey easier.

For starters, you can take a horseback ride from just past the Visitor's Center to the entrance to As-Siq. 

All non-residents of Jordan are required to buy a 33 JD ticket that includes one-day admission plus a horseback ride. So, almost everyone has already paid for this ride.  But, we saw very few people actually take this ride. The distance that the horse can go is not very far at all, and it is an easy downhill walk. Moreover, when you first get there, you are filled with excitement and energy and, therefore, do not feel the need to ride. The time you want the ride is back up the hill at the end of the day when you are tired and hot and hungry and feel like you can't take another step.  But, the horses aren't available then!

Once you get to the entrance of the Siq, you have the option to take a horse drawn carriage. The horse drawn carriages are quite beautiful; they are adorned with brightly colored blankets. 

They go really fast down the Siq, however, so if you take the ride, you miss out on all the beautiful scenery on your way.  And, the key word in that last sentence was "down."  The walk through the Siq into Petra is all downhill.  Therefore, it's a relatively easy walk.  The only obstacles are the uneven cobblestones that cover some parts of the path, and the only dangers are that you will trip while looking up at the amazing overhead views or get runover by a carriage which comes barreling down the narrow Siq at what seems like 150 miles per hour.

We walked and I'm glad we did.  We took our time and enjoyed the amazing natural and carved beauty of the Siq.  It was one of the highlights of our trip to Petra.

However, coming out is another story.  Coming out, the Siq is an uphill walk.  It comes at the end of your day when you are hot, tired, and hungry (as I mentioned above), and a ride would be nice at this point.  We still did not take the ride and I'm glad we walked out. It gave us another chance to enjoy the Siq, take some more pictures, and generally reflect on our awesome day.

Once we got inside Petra after coming through the Siq, we were bombarded with possibilities for camel rides.  There were camels everywhere!

The camels didn't seem to like me much.  Every time I got near one hoping to get my picture taken with it, it turned and indicated by a show of big, ugly teeth that it was about to bite me. One stuck out its tongue at me, which was one of the most disgusting gestures I have ever seen any animal make.  I wish I had had the wherewithall to take a picture, but I was in a slight state of shock at the gross display and could not decide whether to stand still or run.  The tongue looked like a giant internal organ--most likely a bladder, but I'm not sure exactly which organ it looked like.  Then, as the camel was moving the tongue around, a frothy foam covered the camel's tongue, lips, and face.  If it had been a dog, I would have thought for sure it was rabid.

Although the camels seemed to dislike me, they seemed to like Maggie quite a bit.  In fact, it almost seemed as if they swooned in her presence. 

Photo by Paul Scudder

As we made our way around the ancient city's first curve, we were again bombarded by offers for rides--this time on donkeys and mules.  There were donkeys galore, each with its own entreprenurial Bedouin who tried to convince us that his ride and his price is the best in all of Petra.

We ended up deciding on a donkey ride with Mohammed. Why Mohammed's donkeys? For one thing, he was very persistent.  He followed us up a hill with two donkeys. He was nice, and he described, in clearer detail than anyone else, what we would get for our money. I'll have more details about our wild donkey ride up to the Monastery and our journey on to the End of the World in Petra Part III.

Undoubtedly, the horses, camels, and donkeys and their Bedouin owners were part of the ambience of Petra and they are a big part of what makes a visit to Petra such a unique and memorable experience.