By Alex Di Paolo
The Monastery, Petra (Photo by A. Di Paolo)
We visited the site of Petra on Saturday June 7th 2014, and man was it ever an adventure. My friends and I actually started jumping around and squealing like children on Christmas morning when we finally arrived at the Treasury—it was like a dream come true seeing it in person after learning so much about it. The architecture and details on the building were breathtaking.
After attempting (and failing) to get over the beauty of the Treasury, we decided to make the 750 step trek up to the High Place of Sacrifice, and exhausting though it was, we made it to the top only to witness one of the most amazing views I think I’ve ever seen. The actual alter was also really cool. Just being able to see where sacrifices would have taken place and seeing where the libations would have flowed through was interesting.
As if climbing 750 steps wasn’t enough, once we climbed down that mountain, my friends and I decided why not climb another 900 steps to get to the Monastery? Climbing up all those, I seriously wondered if we had lost our minds—my knees had started aching in my old age—but it was once again completely worth it. The Monastery has to be one of the most amazing examples of ancient architecture that I will ever see. Pictures of the façade just don’t do it justice, you have to see it with your own eyes
From the Monastery, there was another hill to climb that claimed to lead us to the “best view in Petra!” How could we refuse that? I mean we’d already climbed 1650 steps that day, 100 more wouldn’t kill us. Again, totally worth it; the view was impeccable, and the height even allowed for a few selfies with the Monastery in the background!
It was some kind of a day visiting Petra, and not one I’m likely to forget any time soon. Petra was everything I hoped it would be, and so much more. All I want to do is go back and do it all again…except maybe after my legs get a bit of a rest. If climbing all those stairs didn’t help get me in shape, I don’t what will!
After saying goodbye to Petra, we headed off to Wadi Rum, and the Bedouin camp where we would be staying for the night…