At last the time was there ... we went to Petra! The world wonder we were waiting for.
After a typical Jordanian breakfast, we drove to Petra's entrance with our hired car. After we had our tickets in the pocket we started our walk to the treasury. We had to go through the 1.2km long siq first. This is a thin gap between 2 mountains, as if it were split. Only this was already a very nice experience and then when the mountains hit each other .... You see the treasury (the wall of the famous pictures)! Breathtakingly beautiful it certainly was and as is said more often; You can see the pictures as much as you want, but when you see it with your own eyes it is much more beautiful.
After a lot of our own beautiful pictures, a pirate came to us. A cloth wrapped around his head and eyes made black. This is a separate community that lives in the top of the mountains. We had already seen a couple of these 'pirates' in the center and, of course, he drew our attention.
Soon after he wanted to make pictures for us, sell bracelets to us and more. Time after time we tried to get rid of him, but this guy was like a boomerang. The harder you rejected him, the harder he returned. We really wanted to be left alone and to climb the mountain ourselves. YES WE CAN BY OURSELVES! NO NO, WE DO NOT NEED YOUR DONKY!
Soon we escaped from him and started our climb up. This heavy climb would take about 45 minutes. Meanwhile, we looked over our shoulders to see if that crazy pirate followed us with his friend. Just when we wanted to make a nice picture of the view, we heard him calling for us ... No! They seriously followed us with a donky. We immediately threw our running experiences into battle and we went uphill. Where an average person would do 45 minutes about this climb, we did it in 20 minutes. But in the middle of the climb we had to give up... our lungs lay somewhere on the ground, and we heard the pirates coming closer. We sat down on a brick and waited with our lunch package.
And yes, there they were! ... The first thing they said was; 'If you do not come to us, we will come to you'. Yuk, creeps!
After our belly was filled up again and the pirates went up, we soon arrived at a mountain hut. And who sat there.... Yep our pirates. We were offered a cup of tea right away and we were allowed to sit in their aunt's mountain hut. Just as we sat down and the tea was put on the fire, there was a Dutch guy coming by. We talked to this Robert and soon he was invited to a cup of tea too. We were happy with this new friend, not only because it was a nice guy but also because we were no longer alone with these two strange pirates and their deafest aunt. We then walked together to a nice viewpoint, where we received another "nice" solo concert from a mountain woman with a homemade "flute". The pirates showed us the best spots and after 30 minutes we had to say goodbye to our new travel friend Robert. He had already seen a lot of Petra the day before and went back his own way. Robert thanks for saving us!!
After spending a lot of time, enjoying all the beauty around us, it was really time for a another tea with 10 clots of sugar. And this time with one of the pirates' grandma! Also, she did not speak a word of English of course. She had a beautiful cave and sheep for herself.
We were talking about our further plans in Jordan. Our next stop would be the Wadi Rum desert and we had already booked our overnight stay. According to the men, it was not good that we booked, far too touristy and they could offer this trip much better and more exclusively. Together sleeping under a sky full of stars around the campfire, cooking together and more ... Well .... We did not have to do that. Of course this had been a great opportunity, but who knows what else they had in store for us. Listen to your feelings... and we did! So we rejected this, sorry pirates!
In the evening we went to Petra again, with very tired and painful legs. This time for Petra at night. The treasury completely illuminated, everywhere candles and a small performance. It was beautiful! And you may guess .... Who where waiting for us again? Yes ... the pirates. It was impossible to get rid of these guys.
After a kind of "love statement" it became clear they wanted to see us more then just friends... No no this is wrong! We had to drain them, and fast!
We will save you a very long story, but this has let to some stressful moments. Gently expressed; they were not very happy with our dump and were offended that we did not want to drink anything with them anymore.
Tired, satisfied and slightly overwhelmed we went to sleep.
Petra, we loved you!! Our exciting stories about the desert will follow soon 😉