Day 8 Petra Wonder of the World Good morning Travelers How exciting, I'm excited Travelers! Today we'll see Petra. Look, that's is the visitor's center, you have to go through security. There are some shops and restaurants here, and also a small museum which tells Petra's history, and holds some archaeological discoveries, and the ticket office is here as well. Look, its $50 dinars to visit Petra one day, $55 dinars for two days, and $60 for three. We'll be here two days, well more like a day and a half, so we'll buy the two day ticket, in case we don't have time to see everything today, we still have an extra day tomorrow. I'm very excited, so, welcome to the lost city! Travelers, we're entering Petra, right after you enter... the entrance is very close to the hotel, right across from it, I recommend you get here as soon as they open, because more and more people will be visiting, and this way it will be almost like a personal visit. In this place right here, we see one, two and three, those are tombs, The spectacular entrance to Petra is this mountain pass which is called siq in arabic language, and is a majestic work of nature. well actually nature touched by men, look here at the rim you can see these canals, which in the old days held water for the animals, and to my right, there used to be a ceramic made aqueduct. The Nabataeans were very advanced. I don't know any other place in the world with a more spectacular entrance than this. Look, here we have a fish, the eyes, the mouth, the head... it's Nemo I baptize it as "Nemo Petra' because it's also Nemo's color. The siq measures 1,200 meters long, and in it's narrow points it's 3 meters wide. What you see here to my right, was like a sanctuary. There were sanctuaries all along, left and right. Look there's like a caravan here carved in the rocks, here are the man's feet, his walking stick, the front and back legs of a dromedary and here's another walking stick, the feet, the body, the front and back feet of a dromedary, and the caravan going on downwards. So, these are believed to be signs? It was, maybe it was art, resembling what happened in this mountain pass, the caravans going in and out of the siq. Oh travelers, the truth is there are things which really make your heart beat faster. And to think this place has been surprising people for 2,000 years, even a little longer. This is the most famous building in Petra, The Treasury, although it's really a crypt, the crypt of Areta's the 3rd a Nabatean king. It's also known as the Treasury, because there is a legend which says that an Egyptian pharaoh hid a treasure here. If it's true, either he hid it really well, or the one who found it never said a thing, because until now, no one knows for sure. And if Indiana Jones sounds familiar, you are right, yes, it was filmed here... yeah. I can't even imagine the look on the faces of the first people who came here, just imagine, I mean it's really awesome, it's awesome! What we're looking at right here, is the Treasury's facade, which is about 39 1/2 meters tall. It used to be a temple, it has a small 8x8 room, and 3 niches. We can't go in now, but there used to be a stairway in the entrance of the temple, and you can see it's height, and how all this was carved in stone. We can see some scaffolds over there, to be able to go up there and carve all this from top to bottom, which was very difficult during that time. Look over here, 6 meters below, Oh, what's this? Here's another monument that was discovered in 2004. We're looking at this one, but there's another one. One can feel overwhelmed by The Treasury's beauty, but in reality, this is only Petra's presentation there is so much more to see, and we are going to explore it together! all of it together, Travelers! I am very happy, truly excited! You know that when I'm excited, I don't really know what to say, and when I'm not excited, I also don't know what to say, so let's say eloquence is not really my thing. Most of the crypt facades, it being a person's or a couples' or a family's, like this one over here, where you can see the marks of every person they buried here It was a cemetery, just like today you would buy a piece of land, and bring architects to carve it, and then bury their loved ones, like we do nowadays. Petra reached it's golden age, approximately 2,000 years ago. Petra was the top, top practically when Jesus was alive. We don't know exactly how many people lived here, because there are no written records, although some scholars estimate that around 30,000 people lived here, but we don't know for sure. Look Travelers, due to it's topography, Petra is a natural fortress, so this worked to protect kings, and wealthy people's tombs, therefore everything you see are graves, some more important than others, hence, according to some scholars they believe that this was a graveyard, a spectacular graveyard. I am truly very, very impressed, very, very, very impressed. Look, we are here inside one of the graves that you can enter, there's nothing to see, but a lot to smell, apparently people use it as a toilet nowadays. It's purely logical to have a theatre here, they say it was built in the Greek style which means attached to the rocks. We can see an altar there, as if it was a worship theatre. It wasn't a performance theatre, like the Romans had. All those were people's homes up until 1985 when it was claimed as World Heritage site, so they gave them those lands you can see at the mountaintop over there for the people to live outside. We're following this lady on a donkey, who's supposedly taking us to a place with a great view of The Treasury, for $10 dinars. These are the amazing Royal crypts. The color of the stone is spectacular. the stone color gave Petra the nickname of "The Pink City" What's it's name? Shakira, Shakira Shakira, would it shake it's hips? Let's see. Guys these stairs are tough. Our guide is happy, poor donkey, and poor us, which means poor donkeys, ha ha. come on, energy, energy guys! It will be worth it. Petra means 'stone' in Greek language. The real name of the city is "Al-Batra" We're here at the top, there's even a store and everything. Wow, look at the theatre! It says 'Best View' right there. The view is amazing from up here! Guys it's true, the view from up here is amazing! We took some great pictures, going up is worth it, but the guide is unnecessary, so we just threw $10 dinars down the trash. It's super easy to find, ask for the royal crypts, and the stairway is just around it, to the left , very easy to get there, there are even shops where you can buy a coke, so forget the guide and buy yourself a coke. Travelers, don't even worry about restaurants or cafeterias, this whole area is full of souvenir shops, restaurants and places where you can have a drink, and there are also lot of clean bathrooms in good shape. There will be a lot of people offering you a donkey or camel ride, avoid them you can, because I've seen them hitting the donkeys really hard. There it is! All of this is the impressive city of Petra, Look at this! Lots and lots of constructions within the mountains, temples, and graves mainly. It's huge, huge, huge! Most people only visit about 10% of all this. This used to be a church in Petra, It was built about 450 to 500 years ago. What you can see over there was the altar, and all the area in the center was marble. this ancient, blue marble which you can see to your right, and to your left, you can see that the floor was made of mosaics, we can see pairs in these mosaics, males and females. a male wild boar, and a female one, the same with the birds, so when we talk about the pairs it reminds us of which story? Noah's ark, that's right, Noah's ark. That's why some people call it Noah's ark church, and some other's, Petra's church. And here in front of us you can see there's still a lot to work on, Now the americans at the Brown university worked for 40 years on that temple over there. and it has two parts, in a Greek style, two levels, the bottom level, and the top level. They discovered the baths on that area, which are now covered, and that there's lots to work on and found on the left side, that there's a bigger temple there. and they're still working. Now the way in which they work is the same way as the Nabatean architects, and specialized people in the Nabatean times. That's why the archaeologists say that that temple was built by the Nabateans for the Romans, even the aqueducts and water systems was built by the Nabateans. This is the main Roman avenue, it's fairly destroyed, but in another time there would be markets and commerce, and incense, and fabrics, and everything you can imagine. Further ahead there's a temple, which is believed to be one, but some scholars say it was really a village. But the most accepted belief is that it was a temple, which we don't know whom it was built for because there is no written evidence It's incredible to be walking on this same ground that was walked on 2,000 years ago by the Nabateans, and the Romans. walking on millenary ground. That looks like an Egyptian temple, right? That's a Nabatean temple, not an Egyptian one. But it looks like one. It does look like an Egyptian temple, and it has an altar outside. Now, that building has been standing for 2,000 years, and it has an earthquake system, we can see wood over there so that the building can move a little and hold, that's why this building has been standing here for 2,000 years, in an area close to the tectonic plate. Because through those mountains is the tectonic plate that separates Africa from Asia. In this temple the front part, was where sacrifices took place, animal sacrifices, there has never been human sacrifices here. To the right, you can see there used to be a small hotel it was a hotel, but they had to close it when this place was named a Human Heritage Site. Time to eat Check out my hair after half a day walking through Petra, I'm wearing Petra's hairstyle. Guys the truth is you have to dedicate a whole day to this place, it's tough, but it's spectacular. Now let me tell you, Petra is the touristic highlight of Jordan so everything in here is expensive. I mean a coke will cost you $2 dinars, I mean it's understandable, like in every popular place in the world prices are higher. There are several restaurants inside Petra Right outside the Monastery there are two restaurants, this one is the best. The buffet is $20 dinars, is all you can eat, so after walking for so long, you can stuff yourself, and recharge energy for what's next. $20 dinars is not cheap, but the food is good. Is it good? We are going to stuff ourselves with hummus, salads, potatoes and everything, before going up to the Monastery. Travelers, now with a full stomach, it's time to go up to the Monastery. Not everybody goes up to this place because it's at the end of Petra. Well, Aiman just abandoned us, but we're climbing up to the Monastery. Everyone will offer you to go on a donkey, but it's a 25 minute hike. We are young, have strong legs, so we don't need it, let's go. The Monastery is that way, but we are going to sidetrack a little to the Lion's gate. Look Travelers, although this is a World Heritage Site, and one of the 7 Wonders of the World, some parts still give you the sensation of being an explorer, so you have to be brave. Look, there it is... The Lion's Gate. We can see two lions right there. Guys, if you divert a little from the touristic path, there's no one, actually I could even sing in Arabic, look Here we go, here we go, it's supposed to be 800 steps. I haven't counted them, but let's say we've climbed a lot. Look, this is incredible, climbing up these stairs that are over 2,000 years old. They even accept credit cards in the stores. That means I can pay for anything here with my 'City Premier' That's being modern. Manu, did you ask for an Uber? It's here. Your Uber is here. Almost there. Mexican, I think we've arrived, I knew it was going to be worth it. Wow! This is amazing! Welcome to the Monastery. Travelers, welcome to the Monastery! Look at this place, it's incredible! This was originally a crypt that was built in the 3rd century BC, which means it's over 2,300 years old. They call it the Monastery, because some scholars believe it was later used as a Byzantine church. It was in the 'Transformers 2' movie. It's awesome, even the tough climb that leaves you like this is totally worth it. It's beautiful! And we keep climbing, because as you can see it says Best view in Jordan up there, let's see if it's true supposedly seven more minutes We're here, let's see if it's true... Wow! It's truly spectacular I don't know if it's the best view in Jordan, but it's pretty impressive. Now we really are at the very edge of Petra's touristic route what a sight, really! It's time to go back, it's about an hour an a half, but it'll sure take us longer, taking pictures. What a beautiful place! I'm very, very impressed! Travelers, this is Petra's face, we're worn out it has been an exhausting beautiful day, what a spectacular place! It's way bigger than I thought, and much more spectacular than I imagined. This place has something, without a doubt, it's one of the most spectacular places I've ever seen in my life. We've been here from the moment they opened, and will be here until they close and we've probably seen less than half of it. So it's worth dedicating it two days or a day and a half, like we'll do, to take it slow and enjoy it, because it's truly a magical place. It's one of those places to visit before you die. We are super tired, we can say we're 'petrified' I have nothing to say, it's unbelievable, there are no words to describe it, this place is incredible bye. Next Chapter: We're going back to Petra Bye Petra. This is little Petra, and we're back with Aiman, say hi Aiman. They have made two concerts here, one of Sting... It's like taking cooking lessons and eating dinner.
