For our second and final day at Petra, Chris and I were joined by Amber, a Dutch backpacker we met at our hostel.
There's only one way in so we passed the Treasury once more. Because we arrived just as Petra opened, we had the Impressive building all to ourselves.
We investigated a few of the dwellings we hadn't seen the day before when I came across another stellar example of the unique rocks.
The three of us headed towards the Roman ruins. The Roman built Colonnaded Street dates back to the second century, though a Nabataen street predated it.
The columns standing today have been reassembled from original columns.
Amber, Chris, and I wandered around. Each of us eventually found a comfy spot in a small amphitheater-like area and just relaxed. I may or may not have taken a nap…
Revived from the rest, we carried on exploring the Roman contributions.
Our goal today was to reach the Monestary. The hike took awhile under the hot sun but we were happy to have the excuse to stop and enjoy the view.
Upon reaching the Monastery, it was obvious it had been worth the effort. In this photo, Amber stood in front of the elevated entrance.
There were a couple of tourists inside the Monastery when we arrived, so the three of us climbed up and spent the better part of two hours here. We ended up acting as the welcome crew for the Monastery and helped over a dozen tourists from all over the world climb in. The interior was sparse but comfortable and beautiful and before long I felt like I was hosting a cocktail party, making introductions and discussing the wonders of Petra and Jordan.
Our trio had expanded by one. A local Bedouin took a shine to Amber and spent the day with us. He was proud to know every inch of Petra and was eager to show off his knowledge.
Take a closer look and you'll see him walking on the far right of the column second to the right. Did I mention the Monastery is 51 meters tall?
We followed a path that promised to take us wherever we wanted to go.
We reached a fork and were stymied. The sign on the left boasted “the best view” while the one on the ride advertised “best view.”
We opted for the latter and had mid day mint tea in a tent overlooking this scene.
There were a couple of other views that sounded intriguing, but there are only so many hours in the day.
We U-turned and waved goodbye to the Monastery.
On our way back down, we passed a tourist who was not at all interested in taxing herself as she rode a donkey and smoked a cigarette on her way up to the Monastery.
Our guide insisted on taking us to a river. Until this point, we'd seen zero signs of water and I was curious where the Nabataeans and Romans had gotten their water, so we followed him. He led us far off the beaten path on a dusty hike.
It took awhile, but he brought us to a small stream where we happily dipped our feet alongside thirsty donkeys and noisy goats.
After we had cooled off, we made the beautiful round trip back through the heart of stunning Petra.
