After finishing our first day at Petra, we headed back to Umm Sayhoun and to our Airbnb for a quick shower before heading back to Wadi Musa for Dinner. If you haven’t read the first part of our Petra blog, you can find it here.
As we got to our Airbnb covered in dust and sweat, we noticed that there’s a problem with water pump in the bathroom and there’s no water. We waited for a while watching them trying to fix the piping system, then Amir went to help with the minimum tools that they had available and after spending two hours, they managed to put a temporary fix in place, we took a quick shower and went for a first proper meal of the day!
What to eat and drink at Petra:?
There are options to eat and drink at Petra but I won’t recommend it because of few basic facts. Weather is hot during the day in Petra ( It was hot even in November when we visited), and all the food is prepared off site and delivered to site by donkeys and mules and kept outside for serving. So we prefered to pack some simple bites the night before.
We had biscuits for breakfast which we got from supermarket in the Wadi Musa the night before. There are quite a few decent supermarkets in town and it’s easy to find snacks and drinks there. Drinks are however really nice in Petra and prepared on the spot and they are not expensive. Arabic coffee, Bedouin tea ( Black tea infused with Sage) and black tea with a fresh bunch of mint prepared on the charcoal is on the menu at almost every food stall in Petra and all three of them are amazing. Bedouin tea is particularly my favorite because it helps with digestion and it’s a must needed help when visiting hot places. We had a full pot every night after the dinner in Jordan and had no drama with food.
We survived with few bananas and apples that we had plus plenty of water and fresh pomegranate juice that we bought along the way. It kept us going for the whole day. We did make a mistake and took some chocolate bars as well which all turned to liquid., so don’t try chocolates. Fruits, biscuits and plenty of drink will do the job.
Out of Petra, in Wadi Musa, there are plenty of dining options. We found one, serving shawerma and all the locals were getting takeaways from. We tried it twice and definitely loved it!! The price was reasonable comparing to the other touristic restaurants.
We had a full on meal with chicken shawerma, Hummus, Falafel and fries and headed back to have enough rest for another early start at Petra.
What to wear for Petra?
I do love to dress for the occasion and think about what to wear before going out and have absolutely nothing against wearing nice clothes BUT it doesn’t mean to wearing inappropriate clothes for a place just for the sake of nice photos!! This is unfortunately going viral because of the social media and the competition between influences to have a more appealing photo of popular touristic spots. Looking at photos of Petra in social media, there are lots of girls dressed up in glamorous outfits which probably looks nice in the photo but doesn’t reflect the reality of the place. When I got there, it felt even worse to see these outfits in the reality in the actual place. First of all, Jordan is a conservative country and apart from Amman, I haven’t seen any female without Hijab. It doesn’t mean that we have to do so but it’s fair to dress moderately visiting these countries. I found it easier to deal with locals when dressing moderately and it’s easier to get closer to women and start a conversation too!!
Second, Petra is hot!!! So wearing light cotton cloth which covers most of the body, protect us from the heat, dust and sun burn and it actually helps to feel cooler. I always pack a scarf in my day bag to cover my head if it gets too hot and it really helps.
And third and last, wear an appropriate pair of walking or trekking shoes. There will be lots of stairs to climb up and down and a proper pair of shoes will be extremely helpful.
Our second day at Petra:
We started early again but not as early as the first day because we already had our tickets so we could go straight to the main entrance. We decided to go through the main entrance on the second day. We packed our bags and left our Airbnb because the plan was leaving Petra toward Wadi Rum and stay the night there. Even though we had the ticket, at the entrance, they checked our Jordan Pass and passports again before letting us in. We were one of the first few to enter so the canyon which looked stunningly beautiful and empty.
The texture of the rocks, their range of colors and the wild plants and trees grown literally through the cracks in the rocks are amazing and blew me away.
We kept on walking in the silence in the stunning corridor for twenty minutes and the Treasury revealed herself to us for the second time!!! Apart from few Bedouins with their camels parked in front of the Treasury, no one was there. We decided to sit there for a while and see how life goes by in the most busy part of the Petra for the next few hours.
The walk from the main entrance to the Treasury is extremely easy and won’t take long, That’s probably why, the main entrance is built there. However there is a long walk from the entrance to get to the beginning of the corridor and it gets really hot after 9:00 am, so having a hat or scarf would be beneficial.
Sitting there and watching the sun lights up the stones of the Treasury is amazing but the high view point that we did experience the day before was not comparable to this one. The interesting part of sitting too close and personal with the Treasury was watching the Bedouins life at Petra during rush hours, Watching the faces of the tourists walking out of the corridor and smile as soon as they see the Treasury while we had a cup of coffee was so cool as well. It’s all about having enough time to sit and see the life going by whether it’s in a cafe in a busy neighborhood in the big city or somewhere like Petra, I’d love to sit and watch the life goes by.
We sat there for two hours and went to explore the theater, some of the tombs that we didn’t have a chance to enter the day before heading out by lunch time to have lunch and head south to Wadi Rum.
What to buy from Petra?
First thing that probably comes to mind is the Arabic scarves mainly in red and white pattern and they are on sale everywhere in Jordan. You can find them in different colors and patterns from the Petra entrance all the way up to the top of the monastery. It helps to cover head and neck and it is a nice souvenir to bring back home. There’s only one tip! Make sure you buy the ones which are from the organic material and not purely synthetic!! Those are not helping with the heat and even worse they make you sweat more. You can feel it by touching the scarves and touching the ones that locals wear. The originals are soft and light.
I however prefer the one that I got from our Airbnb owner, Tine. Even walking through Petra, some of the Bedouin ladies asked me where I got mine from because they haven’t seen them for ages. It is made of camel wool and it’s extremely warm and soft with earthy colors and some beautiful local motifs embroidered on its borders.
The other thing that we got which could fit in our backpack and we absolutely loved, was a brass piece from one of the Bedouins having a small stall in Petra. There are lots of cute small brass items that definitely looked authentic because there was so many details in them to fake them in China. We got an old candle holder with amazing mechanism and brought it back home. It reminds me of Petra every single time we light up a candle in it.
Well time to head south to Wadi rum to spend another two night in the desert, in the next post, join us to an amazing trip to a gorgeous desert!
