Petra day 1

After enjoying a nice breakfast of made-to-order omlets and hummus, we headed out to the highlight of our trip, Petra, the ancient capital of the Nabatean kingdom, hidden from the Western world until the mid-19th century.

We let ouselves be conned into the horseride from for ticket office to the entrance ("included" in the ticket), but it made for some happy kids.

Starting our adventure down the Siq

First glimpes of the treasury

Evaëlle was not excited about the anachronistic soldiers behind her

Street of facades

The Royal Tombs

After the Royal tombs we hiked up to the Monastary, to the derision of the donkey peddlers, who were convinced we wouldn't make it up by foot. But we proved them wrong.

We did break down and get the donkeys on the way down for the kids. What I call the "donkey ride of death". Daniel just laughed and took some pictures while I was led down the mountain by the preteen, just waiting for my donkey to dive off a cliff. I was glad that I didn't ask until the end if any of them actually go over the edge, to which the boy replied with a serious look, "Yes, and they die."

The collonaded street

A last look at the treasury before heading through the siq or the end of our day. It was a fantastic, exhausting day. It was really crazy how few people were there; we probably saw about 100 people on the beaten path throughout the entire day. Which was nice since it exceeded my expectations and I felt that we had Petra to ourselves, but in a melancholy way as the dead tourist industry is killing the livelihoods of the locals.

We treated ourselved to another hammam experience, this time in our own hotel. We had it to ourselves once again. What a treat!