A repeat of yesterday saw us walking into Petra at 7am. It was quiet again but today the sky was clear blue and the sun already hot. We went straight to the Royal Tombs and spent some time looking around that area, then we walked across and down the hillside - a route that brought us across a bridge over a ravine. We were now by the Byzantine church with the mosaics and we walked to the Lion Triclinium where the 'face' came from. The 'face' is a carved plaque with a surprisingly modern-looking design. We only found a couple of lizards basking on the wall.
We went down to find the museum behind the restaurant and met Keith making his way up to the Mosaics and then he was going to climb up to the Monastery. We found the little museum, with various artefacts on display (including elephant heads on top of a pillar), but no 'face' so Alan asked one of the attendents and we discovered that it has been moved to the Archaelogical Museum in Amman. When we came out again, we stopped for a cup of tea before walking all the way out. The crowds were building and outside the Treasury it was very busy. We were very hot, but we decided to have a coffee in the Burkhardt Cafe in the atrium of the hotel. Burkhardt was the Swiss explorer who set off in March 1809 for Syria where he perfected his knowledge of the local Arabic dialect. Then he ventured forth along ancient trade routes, travelling as a Moorish trader, Ibrahin ibn Abdullah. In 1812, he took a detour from the proscribed route, much to the concern of his Bedouin guide, to Wadi Musa and the rest, as they say, is history. At midday we all met to join Moe on the bus to go to Little Petra. Our bus and Mr Mohammed our excellent driver, was held up in Aqaba by the dust storm, so we had another and the driver drove hell for leather over a roller coaster road - a bit sick making!
At Little Petra we walked into the area and found a stone room to sit in the shade and have a sandwich. Then we walked through the area and up some stone steps through a ravine. At the other side there was a Bedouin stall with the usual crafts for sale and we walked to the viewpoint at the end. Here an old woman was spinning camel hair by hand so I had a go and it was quite difficult. Little Petra is thought to be the last stopping place before travellers entered Petra, itself. Then it was back to the bus and to the hotel where we had a couple of hours to take it easy before dinner at 6.30. We just had mezze with mint lemonade and a little baclava to finish. We walked down to the Petra entrance ready for our candlelit walk to the Treasury. This was magical, with the rocks glowing pink in the candlelight. We were seated on mats on the sand and the whole area was lit by candles in paperbags. When the several hundred people were seated the concert began - a man played a tune on the stringed instrument, the rababah, then another played a piece on the short flute. When this was over, another man introduced the players and their music and told us quite a complicated story; and that was it - time to leave. All the while our companions were experimenting with new found skills with their cameras and they were getting some great results. What fun that they were willing to turn off the flash and auto settings and have a go. We will try more experiments with the moon and stars in Wadi Rum, tomorrow.
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