Petra and its little secret paths

Petra is one of these rare places in theworld that you have the impression toknow without ever been to before.There is the Petra of Hollywood, theone that Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford)and his father (Sean Connery)discover, riding, in the StevenSpielberg's movie, "Indiana Jones andThe Last Crusade". Or the Petra ofTintin with the Khazneh temple, drawnby Hergé in a scene from "Coke enstock". There is also, for sure, thetouristy Petra, the one that the groupsdiscover between the Siq, the Khaznehand the royal temples in less thanthree hours, constantly rushed by adisillusioned guide. But above all, thereis also the Petra with its small forgottenpaths, its secret canyons and itsdiscreet temples.

Petra and its little secret paths.Photos and text ©Jean Robert/Lightmediation Agency

Contact - Thierry Tinacci Lightmediation Photo Agency + 33 (0)6 61 80 57 21 [email protected]

573-09: Entring Petra by walking in the Siq and discover sudenly the facade of the Khaznah is an uniqueexperience. Petra. Jordan

573-41: . Sextius Florentinus Tomb. .Middle East. Jordan. Petra

Trek in Petra / 573-01: The Deir, built on the top of a mountain is one of the most fascinating monument ofpetra Petra. Jordan / Jordanie / Petra




Trek in Petra / 573-05: Trekking in the " little siq" or Wadi Muthlim. Petra. Jordan / Jordanie / Petra Trek in Petra / 573-06: The Siq (1, 5 km long on sandstone cliffs) was created by an earthquake andpolished by the waters of Wadi Mousa. Petra. Jordan / Jordanie / Petra

Trek in Petra / 573-07: . Entring Petra by walking in the Siq and discover sudenly the facade of theKhaznah is an unique experience. Petra. Jordan / Jordanie / Petra

Trek in Petra / 573-08: Entring Petra by walking in the Siq and discover sudenly the facade of the Khaznahis an unique experience. Petra. Jordan / Jordanie / Petra

573-13: . EL Kaznah from the top/ Middle East. Jordan. Petra

Trek in Petra / 573-09: Entring Petra by walking in the Siq and discover sudenly the facade of the Khaznahis an unique experience. Petra. Jordan / Jordanie / Petra

Trek in Petra / 573-10: Entring Petra by walking in the Siq and discover sudenly the facade of theKhaznah is an unique experience. Petra. Jordan / Jordanie / Petra

Trek in Petra / 573-11: The Siq (1, 5 km long on sandstone cliffs) was created by an earthquake andpolished by the waters of Wadi Mousa. Petra. Jordan / Jordanie / Petra

Trek in Petra / 573-12: . Entring Petra by walking in the Siq and discover sudenly the facade of theKhaznah. Petra. Jordan / Jordanie / Petra

Trek in Petra / 573-13: . EL Kaznah from the top/ Middle East. Jordan. Petra / Jordanie / Petra Trek in Petra / 573-14: . EL Kaznah from the top/ Middle East. Jordan. Petra / Jordanie / Petra

Trek in Petra / 573-15: . EL Kaznah from the top/ Middle East. Jordan. Petra / Jordanie / Petra Trek in Petra / 573-16: El Kaznah from the summit of the djebel Al KhubthaMiddle East. Jordan. Petra. /Jordanie / Petra

573-18: L Extraordinary range of colours of the sandstone where tombs are digged. Middle East. Jordan. Petra

Trek in Petra / 573-17: Silk Tomb famous for the myriads of colour of the sandstone. Middle East. Jordan.Petra / Jordanie / Petra

Trek in Petra / 573-18: L Extraordinary range of colours of the sandstone where tombs are digged. MiddleEast. Jordan. Petra / Jordanie / Petra

Trek in Petra / 573-19: Extraordinary range of colours of the sandstone where tombs are digged. MiddleEast. Jordan. Petra / Jordanie / Petra

Trek in Petra / 573-20: . View ont the Dead sea from the trek between Deir and Little Petra Petra. Jordan /Jordanie / Petra

Trek in Petra / 573-21: Climbing path above the rift on the trek from "Little Petra" to El Deir temple. MiddleEast. Jordan. Petra / Jordanie / Petra

Trek in Petra / 573-22: Climbing path above the rift on the trek from "Little Petra" to El Deir temple. MiddleEast. Jordan. Petra / Jordanie / Petra

Trek in Petra / 573-23: The Deir, buit on the top of a mountain is one of the most fascinating monument of Petra. Jordan / Jordanie / Petra

Trek in Petra / 573-24: The facade of the Deir measure 49 m long and 39 m highThe Deir, buit on the topof a mountain is one of the most fascinating monument of Petra. Petra. Jordan / Jordanie / Petra

573-33: View of the king graves from the way to the deir. Petra. Jordan

Trek in Petra / 573-25: The facade of the Deir measure 49 m long and 39 m highThe Deir, built on the topof a mountain is one of the most fascinating monument of Petra. Petra. Jordan / Jordanie / Petra

Trek in Petra / 573-26: The facade of the Deir measure 49 m long and 39 m highThe Deir, built on the topof a mountain is one of the most fascinating monument of Petra. Petra. Jordan / Jordanie / Petra

Trek in Petra / 573-27: A bedouin climbs the facade of el Deir. The Deir, bulit on the top of a mountain isone of the most fascinating monument of petra Petra. Jordan / Jordanie / Petra

Trek in Petra / 573-28: The facade of the Deir measure 49 m long and 39 m highThe Deir, buit on the topof a mountain is one of the most fascinating monument of Petra. Petra. Jordan / Jordanie / Petra

Trek in Petra / 573-29: The Deir, built on the top of a mountain is one of the most fascinating monument of Petra. Jordan / Jordanie / Petra

Trek in Petra / 573-30: . The facade of the Deir measures 49 m long and 39 m highThe Deir, bulit on thetop of a mountain is one of the most fascinating monument of petra Petra. Jordan / Jordanie / Petra

Trek in Petra / 573-31: The facade of the Deir measure 49 m long and 39 m highThe Deir, built on the topof a mountain is one of the most fascinating monument of Petra. Jordan / Jordanie / Petra

Trek in Petra / 573-32: The way to reach the Deir. Petra. Jordania / Jordanie / Petra

573-02: The Deir, built on the top of a mountain is one of the most fascinating monument of petra Petra.Jordan

573-17: Silk Tomb famous for the myriads of colour of the sandstone. Middle East. Jordan. Petra

Trek in Petra / 573-33: View of the king graves from the way to the deir. Petra. Jordan / Jordanie / Petra

Trek in Petra / 573-34: Urn Tomb. Middle East. Jordan. Petra / Jordanie / Petra

Trek in Petra / 573-35: . Nabatean tomb. Middle East. Jordan. Petra / Jordanie / Petra Trek in Petra / 573-36: Garden Tomb. Middle East. Jordan. Petra / Jordanie / Petra

Trek in Petra / 573-37: Theater built beginning of Chirstian ere. Middle East. Jordan. Petra / Jordanie /Petra

Trek in Petra / 573-38: Theater built beginning of Chirstian ere. Middle East. Jordan. Petra / Jordanie /Petra

Trek in Petra / 573-39: Obelisq Tomb and triclinum at the entrance of the site. Middle East. Jordan. Petra /Jordanie / Petra

Trek in Petra / 573-40: Middle East. Palace Tomb. 49 m width, 45 m high. Jordan. Petra / Jordanie / Petra

573-25: The facade of the Deir measure 49 m long and 39 m highThe Deir, built on the top of a mountain is one of the most fascinating monument of Petra. Petra. Jordan

Trek in Petra / 573-41: . Sextius Florentinus Tomb. .Middle East. Jordan. Petra / Jordanie / Petra Trek in Petra / 573-42: Tholos on the top of the Corinthian Tomb. Middle East. Jordan. Petra / Jordanie /Petra

Trek in Petra / 573-43: Urn Tomb. Middle East. Jordan. Petra / Jordanie / Petra Trek in Petra / 573-44: . camel in front of the Urn Tomb. Middle East. Jordan. Petra / Jordanie / Petra

Trek in Petra / 573-45: Urn Tomb. Middle East. Jordan. Petra / Jordanie / Petra Trek in Petra / 573-46: Horse in an ancient tomb Petra. Jordan / Jordanie / Petra

Trek in Petra / 573-47: Archeological site of Al Beidha (lthe white) one of the oldest of Middle east. Buriedhouses built 6800 years BC. Petra. Jordan / Jordanie / Petra

Trek in Petra / 573-48: Camel and tourists in front of the Kaznah. Middle East. Jordan. Petra / Jordanie /Petra

573-38: Theater built beginning of Chirstian ere. Middle East. Jordan. Petra

Trek in Petra / 573-49: Colored sands of Petra. Petra. Jordan / Jordanie / Petra Trek in Petra / 573-50: Extraordinary range of colours of the sandstone where tombs are digged. MiddleEast. Jordan. Petra / Jordanie / Petra

573-39: Obelisq Tomb and triclinum at the entrance of the site. Middle East. Jordan. Petra

Petra and itslittle secretpaths

Petra is one of these rare places in theworld that you have the impression toknow without ever been to before. Thereis the Petra of Hollywood, the one thatIndiana Jones (Harrison Ford) and hisfather (Sean Connery) discover, riding, inthe Steven Spielberg's movie, "IndianaJones and The Last Crusade". Or thePetra of Tintin with the Khazneh temple,drawn by Hergé in a scene from "Coke enstock". There is also, for sure, the touristyPetra, the one that the groups discoverbetween the Siq, the Khazneh and theroyal temples in less than three hours,constantly rushed by a disillusioned guide.But above all, there is also the Petra withits small forgotten paths, its secretcanyons and its discreet temples.

Even if you have already seen the famouspicture of the rocky facade of the"Treasure" or the Kazneh ones beingdiscovered between two narrow rocks;starring, for real, at this place coming fromthe ancient world in the rising sun remainsan unbelievable experience. Principal monuments of Petra areconcentrated on a site of 40km2, but theNabateans have sculpted the mountain ona ten times more important surface ! Thereis nothing easier for an independenttraveller to skip away from the classicaltours and to find himself alone, deeplymoved, in front of these forgotten anddesert temples. The ideal to discover thissecret Petra is to choose a Bedouin"Bdoul" guide. Until 1985, this tribe used

to live in the ruins of Petra and let its goatsgraze freely in it. Chased and relocated inthe village of Oum Seyhoun on the top ofthe site, they mostly live from tourism,renting horses, selling jewels andcoloured-sand bottles. In their company,you will easily go and discover the DjebelAl Khubta, the rocky massif thatdominates the gap of Petra. You willquickly walk in front of the royal tombs,magnificent but rarely visited. You willfollow the course of the Wadi Mataha, faraway from the crowd. The caves thereused to shelter the ancient Nabateanforges. Walls are full of tombs, votiveniches, cisterns and canals. The path,entirely carved into the rock is gettingtransformed into monumental andvertiginous stairs. Steps have been wornby centuries and processions that used tocome along this way for sacrifices on thetop of the djebel. Agile as an ibex, Ali jumps from a rock toanother. Bdoul Bedouin, born in themiddle of the ruins of Petra, Ali knowsevery single tomb, and any secret canyonof the fabulous Nabatean city. Protectedfrom the sun by his "keffieh", he gentlytouches the red sandstone of the wallsand reads the history of his people on it. The site of Petra was occupied since theVIth century BC by the Edomites, a peopleof the Old Testament, but the Nabateanshave been the true architects of this "pinkcity", carved in the rocks. Coming from theNorthern deserts of the Arabia, theNabateans were, at the origin, a tribe ofnomadic cameleers. Enriched by thecollect of the asphalt on the Dead Sea, butmostly by the trade of myrrh, incense,spices, gold and silver from India, theNabateans settled down in this labyrinth ofcanyons and mountains to be protectedfrom attacks. At the top of its splendour(between the second and the first centuryBC), there were probably around 30 or 40

000 people living in the city. This is themoment Nabateans kings chose to build,in the sandstone cliffs, countlessmausoleums (there are more than 3000 !)with colossal facades, most often inspiredby Mesopotamia, Egypt and AntiqueGreece. Annexed by the Romans to the provinceof Arabia in 106 AC, Petra starts todecline, because of the desertion of thetrade routes between Arabia andOccident. Two earthquakes (in 365 and in551 AC) destroyed and emptied the city.Crusaders briefly appear during the XIIthcentury before the city falls into oblivion forfive centuries. Fiercely guarded by theBedouins, sure it is full of hidden secrets,Petra is "re-discovered" in 1812 by theSwiss Burckhardt, disguised in Bedouin.But the serious excavations will only starton the site in 1929. Arrived at the col, we turn on the right in arocky desert to join back a platform thatdominates a deep precipice. We can heara lot of voices down there. We bend andwe discover, 200 meters downstairs, theCorinthian-inspired facade of the Khazneh("The Treasure"). An amazing view on themost famous monument of Petra, only tobe shared with the eagles ! You have tocount between 5 and 6 days of walk tosee all the treasures of Petra. The walk tothe djebel Madhbah, famous sacred place,is a classic. The walks to the djebelHaroun and the "Snake Monument", or theclimbing of the Umm el-Byara (guidenecessary) are splendid but much moreexhausting.

The best walk to be done is the onebetween the "Small Petra" and the templeof Deir. Located at 8 km of the main site,the "Small Petra" -or Al Barid- used to bea stop for caravans. A blue electric lizard(Agama sinaita) is watching us passing by.It has already been three hours since we

have left the pink laurels and thefreshness of Siq Al Barid oued. And wehave not seen anyone yet except thiscurious surrealistic lizard. We keep onwalking in the shadow. Beneath our feet afantastic panorama ! We are 1000 metershigh above the lowest point on earth, rightin the heart of the Rift that comes fromTurkey to Eastern Africa. Our eyes arenow getting used to see the steps carvedby the Nabateans and eroded by time.One last effort to arrive on the top. Ali, ourchatty guide, now remains silent. Wealmost have to close our eyes to protectthem from the sun reflection. In front of us,a sandstone labyrinth stands in the harshblue sky. In the middle of this wild andinhuman landscape, a geometrical shapeappears. A mirage ? An hallucination ? Nodoubt : these are the pure lines of an urn,a gigantic urn sculpted by man. We feellike kids, into Jean-Louis Burckhardt'smind, first European since the Middle Age,to re-discover the beauties of Petra in1812. A few steps more, and we will beable to admire another huge monument."Ed Deir" or "The Monastery", one of thebest conserved building, but also one ofthe most impressive. Most of thearchaeologists think it is a temple. Someothers think it is a royal tomb, unachieved.Indifferent to this scientist quarrel, a youngBedouin is climbing the facade beforereaching the top of the urn and sit there toplay his flute. We are waiting for the lastsunset lights. The last visitors havealready left. We finally can walk down toPetra, in silence.

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Petra and its little secret paths