High Place of Sacrifice at Petra

High Place of Sacrifice at Petra

Wadi Musa, Jordan, Asia

Today wasn’t as big of a day as yesterday, but it was still pretty good. I decided that since I did so much walking yesterday, I would start out a bit later today and go on a smaller trek. I caught up with some stuff I had to do this morning, had a good breakfast at the hotel, and then headed over to Petra at about noon. This was terrible planning on my part of course, because it is hot as hell around here at noon, so the absolute worst time to start an uphill climb.

Regardless, I walked through the Siq, past the ever-impressive Treasury, and started my ascent up to the High Place of Sacrifice. This is where it is thought the Nabataeans may have sacrificed things to the gods. It wasn’t nearly as impressive as the Treasury or the Monastery, but from that height it did offer a pretty spectacular view down on to Petra. I wandered around up there for a couple of hours finding other little monuments or sculptures. It was a little difficult to figure out where I was since the map of Petra that you get when you buy a ticket is very vague, and there are no signs at all. It also didn’t help that there were NO other tourists up there so there was no one to follow. I just guessed as best I could until I had enough.

I walked back through the Siq and passed the Treasury again. It’s absolutely incredible. I can only imagine the hard work that went into carving that thing out of one piece of rock. It’s just amazing. I made it back in time for the shuttle from the hotel so I got a free lift back up the big hill which was really nice. My legs were killing me at this point. It seems that the big walk from yesterday really took its toll.

I’ve had a chill night tonight. Dinner at the hotel again, which was excellent. It was a lentil soup, with rice and kofta (little meatballs). It’s simple, traditional, and pretty cheap here. Tomorrow I’m going to try to start out a lot earlier so I can start my next big hike before the sun really heats everything up. The hotel do a shuttle at 8:30am so I’ll be catching that and then head back here when the sun starts scorching again. It’ll be my last day at Petra though, so I’ll have to make it count!

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