Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
usually find a ride back to the entrance for around JD5. Horses and carriages with drivers
travel between the main entrance and the Treasury (2km) for JD25, and to the museum for
JD50 per carriage (which seats two people).
Unofficial donkey rides (with handlers) are available all around Petra for negotiable
prices. Donkeys can reach the High Place of Sacrifice (from JD10 one way) and the top of
the Monastery (between JD7 and JD12 one way). They can also be rented for longer trips
to the Snake Monument (from JD35), Jebel Haroun (JD60) and Sabra (JD80). Leading
donkeys is a genuine occupation for local Bedouin, who prize their animals as an import-
ant part of their livelihood; that said, some of the younger animal handlers can be seen us-
ing a stick or whip with unnecessary aggression - perhaps in a misguided bid to look
manly. If you have hired animal transport, don't feel shy to intervene if you feel the treat-
ment is inappropriate. There is an animal clinic near Petra Visitor Centre called the
Brooke Hospital for Animals.
Magnificently bedecked camels are available for rides between Qasr al-Bint and the
Treasury (about JD15) and they will pause for a photograph near the Theatre. You may be
able to hitch a ride on something four-legged back along the Siq for a few dinars at the
end of the day.
PICNIC AT PETRA
There are lots of ways to enjoy alfresco dining in Petra, from a simple take-your-own picnic to fine dining (well
nearly) at the two Petra Valley restaurants.
For breakfast, spread your cloth in the little opening at the end of Wadi Muthlim; it's overlooked by god niches
and as this is, after all, a necropolis, you may host unexpected guests of the ethereal kind. Entertain the wind for
lunch on top of Umm al-Biyara and have high tea (or at least tea-on-high) with the Bedouin stallholder above the
Royal Tombs. For dinner with a difference, choose a Nabataean dining room (the Garden Triclinium is a good bet)
or share a candlelight supper. For the latter, join the Petra by Night Tour ( Click here ) and spread your tablecloth in
the middle of the Siq while the crowds race to the Treasury.
If a picnic takes too much forethought, snacks (including biscuits, fruit, ice cream) are sold at kiosks with outside
tables and chairs throughout the site, or try the following:
Basin Restaurant Offline map (lunch buffet JD17, fresh orange juice JD4; 11am-4pm; ) Run by the
Crowne Plaza Resort, the Basin serves a healthy selection of salads, fresh felafel and barbecued spicy sausage, fol-
lowed by fruit and umm ali (bread-pudding-like dessert). Groups sit by the ravine under canvas; independent travel-
lers are given tables under the trees. Flies can be a problem at certain times of the year.
 
Search WWH ::




Custom Search