October 25 - Petra... or not Petra?
Six o'clock sharp, the alarm rings in my head like an authoritarian command: Get up, go to work! Out of professional instinct, my first thought naturally goes to my employer... Just in case they stumble upon this travel journal. Quickly dismissed, my second thought is much more exciting: If I'm getting up early, it's for a good reason. I'm going to visit Petra! That said, sleep was hard to come by. The excitement of visiting Petra, *maybe*, the noise in the tents next door, *definitely*! A group of French travelers arrived late last night and had nothing better to do than organize a "rave party" around our tent. I won't say more, or I might get rude...
Alright, I've put on my "competition" outfit, my climbing flip-flops... Here we go, I'm ready and excited as a flea! But I'm not the only impatient one, and that's great to see! First stop: the ticket booth where we're asked for thirty-eight dinars to enter for two days. Even though we were prepared, it stings. It's almost a rip-off, especially when they tell us it's to preserve the site, and we see the rickety shops squatting on historic tombs. Who do they think we are? With the number of visitors per day, someone must be making a killing. "No, I'm not getting worked up, Sandrine, I'm just explaining to people!" But you know what, if the entry had cost fifty dinars, I would've paid it anyway. By the way, for those who haven't been to Jordan yet, you'll benefit from the price hike starting next month—in exactly five days. From that date, the two-day ticket will cost... fifty dinars! And boom, just like that...
Before starting the adventure, we have to follow a well-maintained path where we can already see a few secondary tombs. We walk on the right! The left side of the path is reserved for donkeys, horses, and carriages transporting tourists with reduced mobility, those with deep pockets, and especially... the lazy ones who pay a few dinars to avoid walking just over five hundred meters! Those people won't get far on the site, because let me tell you right now—at Petra, you've got to put in the miles to see the best! While we're covering those first five hundred meters of the day, I'll take the opportunity to tell you a bit about Petra. To keep it short and sweet, remember that this city was built by a people called the Nabataeans. They built an entire city here that once had up to thirty thousand inhabitants. However, there are no churches, houses, or administrative buildings to visit in Petra. You come here to see the cemetery! And it's a massive one! In fact, you can visit over eight hundred tombs scattered all over the mountain. Tombs of kings, dignitaries, and also ordinary folks. The site's particularity is that all these tombs are *troglodyte*! "Wait, you don't know what that means?" Well, it means the little Nabataeans rolled up their sleeves and dug their tombs into the rock by hand. No cranes, excavators, or jackhammers in 600 BC! Just chisels and hammers! Just thinking about it gives me blisters...
"The Siq? What's that?" Since you're not catching on, I'll explain: It's the entrance to Petra. Actually, it's a kilometer-long canyon with walls a hundred meters high and only three to fifteen meters wide. A true natural wonder that wasn't carved by water, as you might read everywhere. Yeah, they really don't know what they're talking about! No, we owe this marvel to tectonic plates. So what do we say? Thank you, tectonic plates! With an entrance like this, you'd think the city was hard to find! Well, yes, that's why it was only rediscovered in 1812 by a certain Burckhardt, a Swiss explorer. Don't laugh, it's true! Sorry to our Swiss friends. These days, you can't play explorer anymore. The entrance is marked by a sign, and you just follow the crowd. It's only seven in the morning, but there are already people in the canyon! Here we go, we're entering... The height might make you dizzy. The narrowness might trigger claustrophobia. Not for me! It just fills me with awe! And this is only the beginning! The Siq opens up to the Khazneh, Petra's most famous tomb. But hold on, let the others rush ahead, all eager to reach the Khazneh to snap their photos, forgetting that the Siq itself is a geological wonder. I take my time, I savor... I'm walking in the footsteps of other adventurers... Like Tintin in the album *Coke en Stock*, where our reporter friend passes through Petra. Another adventurer also crossed the Siq on a donkey—Indiana Jones, searching for the Holy Grail in *The Last Crusade*. And now, here I am, the little French backpacker searching for... I don't even know what! But the Holy Grail isn't here anymore—Indiana Jones took it! Anyway, the Siq keeps pushing back, again and again, the long-awaited moment of the big reveal. At every turn, we think we've reached our goal, but no... The excitement builds, our eyes are literally drawn like magnets to the end of this breathtaking crevice... Until the moment... Yes! There it is! The Khaaaazneeeeh!!!
Wow! Here I am, finally in front of it... I don't know if you realize what this means! I'm standing in front of one of the seven new wonders of the world! I'm at Petra, and I've reached the *G-spot*! And when you find the G-spot, it's amazing! The only downside is that the place rightfully attracts every tourist in Jordan! Until now, we were practically alone at the sites we visited, and now I know why—they were all here! Even at this early hour, it's hard to take a photo of the Khazneh without Bébert and his Crédit Agricole cap or Raymonde and her floral dress posing proudly in the frame! No big deal, we enjoy, we scrutinize, we soak it all in... And our eyes are starting to overflow with all there is to see! The Khazneh from the right, the Khazneh from the left, the Khazneh from below... Too bad a soda stand with a logo starting with *Coca* and ending with *Cola* has set up shop right in front of the Treasury. When will there be a McDonald's in Khazneh Square?
Alright, girls, I know half the tourists stop here and won't see anything else of Petra, but we've got stairs to climb! First stair hike: the ascent to Al-Khubta to see the... Khazneh! That's right, if you've been paying attention, I haven't seen it from above yet. On the way, we pass by the Street of Facades, and it's my chance to vent a little. Some tourists are really disrespectful—they use the tombs as toilets. That's just not on! There are other places to relieve yourself besides a UNESCO-listed monument! Given the price we paid for entry, I think cleaning could be done more often than every ten years... Though that doesn't excuse the pigs who did their business here... Come on, girls, let's muster our courage and leave the camel floor behind. One step carved into the rock... two... three... four hundred fifty-eight... In the end, it's not so bad since our eyes are treated to a view of the ancient theater. Come on, just fifteen more minutes of walking, and we'll be there.
Unlike down below, we're alone when we reach the rocky promontory overlooking the Khazneh from above. It's crazy—once you have to walk a bit, there's no one around! Five meters from the edge, four meters, three meters, two meters... Oh, Sandrine's getting dizzy, so we don't go any closer. We sit down and eat! Yeah, hiking makes you hungry! By the way, I almost forgot... It's *gorgeous*! I can hardly say more than what you can see in my photos. To you, poor soul who hasn't had the chance to see this yet—make the effort! The sweat you'll shed climbing up here is worth it. Below, in front of the Treasury, hundreds pass by without realizing that above their heads, four little French backpackers are sunbathing and having a snack with their eyes on the same view. Isn't life beautiful?
Before heading back down, we're approached by a Bedouin shepherd: "Do you want to drink chai?" Sorry, I don't speak Arabic... What an idiot! It's English! It means: The guy's offering us tea. Of course, we accept the invitation and start chatting. His name is Audi (like the cars, he told us), and his donkey is Shakira! He explains that he lives here in an ancient Nabataean cistern, alone, without a wife. Yeah, right—he's not *really* alone. He lives with his goats and a pair of boots, and that changes everything! The Lonely Planet mentions him. Not his torrid relationship with his goats—the guide talks about the Bedouin shepherd, keep up! He's one of the last Bedouins still living on the Petra site! Before leaving, he tells us how to get down the mountain more quickly without retracing our steps. Jordanians are really nice! If you're interested, here's how: When you come back from the viewpoint over the Khazneh, you'll pass by the Nabataean cistern. Don't forget to say hi to Audi for me. Then, instead of taking the stairs, go around the cistern to a small crevice on your right that descends into the valley. It's very easy to access. Just go down the worn, steep steps without killing yourself... and you're there!
Next stop: the climb to the Monastery. The plan? Eight hundred forty-two steps to get there. As you've noticed, we're in *Stairville* in the *Stairland* region. And stairs, like carrots, the more you eat, the stronger your legs get! But if you can't handle all those steps, make one of those poor mules suffer instead—their owner will *kindly* motivate them with a garden hose... They're there for that, right? What? You don't want to take the donkey anymore? Good... Ten times, they offered us those poor animals for the climb, but each time, we declined. We've got our competition shoes on, the girls are puffing out their chests... we're ready for those eight hundred or so steps... Uh, girls... maybe tone down the chest-puffing a bit—we're in a Muslim country!
The climb to the Monastery is tough, long, and steep, but at least it thins out the crowd. It's natural selection: the strongest will see the Deir, while the others will only see the Khazneh! That's Arabic for you! *Deir* means Monastery, and *Khazneh* means Treasury. But what *is* this Monastery, anyway? Well, the Monastery has the color of the Treasury, the feel of the Treasury, but it's not the Treasury. The difference? Those eight hundred steps to get there... and believe me, your legs *will* feel the difference! Unlike the Treasury, this isn't a tomb but a place of worship where the Nabataeans came to pray. You had to be *really* devout to climb all the way up to church every Sunday! When we reach the top... way up there... we come face to face with the Monastery, also carved into the rock! Less finely crafted than the Khazneh, it still impresses us even more with its size! Decision made! We pull out the snacks from our bag and have lunch quietly, leaning against a rock right in front! Much better than queuing at a buffet behind a horde of hungry PTT retirees... I hope you're not a PTT retiree, at least? The only downside: a young Jordanian guy, very "local color," has settled nearby and is pestering us in slurred English!
Before heading back down, like us, walk a few hundred more meters to admire the view over Wadi Araba from a dizzying cliff—you're already here, right? The panorama is breathtaking, but if you fall backward here, you'll land three hundred meters below! Over there, we're joined by a group... No luck, they're French too. You'll understand here that I don't much appreciate French tourist groups, even if not everyone is the same. But the following anecdote only confirms what I think. I'll cut to the chase: A little girl, about ten years old, asks her father while looking at some Bedouins, "Daddy, why aren't I black?" And there, the father, thinking he was the only French person around, says to his daughter, "Well, honey, you're lucky to be white, and you have me to thank for that! You should text me every day to say thanks!" Pathetic... I won't say more, but I'm thinking plenty...
And the descent, you ask? Exhausting stairs, breathtaking landscapes, and the girls are wiped out! So, girls, not so smug now, huh? Alright, I'm teasing a bit, but between you and me, I'll admit my legs were killing me too. Five p.m., we pass by the Treasury again, and for the first time, not a single Ricard hat in sight to ruin the view. Then the Siq, and those last five hundred meters that strangely didn't seem so steep this morning. Again, they offer to let us finish our *via dolorosa* on a donkey's back: "You don't really think I walked twenty kilometers today just to crack on the home stretch, do you?"
Back at camp for battery recharge! Cameras first, then humans! A good shower, a good meal by lantern light, and we're off to Petra again. You must think we're masochists! Yeah... we missed the walking... but this time, it's nighttime! We're here for Petra by Night! Three nights a week, the site is open to discover the Siq and the Khazneh lit by thousands of candles. The only problem? We're not the only ones with this idea. Over five hundred people are waiting for the gates to open. Normally, this nighttime walk is done in silence... Here, it's chaos! Something I'll never understand: Why do people in groups always have to SHOUT when the magic of the place calls for silence? Anyway, I'll tell you straight up—we're disappointed. Too many people, too much noise... The organizers are overwhelmed. They even seat visitors *among* the candles in front of the Khazneh, so we can't even enjoy the view we paid twelve dinars to see. We're not the only ones disappointed—many people leave before the Bedouin's flute recital is even over. It only lasted ten minutes, in the end. I'll have to remember to mention this to King Abdullah tomorrow! Anyway, tomorrow's another adventure...
I’m inviting you on a stroll through my drawings—a completely subjective, far-from-exhaustive, and totally personal take, since it’s based on my own sketches. I put this travel journal together after returning in late 2024, mostly using felt-tip pens and pencils, with a few collages thrown in. I worked from our personal photos.
And in Kyoto, the Nishiki Market:
A little sneak peek?
Since Albania isn’t part of Europe when it comes to phone service (at least not yet! :-)), we had to buy a physical SIM card—otherwise, the bill would’ve been sky-high if we’d used our French plan! We got one from Vodafone AL at the airport. You can buy online before leaving with a virtual SIM (e-SIM) for compatible phones, so you don’t have to swap cards. But given the uncertainty about choosing a plan online, we preferred buying one directly at Tirana Airport. Cost: 31 € for 100 GB. That’s way too much—100 GB is overkill. For 40 GB, it’s 27 €, and the plan lasts 21 days. The price difference isn’t huge, and it was cheaper than online. This plan covers all the countries along the Balkan range.
Money tip: All guesthouses and accommodations accept euros. The local currency in Albania is the LEK. In Montenegro, it’s the euro. Bank fees for withdrawing money from an ATM in Albania are pretty steep: 8 € for a withdrawal of 600–700 LEK (about 200 €)! So it’s better to withdraw cash (euros) in France. Oh, and we booked all our accommodations before leaving, but payment is always in cash. Budget around 400–500 € for 9 days of trekking.
I really liked Shköder, especially its pedestrian street lined with restaurants and lit up at night. It’s a great place to stroll and eat. The food isn’t expensive—two big salads and two beers: 14 € :-) . Fruit prices are also very reasonable: 3 € for a kilo of cherries, compared to 9–10 € in France.
Religions coexist peacefully in these countries—Catholics and Muslims. From our balcony, my friend heard the call to prayer for the first time, coming from one of the city’s mosques.
We slept in the heights of Theth at a new guesthouse, "Mountain Vista Shkafi," with an amazing view.
But Bologna’s real charm lies in its porticoes, which were added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2021: 62 km of arcades running along buildings, letting you walk sheltered from the sun or rain. Back in 1288, the city required houses to include private arcades for public use. In the city center, you can stroll under 32 km of porticoes in all sorts of styles—some plain, some ornate—with a strong presence of red tones.
Ooooooooh, giants!
Oh, how I love them! In the North, we have lots of these giants, like Reuze Papa and Reuze Maman in Cassel, or Gayant, Marie, and their children Binbin, Jacquot, and Fillon in Douai, and many more.
What’s more, the Ducasse of Ath is remarkable for its age and local roots; a procession was first mentioned in 1399, and today the many musical groups are still local (Ath and surrounding towns). The event is extremely popular: a good part of the population is there, all generations mixed together. Everyone knows the groups, floats, and giants, and each has their favorite! Originally, religious groups paraded, illustrating episodes from the Bible or the Golden Legend. Gradually, the parade became secular and kept evolving by adding new giants, historical figures, or allegories linked to local history (Ath, Belgian Hainaut, Belgium).
To wrap up this long introduction, know that the Ducasse of Ath lasts several days, but the highlight is the highly codified procession that takes place on the 4th Sunday of August (actually, the procession passes twice, once in the morning and once in the afternoon).
It’s followed by a human giant on stilts: "Saint Christopher of Flobecq," holding a flowered staff and carrying Christ on his shoulders (this time, not a real child!). It appeared in the 19th century, then disappeared from the procession before being reintroduced in 1976.
Last October, we landed in Marrakech to spend a few days with family exploring Morocco’s roads.
Transport: a rented Dacia.
Accommodations: small guesthouses.
