Visiting Petra's royal tombs

For our second day in Petra, we decided to start our visit a little bit later.

After seeing the Siq and the Treasury in a different light, we decided to follow the Al Kubtha trail. The first part of the hike took us to see the Nabataeans' Royal tombs from up close: the Urn tomb, the Silk tomb, the Corinthian tomb and the Palace tomb, which we can see from the main trail perched on the mountain.

The Urn tomb is particularly easy to identify because of its 2-level arches underneath it and its impressive cube-shaped main room carved into the rock.

Further down the trail, we could admire the Palace tomb which has one of the most majestuous facades of Petra.

The second part of the trail leads, through a lot of stairs (again!), all the way up to a viewpoint above those tombs, with a panoramic view of Petra's centre site and, further ahead, a view of Al Khazna from above. 

The view was already great but you can have an even better one if you are willing to pay for a drink in the bedouins' tent. After a quick lunch break, we have to head back as the trail ends here. We stop once more on the viewpoint overlooking the theater and the main trail to the temples, and let the incredible landscape provide us the energy to go all the way back down.

We wanted to hike another trail but we decided instead to have a delicious pomegranate juice and just enjoy our last few moments in Petra. We could see people being transported by donkeys, camels, horses, chariots and even electric vehicles (something we did not take advantage of, as there were clear signs of animal abuse). We couldn't help but comment on how we could see the means of transportation from different eras, all in one place.

We were sad to leave Petra but we felt that two days was just the right amount of time to explore most of the trails. After a quick stop at the hotel (our calves were crying out for some rest 😊), we went for dinner and decided to try the Mansaf, the national dish of Jordan, accompanied by a sweet and refreshing lemon mint juice. If you're in Petra, we highly recommend the Palm Court Restaurant and Cafe in lower Wadi Musa.