It was our wedding anniversary and my husband has always wanted to see the pyramids and petra, so we decided to take our first cruise to the red sea. We decided on this so we could do all the tours. Our first day took us on a coach for 3 hours to get to petra. We were not advised my anyone on board when we paid our £70 each what to expect. In total we walked over 4 miles in the heat of the day. Not only was it on uneven sand and stones the whole way but all downhill going and then to face the return uphill. They say you can take a donkey, horse and carrage ride if you like, but this was the most awful thing I have ever seen. These poor animals trying to pull heavy lazy people uphill in that heat, they could even stand up on the cobble stones, and were kicked and whipped to get them to go. The people who run this should be ashamed of themselves. If anyone is thinking of going make sure you where trainers so at least you can walk.

The magic of Petra is the total scale and intricateness of the area. Everyone knows the famous treasury building but this is just the start of an epic jorney through a jaw dropping city of buildings and human feats of engineering.

A few tips for the first time visitor

Stout shoes
Plenty of fluids
The best camera you can find
A local guide

I recently visted Petra with 3 children under 5. One walking, one in a stroller and one in a backpack. We arrived at the entance at about 9:30am. The entrance fee is 21 JOD per adult and free for children under 5. We walked from the entrance to the start of the siq, a distance of about 500m. A horse ride for 2JOD can be taken for this part of the journey, but not neccessary. The siq is about 1 km long of mainly smooth ground and finishes at the treasury. A horse carriage can be taken for this part of the journey, but once again this is not neccessary. From the treasury to the museum (start of climb to Monastery) is about 2-3 km. We started getting hastled by camel operators not long after the treasury. I am not normaly prone to these gimics, but in this case I was glad that I put the two eldest children on a camel, because the ground soon turned to soft sand which would have rendered the stroller useless. A camel costs 10JOD each way. We went straight to the museum and had a short break before beginning the climb to the Monastery. We put the two eldest children on a donkey for this part of the journey for 5 JOD.
We all walked back down (donkey optional for 5JOD) and had lunch at the museum at about 2pm. We brought our own lunch expecting the prices inside to be outrageous, however they were not that bad. Drinks cost 1JOD and a buffet lunch at the restaurant near the museum cost 10JOD. We then walked back from the museum to the Temple where we had arranged to meet the camel for the return journey back to the Treasury at about 3pm. We were back at the start of the siq at about 4pm and had time to look through the souveneir shop before continuing back to the entrance by about 5pm.
The only toilets are beside the restaurant.

During one of my side trips whilst working in Iraq for the UN Oil For Food organisation I had the pleasure of staying at Petra with a group of fellow Inspectors.

Being Australian it is hard to relate to civilisations this old but I was in awe of the place. Its beauty, size, colour and location was absolutely amazing (although the camel ride was a bit numbing).

Even though we spent three days there it wasn't enough to take in all the sites within this ancient city.

For those of you who are intending to visit Jordan I can only urge you to see for yourself the majestic buildings dug into the mountain sides and the sheer beauty of the place. There is no doubt in my mind that you will enjoy it.