Petra, Jordan

 We were up early to meet our driver for the long drive from Amman to Petra. It took us about 4 hours to get there with lots to see on the way…

We saw lots of people living in tents in the desert…

The landscape is very arid…

Coffee shops built into the side of the mountains…

As we approached Petra we could see that it was quite a large town based mostly on the tourism industry. Since the recent conflicts in the Middle East tourism in Jordan has fallen tremendously. Everyone  we spoke to told us the same story, that international tourists are staying away even though Jordan is a political stable country.

The day we visited there were a lot of Jordanians visitors as they are highly subsidized by their government. For us, however the entrance fee was steep at 100CAD a person. 

In the early 2000s Petra made the list of the 7 New Wonders of the World which greatly increased the number of visitors. We could see why it would make such a list as it quite a dramatic site.

Petra is a famous archaeological site in Jordan's southwestern desert. Dating to around 300 B.C., it was the capital of the Nabatean Kingdom. Accessed via a narrow canyon called Al Siq, it contains tombs and temples carved into pink sandstone cliffs, earning its nickname, the "Rose City." Perhaps its most famous structure is 45m-high Al Khazneh, a temple with an ornate, Greek-style facade, and known as The Treasury.

It was a long walk in about 4.5 kms and it was a hot day!

Some people chose to ride the horses or the donkeys, though the poor animals did not look too well cared for.

We first started to see the remnants of the caves where many of the people lived…

 Here are the Djinn Block Tombs where they buried their dead…there are usually more than one person

 Among Petra's marvels are the Obelisk Tomb and Bab el-Siq Triclinium, two remarkable rock-cut structures that offer insights into the Nabataean culture and its blend of indigenous traditions with external influences. The Obelisk Tomb and Bab el-Siq Triclinium, two distinct rock-cut structures carved into the sandstone cliffs, are positioned one above the other. The upper monument, known as the ""Obelisk Tomb,"" features four elongated pyramids symbolizing Nefesh, Nabataean symbols representing the deceased, with a central niche behind it holding a worn sculpture of a cloaked male figure, representing the tomb's patriarch, overseeing five burial niches beneath.

Here is Don and our guide who is from Petra and has been doing this work for over 20 years and was quite knowledgeable…

Just before the entrance there are the remains of the dam system that the Nabataeans built to divert water and to protect the city, it was a very advanced system.

They also built narrow channels on both sides of the walkway to bring water throughout the city.

We are now starting to go into the narrow gorge called the Sig and was created naturally by tectonic activity and natural erosion so it was a mountain that split in two and is 1.2 km long.

The walls are very high as you can see from the size of the golf carts coming through, some people chose to use the carts to get back and forth…

Here are the ancient stones still surviving…

There were a number of niches along the way that were believed to hold funeral relics, candles and maybe goods for sale…

Some pictures going through Al Sig…

Getting narrow here…

The colors of the sandstone were amazing…

This rock is called the “ Elephant Rock”

Some of the sandstone walls as we walked…they were spectacular!

The opening to one of the main squares coming up…

The Siq opens up on Petra’s most magnificent facade, the Treasury. It is almost 40 meters high and is intricately decorated with Corinthian columns, friezes, fiqures and more. It is crowned with a funerary urn which according to local legend contains a Pharaoh’s treasures. It was probably constructed in the 1st century BC.

As we continued on we passed the Royal Tombs…

There are 4 of them and date to the early 2nd century AD.

 We walked through the Colonaded Street which would have been a principal shopping street…

At the end was Qasr- al- Bing which was the most important temple of Petra…

Seeking shade while selling their wares.

Carved into the side of a mountain there is the Roman Theatre which would have been built later when the Romans took control of Petra. It is the only theatre in the world carved into rock.

This is only a glimpse of Petra as there are a number of side trails one can take to view more of the site. This city was a very prosperous one as it stood at a vital part of the trade route connecting ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt. The Nabataeans were first of all traders of such things as spices, frankincense and myrrh which were valuable commodities at that time. It is believed that an earthquake in 363AD destroyed much of the city and by the middle of the 7th century was largely deserted. It was discovered again in 1812by a Swiss explorer named Johannes Burckhardt who dressed up like an Arab and convinced his Bedouin guide to take him to the lost city. Much of Petra is yet to be discovered…