Upon arriving and settling into our lovely hotel, The Petra Palace, we raced to grab some lunch and then headed into one of the most amazing wonders of the world.
About 4 o'clock we all descended on the gates and, since we work for the Department of Antiquities here, we all got to visit the site gratis. Free is always good!
This is what the walk begins as. It seems plain, expect for a few carved caves and one tomb known as the Obelisk tomb. The sandstone is an orange-y tone here and you walk over a crushed limestone path.
And then you enter Al Siq. The Siq(said like seek). And you know you are in an entirely different world. The wind sounds different here and the smell of hot sand and the bright blue sky over head are all at once calming and invigorating.
And at the end of the Siq you see this peeking around the wind carved sandstone. And I seriously expected to see someone dressed up as Indiana Jones for pictures, but found camels and Bedouins instead. I must admit that the group I was with did robustly sing the theme song to the movies. Bum ba rum ba bum ba dum. Such tourists!
Al Khazar or The Treasury is amazing to see. It is a stunning reddish hue and is a fabulous first look and good bye as you enter and exit the city by way of the Siq.
Eva and I hit the road to Al Dayr, the Monastery. We walked past the old Roman theater and the Street of Facades in our race to get to the top before the sun went all the way down. It is about an hour walk in, up steep canyons and stairs carved out of hills and it is worth every drop of sweat. For me, it is more beautiful than The Treasury and Eva and I got there in time to have the perfect lighting hitting the front of it. A side note, this facade is 43 meters tall, so though it may appear small, the bottom of the doorway was over my head....
Farther up we saw some amazing views from the top. I snapped this picture in honor of a road trip with my mom in '97. Oh the VIEW! What a view!
And here are Eva and I at the top, with the Jordanian flag and a view of the great rift valley and Isreal in the far distance.
Darkness was coming quickly and we hit the road for the bottom. We met some local boys and their donkeys who took us, jarringly, on my first donkey ride. I think my bone marrow rattled loose.
We found Walter and Nick at one of the vendors tents about to have tea and dinner and we joined them. What fun eating in the middle of Petra when all guests are supposed to leave. The four of us all walked out of Petra by moonlight and starlight.
About 4 o'clock we all descended on the gates and, since we work for the Department of Antiquities here, we all got to visit the site gratis. Free is always good!
This is what the walk begins as. It seems plain, expect for a few carved caves and one tomb known as the Obelisk tomb. The sandstone is an orange-y tone here and you walk over a crushed limestone path.
And then you enter Al Siq. The Siq(said like seek). And you know you are in an entirely different world. The wind sounds different here and the smell of hot sand and the bright blue sky over head are all at once calming and invigorating.
And at the end of the Siq you see this peeking around the wind carved sandstone. And I seriously expected to see someone dressed up as Indiana Jones for pictures, but found camels and Bedouins instead. I must admit that the group I was with did robustly sing the theme song to the movies. Bum ba rum ba bum ba dum. Such tourists!
Al Khazar or The Treasury is amazing to see. It is a stunning reddish hue and is a fabulous first look and good bye as you enter and exit the city by way of the Siq.
Eva and I hit the road to Al Dayr, the Monastery. We walked past the old Roman theater and the Street of Facades in our race to get to the top before the sun went all the way down. It is about an hour walk in, up steep canyons and stairs carved out of hills and it is worth every drop of sweat. For me, it is more beautiful than The Treasury and Eva and I got there in time to have the perfect lighting hitting the front of it. A side note, this facade is 43 meters tall, so though it may appear small, the bottom of the doorway was over my head....
Farther up we saw some amazing views from the top. I snapped this picture in honor of a road trip with my mom in '97. Oh the VIEW! What a view!
And here are Eva and I at the top, with the Jordanian flag and a view of the great rift valley and Isreal in the far distance.
Darkness was coming quickly and we hit the road for the bottom. We met some local boys and their donkeys who took us, jarringly, on my first donkey ride. I think my bone marrow rattled loose.
We found Walter and Nick at one of the vendors tents about to have tea and dinner and we joined them. What fun eating in the middle of Petra when all guests are supposed to leave. The four of us all walked out of Petra by moonlight and starlight.
2 comments:
Can't wait to get a complete conversation with you about Petra. It must have been wonderful. Hope you have some great pictures and stories. Dad
you've definitely tanned! congratulations...now we're cousins hehe
hey, haven't forgotten about our accountability plans. i'll try to work on a bit and email you...must confess...i've been a slacker. bah humbug!
smooches,
m
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