Petra Jordan

My son and his friend have been here for a week. We've managed to pack in alot of sites, sounds, smells, and tastes in such a short time. From the Galilee to Bethlehem and Jerusalem, it seems like we did it all. We even managed to take a trip to Petra in Jordan. What a place! Through the recommendation of a classmate we called Abdallah, an 'unofficial' tour guide. He was just what we wanted. Not too much blah, blah, blah, just enough for my 20 something son and his friend's taste.

Abdallah took us on the 'off road', Indiana Jones path up to the High Place of Sacrifice. It was a lot of climbing and we didn't see any other tourists on the way. I was beginning to understand why he was unofficial. But the view when we arrived at the top was breath taking. You can see that there was no identified path.

We sat on top of the High Place of Sacrifice for about 30 minutes talking and enjoying the view. This is overlooking the Theatre that was carved in the mountainside by the Nabataeans around the 1st century. He said it held about 7,000 people.
The Theatre close up. It was build in the standard Roman design of the time.

Some of the Royal Tombs. They are facades sculpted into the mountain at the eastern end of the Petra basin.

The Treasury. Perhaps it's the best known of all Petra's temples. The Treasury from the 1st century BC takes its name from Bedouin folklore. They believed that the Khasneb el-Faroun (Treasury of the Pharaoh) was the magical creation of a great wizard who had deposited treasure in its urn.

We exited Petra by the Siq. This is the traditional entrance to Petra. The first temple that you see is the Treasury which you can see here. The Siq is a deep ravine, formed when a split in the mountain was swept clear by water from the Wadi Musa.

You could take an Arabian horseback ride or carriage if the walk was too long (and too hot!!) We walked. Abdallah said we needed at least two full days to see the entire city of Petra. We wished that we had two full days. To find more information, history and professional photos of Petra click on the link.

The trip into Jordan was great! And, the best part...the border crossing was uneventful!