PETRA!!! Part 2

As we listened to Zac, it became really clear that this wasn't his first time at Petra. He was well-schooled in all the nuances of the site. After about two hours of hiking, he stopped us and insisted that we all move to the right and form a straight line, one after the other.

"No, no--get back. All the way to the right. No cheating," he admonished.  "I'm going to show you a treasure of gold."

When he was satisfied that we had positioned ourselves properly, he released us. As we moved left, this sight greeted us.

Al Khazneh - The Treasury, the most recognizable feature of Petra.

Before us stood Al Khazneh, the Treasury, that quinfessential symbol of Petra, just as Tunnel View is the quintessential view of Yosemite. As with one breath, we all exclaimed "ahhhhhhhh........." Some of the group had already figured out what Zac was going to show us. I, naive, as usual, didn't. Even though I knew it would be there at some point, it still took me by surprise. And awe. You can see by the men standing and seated at its base that its sheer size is overwhelming.

Are you thinking this is a temple? It's not. It's a tomb built for one of the Nabatean kings. And it was carved directly into the sandstone of the mountain, from the top down.  To create something this magnificent today would be quite a feat. To do it with what must have been rudimentary tools 2,000 years ago is unimaginable. And yet there it is.

Al Khazneh sits at the precise point where the Siq opens up into a large open courtyard, populated by donkeys, camels and horses, led by their Bedouin masters. Several ramshackle stalls stood in the shadow of Al Khazneh.

In the foreground, Terry explores the conveyance of the moment
In the background:  one of the local "shops" that cater to the thousands of tourists who
pass through Petra's canyons.

Taking a bit of a siesta

I absolutely love these guys with their ungainly gait and their expressive faces. 

A set of stairs leads up the cliffs. I call it a "stairway to heaven."

Living with the land . . . Bedouin shops line the road or trail that leads from the Treasury on down to the basin.

Tombs above, restroom facilities are cut into the cliffs much as the tombs (above) have been etched out of the sandstone.

If you thought these were all the treasures Petra holds, you'd be very wrong.

PETRA!!! Part 1

For many of the 22 of us on the tour the primary destination would be Petra. This was the culmination of what they hoped to see during our 12-day journey. I am embarrassed to admit that I knew so little about Petra before I booked the tour that it was just another "place" to me. Of course, I'd seen "Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade" and the other Indiana Jones movies, but it didn't sink in that part of the movie was set in Petra.

Honestly, with the opportunity to look back on the journey, I would love to be able to go back with unlimited time and explore each and every place we visited extensively.  As I tell first-time visitors to Yosemite, you can't do this place justice in less than two to three days (at a minimum).

Because there's so much to see and learn, there will be at least three posts covering the Rose Red City. 

We arrived at the Movenpick Resort hotel late in the afternoon. The hotel sat just yards from the entrance to Petra. The following day we would depart early and on foot to explore the wonders of the Rose Red City.

This somewhat unimpressive "road" is the entrance to the canyon ("Siq") and gives little hint at the magnificence
that awaits us. These rock formations reminded me of the rocks of Utah.

This is the Siq (canyon) leading to the main part of Petra.

It's worth noting that not one of my photos begins to properly illustrate the grandeur of Petra.  If you see photos that you think are pretty amazing, multiply that amazement by ten. It is that impressive.

These photos only hint at the striations of color contained in the canyon walls. 

The cliffs are dotted with openings, as in the photo above. These holes are tombs carved out of the cliffs. 

As "they" say, " you ain't seen nothin' yet." 

As we walked the Siq, Zac, our guide, talked about the people who created this place, the Nabateans.  They were an Arab people who inhabited this hidden canyon in the 200 to 300 years before the Christian Era. They were traders, particularly in frankincense and myrrh. And they had found and created the perfect place to build a hidden city.

The above photo, taken from an overlook above the city of Wadi Musa and Petra, shows how hidden the city was and is. 

Above, Nabatean guards protect the entrance to the city.

The tribe of B'doul Bedouins are the descendants of the ancient Nabateans, and they have been given special permission by the King of Jordan to be able to set up shops inside Petra. They also provide a sort of taxi service, via horse- and donkey-drawn carts as well as camels to transport those who don't feel like making the trek on their own feet.

Above is a sample of a Petra taxi. 

If there were any one negative factor about Petra, for me it would be the pervasiveness of the Bedouin "hawkers." They were ever-present and extremely persistent. We'd been warned about this, and Zac taught us all how to say "no, thanks!" in Arabic. It didn't do any good. If you said no, they'd come back with "later, maybe, Lady?" 

Yet the Bedouin have a right to lay claim to this place which has been their home for over 2,000 years. In fact until the 1980's they actually made their homes in the caves lining the cliffs of Petra, until Petra was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and they were moved to modern housing a short distance away.

Above is a niche where the Nabateans kept statues of their gods as well as a rudimentary staircase up the cliff. Judging from the steepness of the cliffs, it would seem the Bedouins are descended from mountain goats.

Our journey down the Siq was plodding as Zac acquainted us with its history. During its heydey Petra's population exceeded 20,000. How could a site this isolated support such a number of people? 

The Nabateans were engineers as well as artists. They built cisterns, dams and waterways to preserve and carry the life-giving liquid through the city.

Behind this wall is a cistern to store water.

As we traversed the Siq, Zac had us stop for just a moment, where Lorenzo and Mary
"renewed their vows" in side-by-side niches carved into the hillside.

As we listened to Zac, it became really clear that this wasn't his first time here. He was well-schooled in all the nuances of the site. After about two hours of hiking, he stopped us and insisted that we all move to the right and form a straight line, one after the other.

"No, no--get back. All the way to the right. No cheating," he admonished.  "I'm going to show you a treasure of gold."

What was it? 

The Promised Land, Mt. Nebo and Arrival at Petra

From the Citadel we said goodbye to downtown Amman and traveled through the suburbs and out into the country toward our next destination, Mt. Nebo, known as the place from which Moses viewed the promised land.

As we left the crowded city, we passed open fields where tents were randomly pitched. Our guide, Zac, told us these were Bedouin camps, where Arab nomads live as they have lived for centuries with their goats and camels. We would see a number of these throughout the day as we traveled through the deserts of Jordan on our way to Petra.

Mt. Nebo is a hill a little less than 3,000 feet high and is also where tradition says Moses died and was buried. As with most Biblical sites, there is controversy and conjecture over this.

A monument to honor and memorialize Moses

A sign points the way to the Promised Land.

And this is the actual view. 

The "Brazen Serpent" statue as talked about in the book of Numbers, created by
Giovanni Fantoni.

There are the remains of a Byzantine Church on Mt Nebo which is in process of being excavated and which contains beautifully-preserved mosaics.

Mosaic in the Byzantine Church on Mt Nebo

This camel-hair tent shields the church excavation

Leaving Mt Nebo, we journeyed a short distance away to a School of Mosaics in the town of Madaba. We saw every type of mosaic art in every stage of creation. Incredibly intricate, every piece must be constructed by hand, and these artists are taught the necessary techniques.

The early stages of creation

Approaching completion

and one last magnificent piece:

A table-top with inlaid mother-of-pearl

Some of us bought products to take or ship home, but reluctantly I passed on the opportunity.

We'd had a full morning, and it was now lunchtime. Perish the thought that we should miss a meal!

Our lunch spot was once again unique; a lovely shaded outdoor patio at Haret Jdoudna.

This is the restaurant's entrance.

Just inside the entrance resides the owner's vintage Mercedes

These steps led to the restrooms upstairs and illustrate the beauty of the patio where we dined.

Down the street, within walking distance of the restaurant, lies Madaba's arguably most important site--the Bysantine Church of St. George. Inside the apse of the church is its most impressive feature:  the Madaba Map, which is the oldest extant map of the Holy Land and especially Jerusalem. Unlike maps of our day, it is not oriented toward north but rather toward the east, oriented toward compass directions.

Exterior of St George's Church

Interior of St. George's

A quick walk back to the restaurant and our waiting bus, and we were on our way, at last, to PETRA.

This would be the longest drive we'd experienced to date, and we took advantage of the time to nap or catch up on emails with the bus's wifi or just gaze at the barren Jordanian desert.

The terrain turned more mountainous as we approached Petra, and the road twisted in hairpin turns as we neared the summit. Suddenly before us, perched on a cliff, was a magnificient Crusader castle:

This is known as Montreal Crusader Castle, and I found an interesting YouTube video describing it and showing some of its interior. Unfortunately we only got to view its exterior.

Speaking with Gila, she told me she'd sat where she had an excellent view of the very narrow road. "The wheels were right on the edge," she shook her head. "I thought we were awfully close."

Luckily my view wasn't that good.

Next stop:  Petra, land of the Nabateans.

The Original Philadelphia

Did you know that Amman, Jordan, was once called Philadelphia, and that it was built on seven hills? That's just one of the facts we learned when we visited the Citadel in the center of Amman. On top of one of those hills, right in the center of the city is a set of ruins that date back to prehistoric times and still bear the remnants of Roman, Crusader, Ummayad and Byzantine civilizations, and probably more.

The entrance to the Citadel, with the pillars of the Temple of Hercules in the distance.

The Citadel sits atop the highest point in Amman and thus affords a magnificent view of Jordan's most populous city.

This view looks from the Citadel site south toward the Roman theatre in the right center of the photo. 

The population of Amman is more than 4 million, and it looks like all of it is shoved together surrounding the original site.

How do they cram so many buildings into such a small space? Where is any open space (other than the Citidel site)?

The remaining artifacts are the Temple of Hercules,

Remains of the Temple of Hercules

the Ummayad Palace,

Ummayad Palace

Detail of the Ummayad Palace

and the remains of a Byzantine Church, mostly in ruins.

The modern city of Amman peaks over the rubble of an ancient Byzantine church

Next stop:  A view of the Promised Land from Mt. Nebo.

Amman, a Five-Star Hotel and a Bevy of Beauties

After a marvelous afternoon exploring Jerash, we boarded the bus for our next stop:  Amman and the Kempinski Hotel. 

Jordan's tourism has been in a bad way, and most of the three- and four-star hotels have closed. Too bad for us. We were forced to hole up in a li'l ol' five-star dive in the middle of Amman.

I got only one really lame photo of the exterior of the hotel. Believe me, this does not show the beauty or the luxury of the place. 

Everything about this hotel screamed "elegance" and "refinement" (except perhaps me). Oh, it really probably whispered. Screaming isn't too elegant.

I spent some time sorting through my gear and getting stuff ready for the next day's travel before heading downstairs to have a drink before dinner.

Arriving in the lobby, I wandered around until I found Shelby and her mom, Linda, in the hotel bar. Directly behind where they were seated, they pointed out the swimming pool area, outfitted for a very elegant wedding. Shelby even got a brief video of part of it. Unfortunately, even though she'd shared it with me and despite my newly-honed video skills, I couldn't save it for you, but what I can share with you is:

Food. 

Food became an all-important part of each day, and each meal we ate, as mentioned before, seemed better than the last. The cuisine at the Hotel Kempinski Amman was probably the finest yet both in terms of taste and presentation. Our dining room space was elegantly-appointed and inviting. The photos below were from our breakfast. 

 My finished product--and it tasted even better than it looked. That orange juice was fresh-squeezed.

Despite our enjoyment of the five-star luxury treatment at Hotel Kempinski Amman, we schlepped our luggage downstairs and got it loaded on the bus for the next stage of our journey:  exploring a bit of Amman, Madaba and then onward to PETRA.

Our first stop was at the King Abdullah Mosque, just a couple of miles from the hotel.

The exterior was stunning.

This is the only mosque in Amman that openly welcomes non-Muslims, and then only on certain days. Luckily this was one of the days.

Our guide, Zac, directed us into the gift shop and indicated that the women should go to the back area where lovely robes awaited us. We needed to be covered from head to foot. Even though we'd already dressed ourselves properly, so we thought, we donned this:

This photo, courtesy of Linda Carey, shows us at our "best." Oh, my.

The men, on the other hand, had no special dress other than to have long pants.

Linda Carey's photo of Zac, our guide, which shows the incredible ceiling and the size of the mosque.

Amazing calligraphy adorned the walls and ceilings.

The men line up as Zac, second from left, shows some of the men in our group how to pray.

It would be difficult not to be overwhelmed by the beauty of this building and the art it contains.

Next stop:  The original Philadelphia.