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.