Day 2 - Petra and Wadi Rum

Petra

We spent two nights in the town of Petra at a quaint motel-like place.  It was supposed to look like a Bedouin village and it was very nice.  The rooms were spacious:

and the walkways charming:

The scenery as you walked down to the dining hall was lovely:

It was just a short drive to old Petra.  For our entire tour we were provided with listening devices so that our guides could give us information on what we were seeing. 

Our guide in Jordan was Robert:

You could hire this "chariot" to take you some of the 6 mile round trip that we walked that day.  We scoffed the idea of not walking!

Petra was unknown to the western world until 1812, but settlements had begun in this area between 1550-1292 BC.  It was the capital of the Nabataeans and the center of their caravan trade.  Because of the towering rocks and narrow caverns, they were able to control the main commercial routes which passed through this area between Egypt and Syria. 

We imagined that these guards said something like, "None shall pass..."

The Nabataeans also were able to control the water supply by building dams, cisterns and water conduits. On top of that low wall, there was a water conduit long since dried up.  Every once in a while we would see trees that seemed to grow out of the rock with no visible water source.

Biblical references to Petra refer to it as "the cleft in the rock."  This part of the country was Biblically assigned to the Horites, the predecessors of the Edomites.  In 106 AD, Petra was absorbed into the Roman Empire.  In 363 an earthquake destroyed many buildings and crippled the vital water management system.  The colors and formations of the rock were gorgeous:

The most familiar building is the Treasury, featured in one of the Indiana Jones movies.

It is amazing to me the time that it must have taken to carve this out of the rock.  Decades.  Probably the people that began it wouldn't be the ones that finished it.  And what if you made a mistake?  Carving is unforgiving.  The detail is a wonder.

It was a warm day, so some of the ladies got a little refreshment.  I loved the Arabic writing on the cans:

Renee, Shelley, Linda, Theresa, & Cheryl

Mark found a tomb just his size:

We hiked up hundreds of steps like these

so that we could see the Monastery, another, larger building.  There were many Bedouins anxious for us to rent a donkey for the climb.  That seemed more scary to me than just hiking it. This picture shows the mountainside it was carved out of.

Up at the top we met this little girl who was all alone selling trinkets.  Although it was a very warm day, all of the native people were dressed warmly.

Renee, her husband Mark, and Shelley ride the camels back to the bus.

This place was enormous!

Wadi Rum

T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) helped the Arabs in their revolt against the Ottoman Empire and Wadi Rum (also known as The Valley of the Moon) was the area he based his operations.  When we arrived, we knew that we'd be riding across the desert in open air trucks, so most of the ladies bought scarves and wrapped up:

The Seven Pillars of Wisdom:

Riding in our trucks:

The two younger guys on the tour had fun jumping off a rock into the soft sand.  I took rapid fire frames on my camera and made a composite:

Another shot of a jump:

We arrived at the Bedouin encampment where we were going to have dinner.  The men were directed to the bathroom.  The open air bathroom.  Yes, they ARE standing there doing their business while we are snapping photos!  I think Mark was saying something like, "Look, no hands!"

Our dinner being retrieved from the pits in the ground where it had been cooking:

It had been a fun day.