Day 9, Sunday, March 11, 2018 - Visiting Petra
Petra is the 7th modern wonder of the world. Its main culture started in the 4th century BC with the Nabateans who were merchant traders and controlled some of the important trading routes from the middle-east to Africa and Europe, mainly Rome. At the time, Frankincense and Myrrh were twice as valuable as gold and these substances were in great demand for Roman rituals.
Petra was at its height in the first century BC and first century AD. Petra was a city of 20,000 to 30,000 people with large temples and a large amphitheater. Petra is located in Wadi Musa, the valley of Moses and the only access is through a very narrow, 10' - 50' wide, and very deep mile-long cut through the rock which made it almost invisible and easily defend-able. Petra is in the desert with very little water but the Nabateans were very skillful in hydrology and constructed aqueducts to collect and transport water to reservoirs inside the city. Petra is famous for the many spectacular facades cut into the solid sandstone with tombs behind them.
Petra was finally conquered by the Romans in 108AD when the Romans found and were able to cut off the water supply to the city. It continued as a Roman city until 321AD when a large earthquake destroyed much of the city. It was rebuilt as a Byzantine city and was on the Christian pilgrim route until another major earthquake in the 8th century which destroyed much of the city and the bishopric was moved to Damascus. It was largely unknown until 1812 when it was rediscovered by a Swiss explorer and was occasionally visited by adventurous tourists from Europe. It wasn't seriously excavated until Jordan became an independent state in 1948. Bedouins lived there in the caves (tombs) until the 1980s when the Jordanian Department of Antiquities required them to move to a new settlement outside to reduce damage. The Bedouins still guide tourists, sell souvenirs and operate the horse, donkey and camel rides.
UNESCO declared Petra a World Heritage Site and has contributed considerable funds for its care and for a visitor center / museum.
Our hotel was only a few hundred feet from the entrance which was very convenient. Our Jordanian guide gave an overview at the visitor center and then led us down to the entrance of the Siq which is about half a mile down. We walked down through the narrow chasm of the Siq and had explanations of the various deities that are carved in the sides. The Siq is about a mile long. We could also see the aqueduct along the side that brought water down into the city in ancient time. Two-wheeled carts race up and down the Siq to bring visitors - they go dangerously fast in the narrow spots and people have to jump out of the way. It was quite spectacular to get to the end of the Siq which is dark at that point and see the first facade of the "Treasury".
The valley opens up and the sheer walls are dotted with elaborate facades of tombs and areas where they have eroded away, just leaving caves back in the rock. There are around 3000 caves. Only about 5% of Petra has been excavated, mainly the Roman road (Cardo), the large temples and amphitheater. There are torrential flash floods even to this day and in the past, they carried large amounts of debris into the city after it was abandoned, 40-50' deep. I found a piece of flint that had been carried in from quite a distance.
At the end, a little over 3 miles in, we had lunch at a nice restaurant.
I was about at my limit for walking so my mother and I rented donkeys to ride back to the entrance of the Siq. The Bedouin who owned and led the donkeys said he had two boys in high school and hoped that they would go the the university and become doctors or other professionals. It was interesting talking with him. As we walked back up the Siq we passed two women completely covered with black burkas and carrying iPhones - it seemed incongruous. At the top of the Siq we rented horses to take us up the last half mile to the visitor center.
Before dinner we had an interesting lecture/question session with a Bedouin man who came from a traditional nomadic family about this history and culture of the Bedouin. His grandfather lived to 105 despite the challenging lifestyle.
Petra was at its height in the first century BC and first century AD. Petra was a city of 20,000 to 30,000 people with large temples and a large amphitheater. Petra is located in Wadi Musa, the valley of Moses and the only access is through a very narrow, 10' - 50' wide, and very deep mile-long cut through the rock which made it almost invisible and easily defend-able. Petra is in the desert with very little water but the Nabateans were very skillful in hydrology and constructed aqueducts to collect and transport water to reservoirs inside the city. Petra is famous for the many spectacular facades cut into the solid sandstone with tombs behind them.
Petra was finally conquered by the Romans in 108AD when the Romans found and were able to cut off the water supply to the city. It continued as a Roman city until 321AD when a large earthquake destroyed much of the city. It was rebuilt as a Byzantine city and was on the Christian pilgrim route until another major earthquake in the 8th century which destroyed much of the city and the bishopric was moved to Damascus. It was largely unknown until 1812 when it was rediscovered by a Swiss explorer and was occasionally visited by adventurous tourists from Europe. It wasn't seriously excavated until Jordan became an independent state in 1948. Bedouins lived there in the caves (tombs) until the 1980s when the Jordanian Department of Antiquities required them to move to a new settlement outside to reduce damage. The Bedouins still guide tourists, sell souvenirs and operate the horse, donkey and camel rides.
UNESCO declared Petra a World Heritage Site and has contributed considerable funds for its care and for a visitor center / museum.
Our hotel was only a few hundred feet from the entrance which was very convenient. Our Jordanian guide gave an overview at the visitor center and then led us down to the entrance of the Siq which is about half a mile down. We walked down through the narrow chasm of the Siq and had explanations of the various deities that are carved in the sides. The Siq is about a mile long. We could also see the aqueduct along the side that brought water down into the city in ancient time. Two-wheeled carts race up and down the Siq to bring visitors - they go dangerously fast in the narrow spots and people have to jump out of the way. It was quite spectacular to get to the end of the Siq which is dark at that point and see the first facade of the "Treasury".
The valley opens up and the sheer walls are dotted with elaborate facades of tombs and areas where they have eroded away, just leaving caves back in the rock. There are around 3000 caves. Only about 5% of Petra has been excavated, mainly the Roman road (Cardo), the large temples and amphitheater. There are torrential flash floods even to this day and in the past, they carried large amounts of debris into the city after it was abandoned, 40-50' deep. I found a piece of flint that had been carried in from quite a distance.
At the end, a little over 3 miles in, we had lunch at a nice restaurant.
I was about at my limit for walking so my mother and I rented donkeys to ride back to the entrance of the Siq. The Bedouin who owned and led the donkeys said he had two boys in high school and hoped that they would go the the university and become doctors or other professionals. It was interesting talking with him. As we walked back up the Siq we passed two women completely covered with black burkas and carrying iPhones - it seemed incongruous. At the top of the Siq we rented horses to take us up the last half mile to the visitor center.
Before dinner we had an interesting lecture/question session with a Bedouin man who came from a traditional nomadic family about this history and culture of the Bedouin. His grandfather lived to 105 despite the challenging lifestyle.
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| Aqueduct along the side of the Siq |
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| Horse carriage going through the Siq over Roman road |
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| "Treasury" at the end of the Siq |
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| Riding the donkeys in front of the Treasury |
Power adapters, UK to Europe to US to USB
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